Know-How Exchange : MProfs PRO Seminar Q&A

I hope Sean will address the time required to make an impact with social media. While social media may provide an "equalizer" for small businesses, it's the smaller businesses that are most often short-staffed, and finding time for social media activity may be a controlling challenge.

How have others handled this potential limitation?

I definitely agree it is a time issue for small business owners. For every social media account one opens, that's one more "site" to tend to. Not only does one have to generate content for all their social media accounts, but they also have to market them. No one will show up to the account unless you tell them it's there. So you have your website proper, your Facebook, your Twitter, your Youtube, etc. Now market each one and generate content for each one and interact with your followers on each one.

Don't get me wrong! I advocate the use of social media, because, of course it's essentially free, and it's a good way to relate to and attract targeted customers. I just see a lot of people letting their account fall to the wayside. I think people think social media is a fix-all for their marketing and it will open the flood gates to new customers. They don't see the amount of effort it takes to successfully sustain their accounts.

Do you think social media marketing is more relevant for business to consumer businesses or B2B businesses?
Or does it depend wildly on what industry the business is in?

@mgoodman - As someone who recently used social media to sell out a ballet performance, I can attest to Sean's relevance to the SMB's. In fact, he outlined many of the tactics that I used.

- I spent 1 to 2 hrs a week on our facebook fan page.
- I experimented and took risks.
- I sought quality individuals over quantity.

Small business owners have the time. IMO the barrier is whether or not the small business owner can grasp the value of social media.

mgoodman
I agree until you run a small biz, you don't know all the nuances. I left large biz to start/run a small biz. My current business is Ant's Eye View. We are 18 months olds, with 16 employees, growing fast, too much to do in the day and have to make tough concessions for our customers and employees.

Your "6 social principles" are good reminders that "social media" isn't a magic wand. It's a tool, that when used well, with the right audience, can be quite effective (and inexpensive).