It is possible to compare
the selection of the tools for social media to how a farmer selects the tools.
First he/she surveys the land to determine the best type of crop to plant. This
is similar to the small business owner reviewing the business website. The
website for the small business is very much like the land for the farmer. It
must be easy to use, provide content, contains various ways for people to
interact with business and other ways to link with the business. As the farmer
begins to make a choice of crop or crops to plant, he/she identifies who will
be buying the crops. For the small business, it is the identification of the
target audience.
The farmer then makes the selection of the crop or crops that
will produce the greatest results for them and develops a plan or process that
will be used to plant the crops. This includes the review of the tools the
farmer has on hand and the tools he/she needs to purchase or lease to complete
the job of planting. Thus the farmer reviews each of their tools to ensure they
are in good condition and able to perform effectively the tasks that need to be
accomplished.
As the farmer makes the
decisions about crops, the small business owner has to make the choice of the
products or services he/she are going to provide to customers. The small
business owner must review the website and began asking the questions that will
assist in making the correct decisions on improvement.
For instance,
- How effective has the website been in assisting creating more sales?
- What kind of content are we providing that helps prospective customers?
- What is on the site that keeps the customer captured in order for them to spend more time looking at other products?
- Do I have links to other social media sites?
- Do I have a place for them to sign up for something free I am giving them?
- What other things can I offer to them to keep them on the site longer or have them buy a product or service?
The implements for the
farmer are limited by the type of product they are going to produce and the
overall size of the area to be planted. For the small business owner, the
implements for social media are much more varied and are dependent on the
target audience and the overall time that a small business owner plans to
expand on social media. Presently, the major tools being used include: Facebook
(Many large businesses have fan pages.); Twitter (This is a popular way to keep
in constant contact with people who follow you.); LinkedIn (Professional site
that provides information about people and companies.); You Tube (Video site
that is growing fast and being used in many unique ways to promote businesses);
and Google+(Similar to Facebook but is newer and is growing in a powerful way
for business use).
While the ones listed above
are the most popular and used most often, they are not the only tools that are
available for a small business. Some other tools being used are Tumblr,
Slideshare, Instagram, Foursquare, Yelp, Pinterest, Gentlemint and Merchant
Circle. Each one of these tools provides different formats and reaches
different audiences.
So much as the farmer
decides on the best tools for planting the crops, small business owners must do
the same thing. As we review the popular tools, it is important for you as the
small business owner to keep in mind your target audience; also, the amount of
time you want to expend in using social media.
Social media tools
discussed below have requirements that you create a profile. The profile will
differ somewhat between social media platforms. It is important that the
business owner complete each of the profiles. This becomes the key for people
to learn to know about the owner and the services or products that the company
provides. Some of the requested information include: name, picture, professional
headline, current title, web sites, public profile, summary, specialties,
experience, education, interests, groups and associations, skills, personal
information, contact settings, and companies.
The tool called Facebook (www.facebook.com), is one of the most popular of the
tools and is constantly growing. Businesses of all sizes are using this tool.
Businesses create fan pages and business pages to promote their business. They
ask people to like their pages in order to create greater number of followers.
