Many small business owners don’t spend much time online, much less on social media. This is why many small business owners don’t see the value in investing to market online, whether with time or money. If you are one of these business owners, I would encourage you to read on with an open mind. Keep in mind the phrase social media marketing, is just that, another tool for marketing. The National Business Association, claims one of the major factors that causes many small businesses to fail is a lack of marketing.
So how does social media fit into marketing? Let’s take a look back to get a better understanding. Years ago many businesses could thrive by word of mouth, but that was when local communities were more closely knit and before there were so many choices like buying online. During that same time, people use to talk on the phone and share their news which also might happen to be about your business. Now-a-days people will send a short text message, forward an email, share a blog post, or share a picture on Facebook. Does your business have any of these to share?
Social media can help you stay top-of-mind with your customers, build relationships with them and give them something to share via digital word-of-mouth. However, if you start doing social media without a plan, strategy, or knowing which platform your customers are using the most, your efforts will not produce much and be a waste of time and money. Also keep in mind that social media is not something you set up once and you’re done. It requires ongoing maintenance and attention, whether you do that in house or hire somebody to do it for you. In other words, if you are not planning to add social media to your task list or the job description of an employee, then you need to hire somebody to do it for you.
I hope after reading this, you will consider or reconsider social media as part of your small businesses marketing budget, even if you don’t use social media personally don’t forget that others do. Did this post help? Share your experiences with social media for your business, or ask a question below.
Artwork complements of Svilen Milev
