Small Businesses Take on Social Media
February 25th, 2011 by Alison Raymond
Small businesses are joining the social media wave, however, it’s not just because they want to – it’s because they have to.
Facebook, MySpace, Foursquare, Twitter, etc. There are countless numbers of social networks – all with very active users. With all these different networks, how are small businesses supposed to have the time participate in all of them? They aren’t.
Many small businesses are a one man band – or at least close to it. This makes it extremely hard for business owners to really jump in and participate effectively when it comes to social media. It can be also be a very overwhelming experience when it’s an additional item on your ‘to do’ list. This is why small business owners and marketers alike need to pick their battles when it comes to social media.
No one can argue that there are a tremendous amount of possibilities that can result by jumping in on the social media bandwagon. However, it’s important to realize that you only need to dip your toes in, and not take a full plunge right away – especially when you are just starting out.
Pick the network that best suits you and your business and try to set goals for yourself on ways you can engage with your customers via the chosen social network.
This is just the kind of advice we offer to our clients.
About two years ago, we had a very hard time trying to get clients to participate in the social media wave. It just wasn’t something that they thought they needed to do and they didn’t have enough time for it. Now they are realizing it’s not about having time to join in – it’s about making time. However, to effectively make use of your time – and your time spent on social media – it’s about focusing your efforts.
Joining too many networks at once will lead to brand confusion on the customer end – and exhaustion on your end.
Figure our where your customers are and start there. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social networks – set aside time to engage your customers in conversation and make their connection to your business worthwhile by offering them tips, advice, special offers or other promotions via the network you chose.
Once you get the hang of the whole social media thing and you feel like you want to expand your social media efforts – do it!
If you are a business, what sites are you on? If you are a consumer, what sites are you most active on and why?
This entry was posted on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 10:49 am and is filed under Social Media, Social Networks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 6th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Couldn?t be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
March 11th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
I thought it was going to be some boring old post, but it really compensated for my time. I will post a link to this page on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful