How we can help Small Businesses to use SocialMedia marketing to survive right now
The wonderful thing about social media for small businesses is its availability and low cost. But, like most marketing efforts, it does take some time and effort on the part of the small business owner. I’ve been helping small businesses with their marketing for over fifteen years, and it’s clear that some owners feel overwhelmed with ‘doing it all’.
So the first thing would be to hone their time management skills: to schedule time forsocial media, and stick to it. That includes making time to get educated on the topic, learning exactly how to go about it. And then doing it. With consistency. Social media is not push selling. It’s not a forum to hawk your wares. It’s having a conversation with your customers and potential customers. By letting them get to know you, they will begin to trust you.
This is why the profile section of social media sites is so important. People buy from people they know and like. That’s the key to social networking. Just as small business owners need to be out in their communities, having lunch, getting their hair cut, showing up at town meetings, getting to know their neighbors, etc. they need to broaden their networking to include Face Book Pages, Twitter, Linkedin, Blogs etc. Where I think many small businesses go wrong is diving in before they test the waters and then giving up when they don’t see immediate results.
Knowledge is power, and patience a virtue. Both are necessary to be successful with social media. Read the literature, sign up for webinars, listen to podcasts etc. Do it right the first time. And then tend to it. This is not an overnight process.
Like all advertising and marketing, it takes time to work. Steady wins the race.
Small business owners need to understand that social networking does not have to take time. That seems to be one of their largest blocks to participating.
See the following steps:
1. Business intelligence: study your competition (especially - successful ones) - how they do it.
2. Profiling: of the potential target client places (networks)/tastes-groups
3. Engage in an open honest intercourse - including tackling unpleasant experience both with the particular sphere in which your client operates and maybe even specifically - negative impressions from your client. There is no ice breaker or customer retainment like admitting mistakes.
4. Make it short and informative - don't burden potential client with detail overload.
5. Make it fun
6. Make it creative (where possible), but not in an over-sophisticated smart-ass way. It's counter productive.
7. Be open to consider improvement suggestions from the Net and make their adoption public to the Group.
8. Dedicate time and staff to this whole activity and be available for feedbacks.
9. Be patient.
10. Choose carefully the best places/networks for your activity and concentrate on the most suitable 3-4 platforms. Including the local ones. After all, if you try to be everywhere, you will lose control and accomplish nothing.
2. Profiling: of the potential target client places (networks)/tastes-groups
3. Engage in an open honest intercourse - including tackling unpleasant experience both with the particular sphere in which your client operates and maybe even specifically - negative impressions from your client. There is no ice breaker or customer retainment like admitting mistakes.
4. Make it short and informative - don't burden potential client with detail overload.
5. Make it fun
6. Make it creative (where possible), but not in an over-sophisticated smart-ass way. It's counter productive.
7. Be open to consider improvement suggestions from the Net and make their adoption public to the Group.
8. Dedicate time and staff to this whole activity and be available for feedbacks.
9. Be patient.
10. Choose carefully the best places/networks for your activity and concentrate on the most suitable 3-4 platforms. Including the local ones. After all, if you try to be everywhere, you will lose control and accomplish nothing.
Social media is usually used to drive traffic to your web assets. If you don't have a proper list building strategy and mechanism in place much of this effort will be lost.
For every 100 folks that come to a site only 3-7 are ready buyers-- if these people like what they see they MAY engage you. The problem is these are only the BUYERs and all the rest of the visitors, including those of the 3-7 that don't engage you, are prospects and without such a strategy you will not engage those folks. See the first link for an article on this topic.
The second thing readers of this question should realize is that LinkedIn is probably one of the best social media sites for getting business. The problem is that most people don't understand how to work LinkedIn properly -- it's about attracting opportunities NOT prospecting. The later will get you killed, the former will bring you lots of business.
For every 100 folks that come to a site only 3-7 are ready buyers-- if these people like what they see they MAY engage you. The problem is these are only the BUYERs and all the rest of the visitors, including those of the 3-7 that don't engage you, are prospects and without such a strategy you will not engage those folks. See the first link for an article on this topic.
The second thing readers of this question should realize is that LinkedIn is probably one of the best social media sites for getting business. The problem is that most people don't understand how to work LinkedIn properly -- it's about attracting opportunities NOT prospecting. The later will get you killed, the former will bring you lots of business.
Again, Like all advertising and marketing, it takes time to work. Steady wins the race.
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