Social Media for Small Business...should we do it?

Social media has become the new “must-do” for businesses around the country, but the question still stands “is it worth while for small business”

As someone that has worked with small to mid sized businesses for the past three years, I believe that mainstream social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are excellent methods of promotion, if used correctly.

Is this perfect for every small business? Like many tools the quick answer is NO. Much of depends on the type of business you run and the people you are trying to reach out to.

The benefit of social media is it is free and extremely low risk for businesses to get involved in. There is the initial time commitment of getting accounts started up (Face book takes a little longer with logos, pictures and basic content), but it’s free.

Every small business should at least be open minded about the possibility of being involved in social media. Do you want to be the business that is left behind while you competition is out promoting to your potential customers? It’s like letting your competitor market their business right outside your front door.

Not sure about how it all works? Think Twitter and Facebook are just for the 18-24 demographic? Confused about the whole social media world? The best thing to do is talk to people that use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media program (whether for personal or business) and find out how they like them, their opinions and suggestions.

As I mentioned earlier…it costs you nothing to get started. Follow companies like @blatzliquor @DelafieldHotel and @footprints4you in Milwaukee (all on Twitter) to see what they are doing.

If you want to learn more about delving into social media, my company K6 Marketing specializes in social media for small businesses. Having worked the past 3 years with smaller businesses as part of a radio trade marketing program, I understand the challenges that small businesses face when trying to market today. Send me your questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability.