Why blog for your small business? More social media tips

Why blog for your small business? More social media tips

   Why should you blog? You write because blogging is power. When you write a blog, you will control the message you send out in a way that is impossible if filtered through another party. This is not to say you should give up advertising, telephone page listings, email and newsletter communications. But blogs are immediate, they can be more timely than any other form of communication, they are inexpensive (you do have to use a computer, after all) and you can add or subject anything you want to your blog.

   When you gain control over your message you put yourself at the head of the pack. Business owners who rely upon traditional forms of communication are denying the way culture has changed inexorably since the advent of social media. Does that sound extreme? Let me give you some examples.

   Here are some facts you might not know.

•In 2010 over 57% of Internet users visited a social media site at least once a month

•By 2014, it is estimate that over 165 millions people will use social network sites regularly

•By 2014, over 56% of 55-64-year-olds will use social network sites regularly; over 37% of people over 65 will use social networks

•Over 55 million people in the U.S. visit social network sites monthly

•Twitter users are slightly older than users of other social network sites

•The bad boy of social networks is Facebook with over 500 million users:

            Many are over 35

            Average user has at least 130 friends

            These folks spend over 700 billion (yep, BILLION) minutes each month on Facebook

•More than 240,000 small businesses use social media

   By now you can begin to understand the issue. If you choose not to use social media, your business will be left behind. All kinds of businesses have employees who are blogging in order to share information and drive customers to the business. You might be surprised to learn that includes some of the big boys…such as GM. GM? Right. Having employees blog about announcements, speeches, company details, sales information, what have you, bypasses the public relations department in a way that somehow seems, well, friendlier. People like that informal, person to person touch that is available by using social media.

    You are ready this blog to gain information. I am using this blog to help small business owners. It is not the only way I can provide help to business owners, but it is one very effective way to reach and touch someone easily. If you have something you want your potential and current customers to know, something that you can use quickly and easily, start your own blog.

   If you don’t think you can write or the idea of trying to say something meaningful seems beyond your skills, there is still help and hope for you. Consultants who specialize in setting up and maintaining social media sites are proliferating everywhere. Just look up social media managers in your city and you’ll find a list. You can ask for referrals of other businesses and look at what the manager has done for other people in your area. Usually social media managers charge reasonable fees for their services. If you really can’t swing the fees, then you can find someone to teach you some basics. Most of the sites have user-friendly guides for setting up accounts. If you still feel this is beyond you find a young relative or a friend’s offspring to help. As long as you understand that you, or someone in your company, needs to maintain communication consistently, you will be fine.

   The same advice holds true for websites. If you have a website, do NOT let it be out of date. Lack of attention to details such as these will ruin your credibility. It might seem like a lot of extra work; but you will enjoy the fruits of your labors when your customer traffic improves, as does you bottom line.

Have a terrific day and happy blogging,

Patricia