March 15, 2010

There is a lot of hype about social media. From “Don’t care about social media” to “Social media is the next big thing,” all opinions are out there. I had the opportunity to attend Social Media Week events in New York from February 1-5. And I saw a lot of big – not small – businesses that use social media: NY Times, Time Magazine, CNN and such media companies. It totally makes sense for them to use social media. The question I have is, is social media for small businesses?

Social Media Takes a Lot of Time

The reason why I have this question is, it takes a lot of time (and resources) to be active on social media.  So you want to make sure you get the Return on Investment [ROI] for your time and resources invested on it. For a small business, if you spend 2 hours a day on Twitter and Facebook, that is 25% of your day!

Does a florist have to be on Twitter?

Does every business should be on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and maintain a blog? When does a small business get time to do anything else? Whether you need a social media strategy or not will depend on the following:

1. Do you want to be known an expert in a certain field?
2. Do your customers search for your products/services online?
3. Does your business model depend on traffic on your website?
4. Can you spend enough time to spend on social media?

Marketing Vs Sales

There’s confusion about how social media can help your business. If you expect immediate sales from social media, you will be disappointed. But what it can do are things like this:

1. Enhance your brand; make your known for something
2. Connect you with people
3. Create relationships
4. Bring traffic to your website

If you have this perspective, you will be able to use social media for the right reasons and save a lot of time!

* * * * *

Chaitanya Sagar is the Founder and CEO of p2w2 (for PeopleToWorkWith), which helps small businesses outsource services like SEO, Link Building, business and financial planning, software, virtual assistance, and research. p2w2 focuses on building relationships with vendors so you can save time and focus on your business.  

Join the conversation ( 9 )

• Bit Doze 1 year 4 months and 6 days ago

  

  With social media you can do things like this: Enhance your brand; make your known for something; Connect you with people; Create relationships; Bring traffic to your website. If you have this perspective, you will be able to use social media for the right reasons and save a lot of time!
  
  
  Bit Doze
  http://www.bitdoze.com

• Santosh Shukla 1 year 8 months and 28 days ago

  

  Hi Chaitanya, I sincerely agree to your point that businesses should be cognizant of the fact that social media if not used consciously and effectively can leave you with couple of hours short without any ROI.
  I have been thinking about it and have come up with some tips to get the best out of social media without wasting too much time.
  Please read and comment. http://blog.insideview.com/2010/05/02/investing-too-much-time-on-social-media-how-to-boost-your-roi

• Chaitanya Sagar 1 year 10 months and 22 days ago

  

  @FameFoundry Thanks for a detailed comment. I understand where you are coming from. THanks for sharing your views. My worry is that there are not many small businesses out there who can spend the time.
  
  @SuzanneVara Thanks for the comments. You resonate my ideas I have presented in the article. No worries about misspelling. And following you.
  
  @Matt, @Larry @Daniela Thanks.
  
  @Chaitanya
  http://www.p2w2.com/forum-posting.php
  

• Daniela Badalan 1 year 10 months and 22 days ago

  

  Social Media takes time, it is true, but the results of it are so amazing that it makes you feel like all the time you're putting in is worht it. Also, I strongly believe every business (from florists to ecommerce) should have an online presence and work on improving its online reputation management.

• Larry Brauner 1 year 10 months and 23 days ago

  

  It may be shortsighted for entrepreneurs to base their assessments of social media on present business circumstances (which can and will change) or on their present understanding of such media (which can grow).
  
  Although personal branding using social media could help over the short run, by way of its cumulative effect, it could help much more over time.
  
  While other entrepreneurs are questioning the value of social media, they can be building their social capital and transcending business circumstances, creating more options for themselves.
  
  As social media evolves, they’ll evolve with it and become centers of influence in their industries.
  
  Larry Brauner
  http://Online-Social-Networking.com

• Matt Brown 1 year 10 months and 24 days ago

  

  Social media is an amazing way to build relationship's with your customers and brand your self more with something like a facebook fan page, etc. Thanks for getting this information out there!
  
  Matt Brown
  http://www.my-home-business-growth-marketing.com

• SUZANNE VARA 1 year 10 months and 25 days ago

  

  *Chaitanya* I apologize for the improper spelling of your name.

• SUZANNE VARA 1 year 10 months and 25 days ago

  

  Chitayana
  
  You bring up so valid points here as should every business run to social media? As you have outlined above, sometimes the answer comes down to No, it is not a good fit. Just like in trad adv where not every business is the right fit for tv or radio or print. Social media is different as the commitment to invest the time is much larger. The commitment to invest the time is one of the biggest factors. When starting something new, many small business owners do dedicate time to the efforts but many times that is being robbed from elsewhere and then it starts stacking up. Commitment, time and patience are big factors in social media. Yes, building relationships is extremely important but if you are not around there is no relationship to build. It is that easy.
  
  Also, as you have pointed out, it is not a quick fix nor is social media a big sales generator day one. This brings us back to the commitment. I do think that social media is beneficial for a lot of small businesses and have worked with quite a few however I have also turned some away as they were looking to jump on the next bit advertising/marketing buzz without really knowing what it was all about.
  
  @SuzanneVara

• Beth Arvin 1 year 10 months and 25 days ago

  

  Without question, social media is for small businesses. In fact, some of the most successful practitioners of social media that I have worked with are small businesses.
  
  In today’s marketplace, the Web is where customers are won and businesses grow. To get and keep customers, businesses of all sizes must conquer the online marketing universe that exists beyond their own website – especially the social web. They must actively seek out those whose needs, desires and interests align with the products or services they offer, draw them in and engage them in conversation. This is a rhythmic business process that must be adopted to replace the carpet-bombing tactics once relied upon by marketers to get ahead of the competition.
  
  Given the level of time and focused attention required, this may seem like a tall order, especially for a small business. Social media is a powerful relationship-building tool, but it is not a shortcut to achieving an immediate uptick in sales. However, the reward for making this additional investment of human resources is getting and keeping the best kinds of customers – dedicated fans that are not only loyal to the brand but also become its evangelists.
  
  Here are some additional simple, straightforward tips that small businesses can use to implement a successful social media strategy: http://www.famefoundry.com/646/the-no-duhs-of-social-media.
  
  The Communicator
  Fame Foundry
  www.famefoundry.com