8. The financial cost is minimal.
Most social media sites are free to use and set up. There is a cost in terms of time—so you have to be aware of how much time you’re investing and how much return you’re seeing—but it’s worth experimenting.
7. The results are measurable.
Online analytics can take the guesswork out of measuring effectiveness. Each time you post a new blog, send an e-newsletter, or share a photo on Facebook, you can accurately track the number of people who respond.
6. You can get in front of your competition.
From what I’ve seen of small businesses online, many do not have much of a presence. By investing a little effort, you can stay ahead of your competition—and reach the next generation of prospects.
5. It helps your overall online efforts.
Your five-page plumbing website may get lost among the directory listings and Yelp reviews that Google delivers to people searching for plumbers. But you can use social media to link back to your site. (Google likes that.) You could blog once a week—say, answers to common questions your customers ask—and each blog you post is another page on your site. The more pages you have, the more likely you are to show up in Google searches. This kind of positioning is critical in an era where more and more people are searching for information online first.
4. It’s a new kind of marketing.
(Well, it’s not that new anymore, but maybe it’s new for you!) If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got. In order to reach new people, you need to use new methods.
3. Social media is good exercise.
The very nature of social media is relationship-oriented—just as all good marketing should be! Surviving in today’s social media world forces businesses to remember to create useful, appealing, customer-friendly interactions.
2. The content is re-usable.
By re-formatting news releases, announcements, testimonies, and other human interest stories and offering them as blogs, Tweets, or Facebook content, you can get additional life out of work you’ve already done.
1. It’s where your market is.
Know how many people in the world use Facebook? 1.11 billion. Granted, most of them are not there for the purpose of being marketed to, but they are talking about the restaurant they just ate at, or the lousy customer service from their internet provider, or which landscaping company they should hire. Don’t you want to be part of the conversation? Or maybe you want to keep your conversations more “professional”—well, get on LinkedIn: 225 million professional people are connecting there.
Need help?
Small business owners already have to wear a lot of hats to keep their businesses running smoothly. The thought of adding social media to that mix may seem overwhelming. But you don’t have to do it all at once!
And you don’t have to do it yourself. Contact LifeLines for help getting set up on one or two social media platforms. It’s a reasonable investment that could have exponential results for your company.
I really like number 4.
Thanks, David!
Thanks for your help last night. For one thing, I understand Google Analytics much better now and it reassures me that I’m investing my time, money and energy in the right place. Besides all that it is really fun learning something new!
That’s a great attitude, Ann—and that’s why you’re such a good student! There’s really no pressure to learn everything right away and get it “all” right. It’s just about adding to your knowledge little by little and always improving. Keep up the good work!
Gary Vaynerchuck talks about the same things you mentioned. He also points out now is the first time that companies really can ‘know’ personal details about their clients that they didn’t before. He owns a wine company & has sent a signed Hawks jersey with one of his shipments to a great client he knows is a Blackhawks fan. Just as a thank you! He shared in one of his speeches how social media has enabled him to have that cutting edge & retain clients by ‘knowing’ some personal things like that. I’m sure if we all had time to chat with our customers everyday or frequently, like some people do, we would know those things, but since we are so mobile & global, it can certainly help! And, I guess this person receiving was so thankful & “oh, how did you know?” & stayed a long term client. After a gesture like that, a customer is more likely to remain loyal as well… just thought that was an interesting perspective from a business person that uses it & finds great benefit from it. I guess I’ll keep cheering on the Hawks through my FB statuses :)
Gary Vaynerchuck is one of those people whose name keeps popping up when you start talking about social media success. I first heard about him four or five years ago at the first Social Media Success Summit I participated in. The example you gave is a great illustration of how to combine relationships with intentional action for great results. Thanks for sharing that, Michelle!