Many small business owners are too busy to spend time on social media, or do not really understand Facebook, Forsquare or Twitter, so they decide to delegate these tools to scholars or specialists, something that is not always the case. more convenient for the company.
There is nothing better for a small owner than to speak directly with his clients and the entire community daily. We must understand the environment and for this there is only one way, to do it personally, since it will allow us, in turn, to understand much more our business and what it is that others expect from us. Therefore, now we will know 6 aspects that small companies should know and take into account when developing Social Media strategies and actions.
The client knows more . Social media has little to do with us, but it is all about the audience, clients or people we are trying to reach. It teaches us to think how our clients think. Now, we may not know where they are or how to find them, and the answer to that is very simple: let’s ask.
This simple question can lead us to an interesting conversation and broaden our vision on how we can participate and add value. It should not always be the social media expert, but our clients will show us the way.
Social Media is not necessarily free . We are all encouraged to create blogs, fan pages on Facebook or accounts on YouTube and Twitter among others, without having to pay anything. If we add that there is no expensive software or expensive resources that we need, the equation works perfectly for us. But what about the time, energy and effort they require?
This is the expense we have in social media and that is not always valued. It is far from being totally free and we need yes or yes, to listen to the followers, fans or clients in order to create interesting content, in addition to answering them and encouraging conversations.
Here is an error of many: we should not enter as much social network exists, but we must approach it slowly, evaluating which are the ones that can really help us. We must choose one or two that are important for our market, determine our goals and define who will be responsible for carrying out those tasks all day.
Do not measure success by the number of followers . We can never compare with the big brands. Reaching millions of followers of Starbucks, Coca Cola or Nike does not have to be our goal, quite the opposite. If we enter the game of numbers we will be trapped for life. The growth of our community is important, but we must focus on how supporters collaborate with us, on fostering conversations and keeping up with all of them.
Yes, we are all tempted to buy followers paying for one of the many services that offer it, but if we think long term, the important thing is to have a focused, dedicated and enthusiastic community of our niche, no matter how much they are. It is organic growth that should matter to us.
Social Media is not equal to self-promotion . Another frequent error is self-promotion and publishing content only from our company. It is not the way. We must take into account two very important points:
- We need to show the person behind the accounts in social networks, show that we are human
- We must concentrate on our customers, not on our company
Let’s learn from the experts . We should not try to reinvent the wheel, but we can follow the example of one of the many brands and companies that do things very well in social media. Let us be consumers for a moment and take note of what others are doing, what their strategy is and how they exploit social networks.
Now, let’s not be imitators because the effectiveness would not be the same, besides being nothing ethical. Each company has its niche and knows its customers, so we can not think that it goes the same way for everyone. If something works for others, it does not necessarily work for us. Let’s investigate our market and take an example from others to have fresh ideas and be able to propose a strategy adapted to our needs and customers.
Get help without giving up our identity . It is impossible to cover everything and more, to be an expert in everything. As we hire employees to carry certain aspects of our company, we can also outsource social media, or hire someone to carry out those tasks. But be careful, do not let them take the reins, but the command should be ours.
Collaborating closely is the key, having control of the situation but delegating that task. This is good to avoid mistakes on the one hand, but also to continue learning how our community works and what they want, something that will grow our business and at certain times, it will make us evolve as that is what happens every day with the new technologies.