We are constantly selling.
Whether a sole proprietor or a multi-employee company, small business owners are constantly selling themselves and their service/product. Most of the time the two go hand in hand.
From traditional marketing to email marketing, there are a multitude of ways to go about marketing your products and services. Social Media has just recently come to the limelight in the small business circle. There has been a recent push to utilize the world of social media to
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take advantage of the multitude of eyes and ears in this space.
At Brandswag we talk a lot about using social media for your small business marketing strategy. The biggest hurdle in explaining social media is the issue of weighing the benefits against the time spent on social media platforms. If you are thinking of social media in terms of a sales cycle you should stop. Let me say that again…. Just stop!
By looking at social media as a sales cycle it keeps you from seeing the absolute value and benefits of using platforms like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and LinkedIN (to name a few). If you view your use of social media as an instant ROTI (return on time investment) you are going to become frustrated and give up before the magic happens.
Social media takes time. There needs to be sense of importance and goal setting when using social media for your small business. You need to be able to set aside the time every day to check your social media sites and update your blog.
If you have goals set and a plan laid in place to utilize social media you will succeed with creating brand awareness, organic search engine optimization, and becoming a trusted adviser in your local industry.
It is extremely important for you to prioritize, plan, and execute. Execute. Execute. Execute.
Prioritize
Take some time to travel in and out of the different social media platforms. Figure out which sites make sense for you to spend some time. Check out a previous post of mine (in collaboration with Brogan, Rowse, and Sanders) on how to be productive and choose the right social networks.
Find four to five social media platforms that cater to what you are wanting to accomplish.
Plan
Figure out how much time you can committ to using social media. If you want to set aside 30 mins a day to take care of your sites.. DO IT! By all means, the time involvement is important but frequency is just as important. Community users want to know you care and are active in the site.
Execute
Follow Nike when they scream JUST DO IT through all of their advertising. Execute your plan with perfection, create meaningful content, and communicate with your friends online. You can prioritize, dream, and plan all you want but if you do not execute…. well, I wont have anything to say to you.
By executing and joining in the conversation you are developing your brand every single day you spend on social media.
This is part 1 of a 5 part series on how to help small business owners understand, utilize and become successful using social media.
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I’m still working on the social media thing, but I have to admit it’s a bit frustrating. Not because I haven’t seen results, but because there seems to be so much to sift through to find the right places to connect. If I hearing you correctly, you’re saying that the key is time investment and that will lead me to the right connections.
Great post Kyle. I look forward to parts 2 thru 5. I agree. Time involvement and frequency are so important. Creating a PRESENCE on social media sites is a pretty quick and easy to do, but creating a LASTING IMPRESSION takes time.
@Susan. It is important to pick the right networks to invest the time spent. At the beginning you will have to spend more time sifting through but with the goal to find the right networks to invest your time in.
@Chad lasting impressions are def. the most important.
[...] media is the issue of weighing the benefits against the time spent on social media platforms.” In the first of five posts focusing on social media’s benefit for small businesses, Kyle says that prioritizing is important – “Find four to five social media platforms that [...]
[...] Part 1: Prioritize, Plan, and Execute Part 2: The Circle of Life Part 3: Attention to Action [...]
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