This week I listened to several comments about Social Media from small business clients and prospects. Summed up, they were all commiserating: they felt forced to join the Social Media world, yet didn’t know where to start, or who should handle it.
And they’re right on one level — managing your business through Social Media is price of entry now. It’s expected by consumers and considered a right. A right that can boost your business exponentially with fans.
So, how do you get past that “have to do it” feeling, when you want to focus on what you do best — running your business? Here’s three tips:
1. Think of Social Media as a selling opportunity. You’re always looking for new ways to attract consumers/customers — this is one of them. Reframe your attitude to motivational. Move from “this is an extra thing I have to do today” to “this is a new opportunity to sell more products or services.”
2. Stop thinking this will be expensive. Social Media is tremendously cost-effective. In fact, that’s how small to mid-sized brands are making their marks and competing with big brands. Your actual costs for Facebook ads or video production can be very reasonable. You may simply need to re-prioritize your advertising/marketing spend.
3. Surround yourself with experts. As we all know, a smart CEO surrounds him or herself with people who know more than s/he does. The same thing applies to Social Media. Now that doesn’t mean you need to hire a full-time staffer (maybe some day) or team. Instead, think of hiring a Social Media consultant to work with you to develop your Social Media strategy and content — and ways to measure its effectiveness. That can be a reasonable, one-time cost for this year.
Then delegate the execution to an employee or among employees. You’ll find that you have experts you didn’t know you had. It could be your receptionist or a sales clerk. If you don’t have that internal luxury of adding to an employee’s duties, hire an intern. Simply snatch an avid social media user from your local college (at minimum wage, for example) and use him to implement your strategy.
There’s your start, with minimal investment — time or monetary. You can grow from there.
