Small Business News: Forget Social Media?
Some people like it. Some people don’t. But one way or another, social media is here to stay. So why are so many small businesses so conflicted about the value of these tools to leverage attention for their brands as never before possible? And why are they so worried about the cost? Small Business Trends takes the pulse of the small business community on social media and other issues in this small business news roundup.
Trends
Does your business really need social media? Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot is a big user of social sites like Twitter, but in this podcast, Jay argues it may not be for everyone. Besides focusing on way too many of these social media sites at once, Jay says many businesses make the mistake of ignoring work on the single most important place in cyberspace, their own Websites. BiggSuccess.com
Solution is the new location. Social media may get you noticed on the Internet, but being known as a person or company who solves problems will give you visibility and help you keep it, says Liz Strauss. As an exercise in problem solving, focus on solutions for problems that will still exist after social media has changed or gone. Successful And Outstanding Bloggers
Reflections on social media and business. Marketer Jim Kukral has been getting burned out on the whole “engagement” part of social media recently. As a result of a fishing trip to Canada, he’s announced he’ll be using sites like Twitter and Facebook more as simply a business tool and less as a means of staying “connected” in the future. Jim Kukral Dot Com
Stop using Twitter…for marketing. Dan Schawbel looks at the sunset of marketing on everyone’s favorite microblogging application. But, hold on. There are plenty of other really good reasons for using Twitter including for ongoing personal branding so don’t close your account just yet. Personal Branding Blog
Tech
And just in case you too are being overwhelmed by the social media madness. A new tool makes it even easier to manage your online social life across a variety of platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Check out the video on Nutshell Mail and learn more. smallbiztechnology.com
New “virtual business card” solution compacts your social identity. In another attempt to create a more consolidated identity in an online universe full of social media profiles, “dooid” joins “Retaggr”, “Card.ly” and “BusinessCard 2″. Here’s a run down of the features. BloggingTips
Innovation
Could you be the next business innovator? A news site is seeking the next generation of business revolutionaries pushing the boundaries of what business can do for a regular feature called “Innovator of the Week”. The candidates will be nominated and voted on by readers so get your submission in today. The Huffington Post
Branding
What makes you different? No single innovation, product or service can be counted upon to make your brand stand out. That’s because even the most ingenious innovation can be easily copied, says sales and marketing columnist Steve McKee. The answer may be “sustainable differentiation.” Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Policy
How could a revaluation of China’s currency hurt small business? The change could mean more fluctuation in the value of the yuan so that small companies that outsource or depend on Chinese resources could be in for an expensive surprise if prices suddenly begin to increase. WSJ
Final thought
Big business likes it too. Like social media as a tool or not, big brands like PepsiCo have embraced it creating not only a new way of marketing but crowd sourced product innovation. Ignore social media at your own risk and read more about how massive corporations are putting these simple tools to work and how your business can too. The Huffington Post
CEO of Journyx
Thanks for mentioning DooID in this post. Anyone who’s got questions about our virtual business card app please don
This is one of my major conflicts with social media. How much is too much. One of the ways to quantify whether your social media efforts are worth it, is to track your advertising to see if it is worth it.
The question is, short of outsourcing either the actual work or the social media part, how can small business owner, with a staff even further limited by the recent recession, afford the time to manage their social business network?
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A part of it is because of the sheer demand of time in order to do it right on all the channel. Until a business owner creates a business plan and focus on what is most useful for his/her business, it’s overwhelming.
The cost issue has to do with so many unqualified people claiming to be expert in social media and web designed. I see people being scammed, taken advantaged of, overcharged and going cheap. Either way, their end result is ugly. Company who goes cheap by using a random person take just as much risk as the overcharged company. I have one client who I recommend that they use reliable companies for their sites choosing to go cheap. They’re on their 3rd cheap programmer and still does not have their site up after 6 months.
What it boils down to is what voice do you want to put out there (more brand or more social voice) and then just getting “social” with people. Seems like too many people (and large corporations in particular) are overthinking it and forgetting the essence of customer interaction. Just keeping a one dimensional marketing and salesy mindset, pushing a brand or product without giving it a “soul” and showing who is truly behind the company (that’s you the owner), then you shouldn’t even register your first social network account or blog.
It’s really that simple.