When they post updates people who have asked to get notifications and feeds
will get them. This is a way for them to promote their brands, events, and
coupons. Businesses also can buy ads to post on Facebook to have their brand
promoted at a greater level. Before selecting this as the place where you want
your business listed as an owner understand that just posting a page is not
sufficient. It requires time to place status updates and respond to updates in a
timely manner. It is about the relationship you are creating. Prior to select
this tool the owner should check for the demographics of the website to ensure
it fits the target audience. This link can be used to find the information: http://tinyurl.com/smdemgrphs
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) as a tool is one of the most powerful
tools for connecting with professionals. It is a tool that allows a person to
develop a professional profile, upload a resume and join groups, create groups
and follow individuals and companies. It is a good source to find information
about a person or company. It is an excellent way to connect to other
professionals across the nation and world as well as generate request for
introductions to others. It allows a user to maintain a contact list of people
they know and trust in business and can use to help connect with others. As
with other tools, it must be used professionally and needs to (have ongoing
maintenance. Interactions are also important in establishing your creditability
with this tool. The following site can be used to find the demographics of
those using this site http://tinyurl.com/smdemgrphs
twitter (www.twitter.com) is another of the more popular tools
in social media. It requires more attention than others because it is more like
carrying on several conversations. It is used worldwide and can be considered a
micro blogging site. It is a good tool to keep people posted as to what is
occurring in your industry and information that as a business should be shared
with others. It is a means of connecting with leaders in your industry and
finding out their thoughts and how they influence people. As with the other
tools, it requires a time commitment to maintain and respond to twits or
updates from people. Before selecting this site as a tool for the business the
following site will allow the owner to review the demographics:http://tinyurl.com/smdemgrphs
YouTube (www.youtube.com) is a video sharing social media site
that is owned by Google. This site has grown considerably and is now the number
two search engine. Business and individuals use this as a means of connecting
with people using a visual mode. Studies show that people will watch a short
video rather than read a large amount of data. It is also used as an
educational platform and provides various types of self-development information.
It is a great platform for delivering video-based testimonials, how to guides
and commercials promoting products and/or services. As with other tools, a
business can subscribe to other users and receive information when new posts
are made. Before selecting this medium recognize that new videos will need to
be developed and uploaded to be an effective tool. Demographics for this site
can be found at http://tinyurl.com/smdemgrphs
Google+ (Google Plus https://plus.google.com) is a relative new tool as far as
social media is concerned. It is used by both businesses and individuals. It
provides a few more tools to use within the site than some of the others. Some
of them include: Circles, Hangouts, Messenger, Instant Upload of Photos,
Hashtags, Explore posts, Find People, Events, Find Local Businesses, Create
Business Pages and more. The features are user friendly and make it easy for an
individual to use. Since it is part of the Google product line one must have a
Google Email account to use Google+. As a whole when viewed with the other
Google product provides a great arsenal of tools to assist small business
become more successful. As with the other tools discussed the following site
can be used to review the demographics of the Google+ users: http://tinyurl.com/dempgoplus
The tools we have briefly
discussed are some of the most powerful being used presently, but they are only
as good as the business owner who selects to use them. The business owner must
remember that as a farmer selects the tools, the owner must do the same that
are best for the designed marketing plan. The use of the tools themselves for
business owner is most important. Once the farmer prepares the field with the
right tools and plants the seed, it is now important to water the seeds and
plants until it is time to harvest. The small business owner has prepared his
website, selected the social media tools based upon the marketing design,
prepared each of the sites with the requested profiles and published each of
the sites.
Now as the farmer waters
the small business owner must use the status updates, tweets, messages, videos,
slides. Responding to comments is also the way that a small business owner
works with small business to establish the know, like and trust factors. This
must be done with consistency overtime. As discussed in the previous article,
social media is the developing of relationships with people and that does not
happen quickly. Thus it is of utmost importance that a regular schedule be
developed and implemented on a weekly basis.
The next segment of the
series will review and look at social media sites that are up and coming and
sites that are very powerful but have not gained in the overall popularity. As
with the others, each has its strengths and weaknesses. Each therefore has
different demographics and different targets. The business owner needs to have
an understanding in order to select the best tool. A discussion of some of the
sites that are better for international use will also be discussed. The
subsequent articles will deal with tools to use to make using social media a
little easier and ways to measure the return on investment of social media.
The
final part of the series will discuss other web based tools that can assist
small business become more effective in delivering services and products to
customers.
As a small business owner,
take the time to review each of the demographics for the sites. If you do not
have a social media site, then select one that fits your demographics. Ask
questions, raise concerns, review your goals, and talk to those who are using
the sites, and then move forward with your plan.
Lonnie G. Juarez, Jr. Ph.D. Visionary/CEO Social
Business Media Connections and Social Business Media Managers
