Social Media for SME’s, an overview
If you run a small business and feel like you can’t keep up with all the new social media platforms you are supposed to embrace, you needn’t feel alone. Recent research from two digital marketing services used by thousands of small businesses, revealed that most small business owners feel overwhelmed by social media and believe they are out of touch in their use of them.
Social media isn’t going away anytime soon…
The implications for small business are probably as profound as for Coca Cola.
Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest… the list is massive (and possibly overpowering for most SME’s) but the potential for growing your business, connecting with, and expanding your customer base and making more profit is just as real.
Some SME’s are now utilising social media to increase profits. Many others are struggling to navigate the minefield and are making a myriad mistakes along the path.
So which ones should you use?
This is a slippery question and totally depends on your individual business. A reasonable starting position is that everyone should have a Facebook Page and a website with a well populated and lively blog irrespective of what your business is. That can be the basis for your social media activity. Once you become fairly experienced at blogging and posting on Facebook you can decide what other social media platforms you want to get involved with.
All businesses are different, so it’s natural that every company’s social media strategy will be different too. Maybe your company is already active on social media, or perhaps you currently do no social networking.
Social media isn’t a panacea, nor will it revolutionize your business, but it may have a role to play in developing and widening your marketing mix.