Why Small Businesses Can't Afford To Ignore Social Media

I recently had the honour of hearing some stories from a local small business leader about how they source their products from around the world, and that they look for the unique and not the mass-produced. His stories captivated me and I'm now sold on his products and plan to be a frequent customer.

In fact, just yesterday, I visited and mentioned that they might consider setting up a Twitter account. Their stories and the products they sell lend themselves beautifully to 130 character updates and photos. But the response I received surprised me.

We don't have time. It's too much work. We don't get all this social media stuff.

What surprised me was that as small business owners they hadn't really checked out the social media marketing aspect of their business to see if it would really be a good fit. They had made a number of assumptions and ones not necessarily accurate.

So here's my response to many small business owners about using Twitter or other social media tools to expand and grow their businesses.

What's your story and how are you going to get it out there so it reaches your customers?

Who are your customers and is your current base or is there a long-term plan to attract consumers in the 25 to 45 year-old range? If so, be aware that this age group receives a lot of their information online.

Yes, most social media tools require some work and in certain cases a lot of work. But just setting up a Twitter account, and occasionally tweeting might be okay for some small businesses that attract a lot of customers. This allows those of us who communicate on Twitter to include your account in our tweets and spread the message of the great products you offer. It's free marketing with minimal involvement.

Now, most small businesses, at a minimum, have a website even if it's just one page. I encourage clients to "write-once" and then take that content and use it over various communications channels. So if you're writing a blog for your website, make sure some or all of that content is used as well on Linked in, Twitter and any other social media you might support.

The online, social media world is growing every day. By making informed, strategic decisions, we can select those tools that work best for us and that we manage instead of the other way around. As a small business owner, I think our survival depends on it.

Leslie Beard of LBcommunications works with highly-visible government, corporate and non-profit leaders to create and keep great reputations. I'm the person to call when the situation turns tough, and your organization's bottom line is threatened.

By Leslie A Beard