Are you a business owner who is afraid of social media? If the answer is yes, why is that?
When you stop and think about it, there really are no downsides to being socially active when running a company.
Among the advantages of having a steady and solid social presence are:
- Increased opportunities for sales;
- Being seen as an expert in your respective industry;
- Interaction with current and potential customers;
- Ability to stay up to speed on industry trends and discussions by seeing what others are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and more.
Must Give 100 Percent
In order to successfully use social media going forward, keep in mind that you canÂt give a half-hearted effort to the cause.
When you stop and look at some companyÂs social sites, do you ever stop and wonder why they do social media in the first place?
Too often you will come across social pages that are sporadically updated, do not share useful information for consumers, and almost never respond to consumer inquiries. Basically, these pages exist just to have a social presence, something that at the end of the day is not all that beneficial for the company or the consumer.
If youÂre thinking that 2015 might be the year you and your business fully invest in social media, consider the following:
- Who is in charge? Â First and foremost, who is in charge of your social media outreach? Your two basic options are doing it in-house or outsourcing it. Either way, there needs to be a command structure in place so that there are no communication issues;
- What are the goals? Â It is also important that you set social media goals and stick to them as much as possible. If your main goal is to provide useful info through shares and retweets, follow that plan. If your goal is to interact with consumers, do that. Ideally, you will be doing a little of both and have a well-rounded social media plan;
- Who speaks for the company? Â Lastly, you need to have it understood by all employees of who is allowed to represent the company when it comes to tweets, shares, pins etc. While you may want to encourage your employees that have social accounts to retweet and share stuff, you almost certainly do not want them speaking to customers (current and potential) regarding issues of concern. For example, if a customer sends a nasty message via Facebook or Twitter, you donÂt want one of your employees engaging in a conversation that puts a bad light on the business. Have a social plan in writing that details who can speak for the company socially.
As 2015 nears, make it your goal to be the most socially active business going.
Photo credit:Â Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
About the Author: Miguel Salcido has been a professional search marketing consultant for over 11 years. He is the founder and CEO of Organic Media Group, a content driven SEO agency. He also likes to blog at OrganicSEOConsultant.com and share insights into advanced SEO.Â
Thank you for the encouragement of keeping a strong social media presence! It is hard to keep up with it, but reminding myself to setgoals really helps.
That’s a nice post Dave, as rightly mentioned there are no downsides of maintaining social media for your business. However, you need to be in control on what’s being conveyed to your audience. IF you intend to outsource your social media campaign, hire an agency that knows your industry in and out.
Best Regards,
R Madala
Suzanne and R,
Thank you for reading. Yes, social media has myriad of benefits for the business owner. As mentioned, though, the business owner needs to be involved in making sure he or she knows what is being conveyed to the public. If not, it opens up the door for various issues, among which can be bad PR for one’s brand.