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May 22, 2008

Social Networking and a Small Town Business - Why Bother?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 10:24 am

I asked my friend — heck, she’s like family — Becky McCray, if she was interested in writing a guest post on Successful-Blog. My motives were clear and simple. I think she’s brilliant at everything small business. She wondered what topic might interest. I tossed her an idea and at the same time, our mutual friend Chris Brogan tossed her a similar idea. Being the brilliant thinker she is, Becky devised an artful plan that involves three connected blog posts — one here, one on Chris’ Blog and one on her own.

That’s a plan I can support fully! So without taking further time, I present the first of the Becky McCray master Trilogy.

Social Networking and a Small Town Business - Why Bother? by Guest Writer Becky McCray

Small town business is an interesting challenge. You either target people in your local area and hope that’s enough, or you reach outside for customers and work to get enough attention.

If you’re targeting outside your local area, there is no question. Social networking is a top way to reach beyond your geographic boundaries. If you’re looking for local people as customers, you might be tempted to think that social networking is not going to work for you. WRONG! More of your potential customers are online than you realize. More importantly, marketing is only one reason for using social networking tools. I can think of four other big reasons to invest the time and effort.

To expand your horizons/perspective
The world is an unbelievable place, and technology finally makes it possible to connect with the people in it from almost anywhere. People have different perspectives, based on their life in a big city, in another country, or just in a different industry. If you don’t participate in the online world, you’re not going to get to meet these people who could help you cross-pollinate some new thinking.

To connect with vendors and other partners
Buy local campaigns notwithstanding, social networking means expanding your choice of service providers and partners far beyond your local people. Professionals and service providers of all kinds, and from all over, are active in social networks. If you stay out of social networks, you’ll never build those relationships, so you’ll have to rely only on the local accountant, web designer, and printer for all your needs, even if they aren’t all that great.

To learn
Face it; you don’t know everything. But you can find people who know about what you are needing to learn right now. When you are building friendships on Twitter, you probably don’t ever think about the fact that @susanreynolds is a jewelry artist, or that @mikeg1 knows about home schooling. But if you aren’t reaching out, you’ll never have the chance to ask, “Who here can help me with writing a magazine query letter?” (That would be @sheilas!)

To feel connected
My favorite reason for social networking from my small town: feeling connected. Being online can’t replicate the feeling of an in-person conference like SXSW or SOBCon, but it helps. Bunches. It’s like the best of a water cooler at a company of terrific people you picked to interact with, to bounce ideas off of, or just to catch up with. If you are staying out of social networking, you are missing the number one reason to do anything: the people.

What are your reasons?
These four reasons are just a beginning point. What other reasons do you have for investing your time in social media? This question is open to everyone, whether you are from a small town or a big city. But if you are from a small town, shout about it in your comment!

Sounds great, but how do I do it?
Need some starter moves to help you get online and building relationships? I’ll be presenting some Social Media Starter Moves for Small Town Small Businesses at ChrisBrogan.com tomorrow.

Becky McCray writes about small town small businesses at Small Biz Survival.

Thanks, Becky!
You really are a master.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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22 Comments to “Social Networking and a Small Town Business - Why Bother?”

  1. May 22nd, 2008 at 10:35 am
    Susan Cartier Liebel said

    Liz, this post made such a nice addition to my recent post…I added the link:

    http://tinyurl.com/5o234z

    Thanks for all you do….as always

  2. May 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
    Tammy Lenski said

    Becky, this is outstanding advice…of course.

    A lot of my fellow mediators are “local only” business owners and don’t see how the web (let alone social media) is useful to them. Now I’ll have this post to add to my arsenal of information in reply to those questions!

  3. May 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
    Becky McCray said

    Susan, I’ve just followed you on Twitter. Here’s to many productive conversations!

    Tammy, thank you! Very glad you’ve found some value.

  4. May 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 am
    Susan Cartier Liebel said

    Becky,

    I’m all about great conversations and new friendships. Liz is the master of providing the opportunity for both.

    Thanks for the follow!

  5. May 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
    Bryan Kress said

    I enjoy social networking from my small town because it allows me to keep up with how the world is changing in real time. Things generally move faster on the East & West Coast and if I am online I can keep up on what is happening in the Tech Sector. Through social networking I have also been able to discuss with other small business owners how they have overcome their struggles in their small town. I can then take that experience and mold it to fit the small businesses around my area.

