Don't Overthink This One
Amidst the enormous amount of hype surrounding facebook and twitter, many organizations still wonder whether using social media makes sense for their goals. We get it. From the most practical perspectives, social media might seem more like a distraction than an aide. The fact is, if you want your business, non-profit, alumni-base, etc. to grow in the future, you need to embrace social media now while it still is mainly twitter and facebook.
Yesterday, The New York Times ran an article examining the tentative steps many small businesses are taking toward social media marketing. It reported that approximately 260,000 small businesses are already on social media and 51 percent believe they acquired or retained customers as a result of their social media outreach. What will happen to the other small businesses who aren’t adopting social media into their marketing strategies? Rob King, VP of Strategic Marketing at Sage North America puts it bluntly: “I hate to say it, but if they don’t, they’ll get left in the dust.”
Rob might be overstating the situation. Does the nail salon down the street really need to be on social media? Maybe. Given the fact that it’s free and quickly becoming a dominant source of information, I think a better question is why shouldn’t your organization use it? That’s a much more challenging one to answer. Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.
#1 by Kim Woodbridge at June 4th, 2009
I think for some businesses, like the nail salon, social media is only going to be useful it they can make local connections. Then they could send messages about discounts or special services for social media contacts.
New Delhi restaurant in Philly found me because I tweeted that I was craving Samosas. They deliver to my neighborhood and they tweet the daily specials so in that example it’s working. They did, however, also follow my friend that I was talking to about Indian food. He’s in Greece so that doesn’t really make sense.
#2 by admin at June 4th, 2009
Thanks, Kim. In many ways we the consumers want our favorite cravings on social media too. I’d been searching for toddler shoes I really liked for a while until I saw a coupon from Toms Shoes on my facebook newsfeed. Problem solved.
Your experience with the restaurant is a perfect example of the good and the ugly of social media management. The restaurant was able to directly connect with a customer, but slipped a little when they started following your friend who’s out of the country.
I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that a nail salon started following me on twitter soon after I posted my tweet about this blog entry. There’s still a lot of work business can do figuring out how to engage a receptive audience. Hopefully soon there will be a lot more genuine connections and a lot less misses.
Thanks again for your comment.