Many businesses are hesitant to begin marketing with social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter among others. Here are some great points from the ReachCast Blog about why businesses are not benefitting from social media promotions.
1. Fear: My customers aren’t using social media sites, so marketing there would not work.
Reality: Although 20% of small business owners have this fear, eMarketer research shows that nearly 60% of U.S. internet users – a total of about 127 million adults – use social networks once a month, and that number will grow to about two-thirds of all Internet users by 2014.
Additionally you don’t want to be playing catch up in a couple of years. Remember when websites first began to gain popularity, many business owners had the same reasoning that their customers were not online so why should I be. Also Facebook and Twitter utilize page names just like company websites utilize domain names that are easy for their customers to remember. The same is true for Facebook and Twittter, starting your pages before your competition can get you an easy to remember page name.
2. Fear: The learning curve is too high. I have to know how to use it before I get started.
Reality: The best way to learn how to use social media for marketing is to begin using it personally first. Test the waters of social media by opening a Facebook profile for yourself, and then, learn by using the site to connect with friends and family. Next, join the pages of your some of your favorite brands and local businesses and look closely at how they are using the platform to connect to consumers. Then, once you’ve got the hang of it, starting a Facebook page for your business is an easy next step.
3. Fear: I don’t know what to say. What if I look silly or stupid?
Reality: Using social media for marketing your small business can seem intimidating at first, but the good news is that what consumers really want to hear from brands is valuable information they need related to their products or services. So to build a great social presence, you just need to talk about what you know best – your business! For example, share tips and tricks about how to get the most out of your products.
Chances are you already have a web development company working with you on your website marketing updates. Ask about how they can help you manage your social media marketing campaigns and what to messaging to post.
4. Fear: If I’m active on social media, it will give people a platform to complain about my business.
Reality: Consumers are already talking about your business online. By choosing to use social media to market your business, you are choosing to participate in that conversation and not let other people control what’s being said about your business online. Plus, if you do receive feedback on your business via social media, it could help you improve your business and create brand advocates by listening and responding to what customers have to say.
This is very true, either you can engage or ignore your customers reviews and comments. Additionally there are ways to control the conversation. Begin by not allowing comments on your Facebook page as you get used to marketing with these new tools. Then slowly open the conversation up. Often the social media world seems very large and daunting, but with experienced marketing professionals, they can help your company take smaller steps towards social marketing.
5. Fear: Using social media could invade my privacy.
Reality: You get to choose how much information you post about yourself online, and what you share publicly with others. You can keep your personal social media presence separate from your professional network if this is a concern.
6. Fear: I’m afraid my employees will misuse social media on the job.
Reality: Some of the biggest concerns about using social media for business involves how to navigate employee use. But, the fact is that employees can – and do – use social media whether or not your business is marketing itself online. Having a social media policy in place is a good way to ensure that your business is protected from potential issues of employee use and that employees know how to best use the tools. If you want to allow employees to use social media to promote your business, make sure that you provide them with guidelines on how to present themselves – and your business – professionally online. There are a number of online resources in addition to services you can use to create a social media policy for your small business.
Many company’s do not give employees access to the business pages and simply give control to the head marketing manager allowing employees to funnel content through a control point and only allowing them to comment on company posts.
7. Fear: I’m busy running my business and I don’t have enough time to do social media well.
Reality: Many small businesses struggle to balance the need to have an active presence in social media and the existing demands on their time. Luckily, there are many tools and resources you can use to help you manage your social media presence. For businesses interested in maximizing their web presence, outsourcing social media marketing can be a time- and cost-effective solution. Are any of these fears keeping you away from using social media marketing for your small business? Have any other concerns kept you up at night? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, or share them on our Facebook page.
About the Author: Tiffany Monhollon writes about social media, marketing, and small business success as the lead blogger for ReachCast, a service that helps local business owners develop their web presence.
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