  6. May 22nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
    Ruth Marie Sylte said

    I agree. Social media and social networking allow a connectedness that helps create social and economic viability for those who can’t — or don’t want to — live in a big city environment.

    I live about an hour outside of a metropolitan area in a town of under 20k. I appreciate the ability to conduct business at my small-town bank by Internet and I also take the time to walk to the bank — where the tellers know me by name.

    While it’s not possible to “have it all”, I think I’m getting close and I appreciate what Becky has to share. I recommend her site regularly to small business owners in my town.

  7. May 22nd, 2008 at 1:11 pm
    Becky McCray said

    Bryan, thanks for sharing your own experiences. I’m beginning to see some convincing patterns and parallels in what we do. Thank you!

  8. May 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
    Becky McCray said

    Ruth, I love your story! So pleased to think that Small Biz Survival helps other small town business people.

  9. May 22nd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
    Mother Earth said

    Hi Becky - I didn’t get to meet you at SOBCon but I picked you out of the crowd after seeing your video commercial, which I got such a kick out of - like Ruth I live in an under 20,000 community outside of Chicago and find myself intriqued with small town living. I have established my credibilty here and many know me for my community work, but my business connections are actually much stronger and broader online - thanks of course to the reach it has, and exactly as you say locally you never know who’s online.

    Great post

  10. May 22nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
    Becky McCray said

    Mother Earth, terrific to meet you here. (everybody meets here, right?) I like the way you are combining online activity and offline community work to build your connections and credibility. Thanks for commenting!

  11. May 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
    Mother Earth said

    it’s so true becky - i have met many wonderful people here - thanks liz!

  12. May 23rd, 2008 at 1:16 am
    Social Media Starter Moves for Small Town Small Businesses | chrisbrogan.com said

    […] making new connections. Liz Strauss was kind enough to let me tell some of the reasons why over at Successful Blog. To follow up, here are some starter moves to help you get connected to the larger […]

  13. May 23rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
    Mr. Factoring said

    Becky,

    I should have read this post prior to posting comments on your article at Chris Brogan’s site :-)

    I think we would emphasize that social networking enables us to get lots of customers that are not local to us. Actually location becomes (almost) irrelevant.

    Case in point, I live in Miami yet I have clients in the US, Canada and (soon) Australia. Many of these would have never found me if it weren;t for social networking…

    Cheers,
    Marco

  14. May 23rd, 2008 at 1:41 pm
    BMariana said

    I knew I was on all those social networking sites for a reason! The Gorillas Want Bananas (link to the ebooks version) has some of the same concepts outlined, but you expressed it much more clearly and concisely. Thanks!

  15. May 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
    Becky McCray said

    Marco, comment all you like. :) And tomorrow we’ll have some terrific examples of people successfully using social media from small towns. You’re a great example of using these tools, regardless of location. Thanks!

    BMariana, thanks for such kind words!

  16. May 25th, 2008 at 6:36 am
    Working at Home on the Internet said

    […] Social Networking and a Small Town Business-Why Bother? by Becky McCray (on Successful Blog)… Becky gives us four really good reasons that a primarily local (read home) business can benefit by participating in Social Networks. […]

  17. May 25th, 2008 at 7:50 am
    Coffee Break said

    […] Strauss has published a guest post from Becky McCray on the importance of social networking for small, local, businesses. If […]

  18. May 25th, 2008 at 8:34 am
    Deb Bixler said

    Social bookmarking is really just the online version of networking. Networking is collaboration for the success of all. This is a great article.

  19. May 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am
    Becky McCray said

    Thanks, Deb! Small town folks are used to working together for the success of all. :)

  20. May 27th, 2008 at 4:45 am
    4 reasons online networking is valuable for mediators even if your market is local | Mediator Tech said

    […] Social Networking and a Small Town Business - Why Bother?, small business blogger and consultant Becky McCray calls local marketers to attention with, If […]

  21. May 30th, 2008 at 11:27 am
    Home Office Warrior » Home Office Tips and Hints…Links said

    […] Social networking and a small town business - why bother hits home for many of us who work in a home office and also for those who live in a small town. This is a great read from Successful and Outstanding Bloggers. […]

  22. June 13th, 2008 at 10:22 am
    Keith Shirley » Blog Archive » IIA - Social Media Working Group said

    […] Social Networking and a Small Town Business - Why Bother? [via Zemanta] […]

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