Is social media just another way to separate a business owner’s money from the business?
Small business owners hear that to be successful these days they have to have a social media presence. I remember with the advent of the Internet business owners were told that to be successful they needed to have a web page.
Many small business owners either learned basic HTML or hired a friend to create a static web page. Few businesses saw any significant return for their web page efforts because they failed to define what they wanted the web page to do for them.
The true value of a web page for a business is that it can be a tool that can replace human effort, making the business more efficient and responsive to its customers. For example, a web page can take orders 24/7 or make recommendations to shoppers based on patterns, like you see when you visit Amazon.com.
Just creating a static yellow-pages type web page to fill a square on a checklist is not going to meet your business needs. Understanding how to use technology to leverage an outcome separates success from failure.
Creating a business Facebook page in itself is not leveraging social media. Understanding what you want your social media presence to do for you is the first step.
At its, core social media is about leveraging your friends’ assets and connections to drive traffic to your business via social recommendations, or to demonstrate your expertise in a specific area.
What is the role of social media, if any, in your business?
