Does Social media always work for small business?

Without a doubt social media is the most cost effective way to establish ongoing contact with customers. It allows new and existing customers to have direct interaction with your brand and enables you to provide something them with something of VALUE, even when your doors are closed. But what if social media was actually harming your business...?!

Here are a few reasons why you really need to look at the viability of social media for your small business...

1. Social media may not be a good fit for your business.

Every marketing guru in the world just pulled out the daggers...but please hear me out.

Social media works extremely well for businesses that are SOCIAL in nature... florist, hairdressers and cafes are a perfect match for sites like Facebook, Instagram and Pintrest, kind of makes sense, customers meet there...they are social places, there is a never ending supply of what i call immediate content...that is..... general content that most demographics can relate and engage with.....like this pork belly photo (YUM).

But a local accounting firm that specialises in business taxation....should be spending more time creating  engaging and informative email updates that better meet the needs of their target audience; busy business owners. Managing social media accounts may be a waste of company resources (although Linkedin would definately fit in this case).

Your target audience should be at the

 centre 

of what social media you choose

 for your business. 

Real world....
Define Design Deliver is not on twitter because small business owners who i talk to are simply not on twitter...most small businesses in the northern rivers and (as a guess) most of regional Australia DON'T HAVE TWITTER...so why spend time managing content that won't be seen by my target audience? The hour spent managing my content each week is better spent calling a past client to touch base or take the time to introduce myself to a new business...i hope that all makes sense now...(you can put your daggers away).


*** NOTE ***
Since this post we have created a twitter account for the Define brand...it is going quite well, although it must be said that our overall business strategy has changed which created a need for a global business voice. I.e. Twitter   

 You can find us here...  @DefineLismore 

2. Social media takes time... and time equals money

Let’s not kid ourselves, social media is not an easy task. The amount of time and effort required for social media is definately part of the reason more than 70% of Facebook business accounts are inactive.

Quality content is what you should always strive for; quick updates are okay, but they need to be supported by structured content. Ask yourself, what are you able to achieve without a clear social media strategy and well planned updates? 

ALL your posts must be consistent to your brand message, focused on your target audience and they must provide VALUE. Simply broadcasting a message is not enough anymore. Your social media needs integration into your overall marketing plan so that ALL your communications complement each other and meet the objectives of the business. If your running a newspaper promotion....you should utilise social  media to boost engagement with the promotion, regularly post links to the promotion page on your website and maintain a consistent message delivery.

3.  Social media needs consistency

Consistent posts maintain attention, but if your business gets busy, social media is usually the first thing to go. Why should customers follow you if you don’t regularly update and the value you aim to create is sporadic? Without consistency your social media account could actually do more harm than good.  

The other big no-no is that small business really needs to reconsider using social media if they regularly fail to acknowledge follower comments in a timely manner. Not responding to a Facebook message or ANY social media comment, share or mention is the same as if a customer walks into your store and you completely ignore them! Social media requires planning and foresight, but more importantly it requires you to understand that it is an important communication link that needs to be maintained. Getting back to a customer enquiry needs to happen within 24 hours; feedback should always be acknowledged and complaints should always be addressed ASAP.

So... 

Social media is here to stay, but it really needs to be viewed as PART of your overall marketing strategy (both online and offline)...Social media is not the be-all-and-end-all. Social media can play a positive role in your communications strategy and it is certainly great for maintaining customer relationships, but time, planning and management are required in order to make it truly effective. Small business really needs to develop the marketing fundamentals of social media in order provide customer engagement and lead generation. If you can’t commit the time and energy into your social media maybe it’s time to get a professional in to manage your social media accounts ...or look at dropping your less productive or wayward accounts in order to increase the quality of your content overall.