Is Social Media Right for Your Business?
Social media marketing is a great way of raising the profile of your business on the web and generating more traffic and leads but doing it well requires long term commitment and it's hard work.
So before you take the plunge here are some basic questions you need to ask yourself: Is it right for my business? Are my customers, prospects and the people I want to do business using it? Are people engaged in conversations in the social media space about my industry or my business or brand? If the answer is no, then you need to think carefully about whether social media is a priority for you.
If the answer is yes, then you need to join the conversation! Here are some free tools you can use to find out what conversations are taking place that are relevant to your business and where: Social Mention - this is a tool that allows you carry out searches for brand names or keywords across the web Twitter search - allows you to carry out all sorts of searches to find out who is tweeting about what Google Blog Search - search for people who are blogging about subjects you're interested in Google Alerts - will send you an email alert whenever one of your keywords is mentioned.
Do you have the time and resources for it? Maintaining all those social media profiles and generating lots of valuable content is hard work and social media is not something you can pick up and then put down again when you get busy.
So before getting started think long and hard about whether you can dedicate the resources or the time to engage on a regular basis.
If you have a team of employees can you make it a core part of someone's job? If you're doing it yourself can you carve out an hour or even half an hour a day, every day to check in on your profiles, comment on other people's posts, write that blog post etc.
? Is it a priority for you? It's important to get all of the foundations in place before launching into social media marketing.
There isn't much point in whipping up lots of interest in your business and sending people to your website if it isn't up to scratch so make sure it is up to date and offers lots of engaging content and is optimised for conversion first, otherwise all of your efforts will be wasted.
Also make sure you have put your house in order and dealt with any other key marketing priorities first.
Are you clear about what you want to get out of it? The #1 mistake business owners make when they start out with social media is not having a clear set of goals and objectives.
The result is a lot of aimless blogging, tweeting and status updates that contributes nothing to your business.
So be clear about what you want to achieve, be realistic about what it can and can't do for you and ensure that everything you do is targeted at your specific needs and tied back into your business plan.
Do you have the necessary skills? Educating yourself about social media is a pre-requisite for running successful campaigns.
So if you don't have a sound grasp of the fundamentals get yourself booked onto a course or workshop, read everything you can find on the subject (there is lots out there but you might like to start by checking out some of our other social media blog posts) find someone who can offer one to one coaching if you need it and then take some baby steps to familiarise yourself with the key social media platforms.
And don't forget the first golden rule of social media - listen before you engage! There will be plenty of time for that later on when you are more confident and know how to do it effectively.
So before you take the plunge here are some basic questions you need to ask yourself: Is it right for my business? Are my customers, prospects and the people I want to do business using it? Are people engaged in conversations in the social media space about my industry or my business or brand? If the answer is no, then you need to think carefully about whether social media is a priority for you.
If the answer is yes, then you need to join the conversation! Here are some free tools you can use to find out what conversations are taking place that are relevant to your business and where: Social Mention - this is a tool that allows you carry out searches for brand names or keywords across the web Twitter search - allows you to carry out all sorts of searches to find out who is tweeting about what Google Blog Search - search for people who are blogging about subjects you're interested in Google Alerts - will send you an email alert whenever one of your keywords is mentioned.
Do you have the time and resources for it? Maintaining all those social media profiles and generating lots of valuable content is hard work and social media is not something you can pick up and then put down again when you get busy.
So before getting started think long and hard about whether you can dedicate the resources or the time to engage on a regular basis.
If you have a team of employees can you make it a core part of someone's job? If you're doing it yourself can you carve out an hour or even half an hour a day, every day to check in on your profiles, comment on other people's posts, write that blog post etc.
? Is it a priority for you? It's important to get all of the foundations in place before launching into social media marketing.
There isn't much point in whipping up lots of interest in your business and sending people to your website if it isn't up to scratch so make sure it is up to date and offers lots of engaging content and is optimised for conversion first, otherwise all of your efforts will be wasted.
Also make sure you have put your house in order and dealt with any other key marketing priorities first.
Are you clear about what you want to get out of it? The #1 mistake business owners make when they start out with social media is not having a clear set of goals and objectives.
The result is a lot of aimless blogging, tweeting and status updates that contributes nothing to your business.
So be clear about what you want to achieve, be realistic about what it can and can't do for you and ensure that everything you do is targeted at your specific needs and tied back into your business plan.
Do you have the necessary skills? Educating yourself about social media is a pre-requisite for running successful campaigns.
So if you don't have a sound grasp of the fundamentals get yourself booked onto a course or workshop, read everything you can find on the subject (there is lots out there but you might like to start by checking out some of our other social media blog posts) find someone who can offer one to one coaching if you need it and then take some baby steps to familiarise yourself with the key social media platforms.
And don't forget the first golden rule of social media - listen before you engage! There will be plenty of time for that later on when you are more confident and know how to do it effectively.
