If you've been paying attention to the news, watching movies, or listening to any radio station in 2011 you know that Social Media is all the buzz, but how does social media help small business? Social Media clearly is a phenomenon, and it is demonstrating every day the way Gen X and Gen Y communicate and need to be marketed to. Whether Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube survive another five years or not is irrelevant and misses the point. Some form of social discourse where everyone can feel important and be the star of their own little cyber worlds will take their places.
Social Media as a StrategyFacebook started out as a dorm room communication laboratory for some college kids. Twitter began to please and extend the vanity of celebrities and athletes. LinkedIn is a meeting place for the white-collar jobless and the recruitment world. Times they are a changing, folks, and as the CEOs of these sites ante up for their coveted spots on the cover of Time Magazine (online version of course), they aren't ignoring businesses. As of this writing, business presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. is a bit underused, but big business is leading the expedition into ways to use these tools to communicate with followers. If only Jesus had a Facebook page and a web developer!
Here's something you may not have known. Every business page on these sites is index-able in the world of online search. Google, the grand inquisitor of all things online, loves social media business pages and indexes them like websites, devouring their content like an Aardvark does fire ants. This is good news for you, because it means as a small business owner, you have the opportunity to create FREE web pages all over the place. If not free, low cost for sure. You can't swing a dead Siamese in any direction without connecting with someone who has a virtual eBay store.
Are you exploiting this stuff folks, or do you fear it and watch your competitors take your market share of the future and crush you under their collective boots?
Like the Hip-Hop Hamsters in the Kia Sol tell us, "The choice is Your's!"
Knowing how to work these sites, well, that's a different story. It is simple in concept, but it ain't easy. Keeping them active, cool, and desirable enough to stand above the crowd is not only a full-time job, but isn't for the amateur. Luckily for you there are plenty of Social Media experts out there to get you enough knowledge that you can either hire someone to implement your company strategy , or sub-contract it out to the millions of college kids out there who can cost effectively get you a presence.
Need some help? Contact me here to learn how we can put a strategy in place for social media to help your small business and create your own Social Media Impact in the world . If you want to go it alone and find contract help for the down and dirty part of it, you can use Craig's List under Gigs, try oDesk or eLance, among the dozens of places to secure free-lance help. Of course, use the search term "social media expert". I can nearly guaranty that you will have to shut your listing down within 24 hours to go through all the people vying, and bidding for, your business. A word of caution here: not all SEM (search engine marketing) and SMM (social media marketing) contractors are alike. When interviewing them, make sure they have a portfolio of websites or companies where they can demonstrate their social media performance, companies like yours, with your budget and characteristics. Anybody worth their salt won't hesitate to provide those references with people you can talk to.
Interview with Ira WolfePart 2 of my video interview with Ira Wolfe of Success Performance Solutions, tells about the benefits of a solid approach to Marketing for Search Engines, and how making time for SEM and doing it the right way can eliminate cold calling forever for Small Business owners! And even for time strapped entrepreneurs, there are ways to make this happen for less than alternative sales and marketing approaches.
Watch the video on my VBlog to increase your knowledge and business exposure now!
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