The Why/Not of adding Social Media to your Business
Photo Source: Francis Anderson
The talk now days is companies using social media. More companies are adopting online networking, from Fortune 500’s to non-profits.
The question is though, should your business use social media?
Sense and Sensibility Before jumping on board and going nuts, consider the following questions:
- Do you know anything about social media and how to use it?
- Do you view social media as just an investment or a NEW WAY of connecting with clients and customers?
- Do you know the scale(e.g Viral videos, blogging, mini-blogging, profile based etc etc)?
- Are you compelled to start using it because you feel it’s just something you need to do?
- EDIT: Does it FIT your business and customer base?
There’s no doubt that social media has provided value to a lot of companies and organizations as well as personal and corporate brands. The excuse “I just don’t get it” isn’t enough. Ford gets it! Thousands of others get it. Amber Naslund
explained this in The Fine Line Between Analysis and Excuses : “Yes, you need to know why you’re investing in social media and what you endeavor to get out of it for your business.” Understanding why or why not your company needs it, or can benefit from it.
It mainly comes down to:
Push release
Why: This will help the business improve customer service, become “more human” and extend reach to potential clients who would have otherwise never heard of our product or service. To experiment and to explore the unknown. AND to harness something that may prove extremely valuable in the long run.
Why not: Too much time spent in an area that doesn’t really matter or is already met by another medium. e.g. Using Bebo for contacting clients when e-mail and phone works just as well.
Inspired by Chris Brogan at his blog and
Amber Naslund at Altitude Branding.
Have a question? Have something to add? Your comments and thoughts are much appriciated!
Tags: branding, Business Entrepreneur, corporate, social media
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You should also mention the importance of carefully considering your customer base. Not all products have a user base who is interested in hearing from you on a continuous bases. When I use a product like SpiceWorks, I like to hear about updates, changes, the work going on under the hood and to talk to the community. This is rare for a business products.
Typically, consumer products make a lot more sense for using social media than do most enterprise business products. A lot of people who are considering products for big business are blocked from using social media at work.
Also, a lot of businesses don’t have highly technical consumer basis that are online looking to connect with you. Imagine if you are a bulk lumber company… people are not thinking about you in a social media setting.
I think that software and techy consumer gadgets are very social media-centric in their delivery methodology, coolness and user base. I think that often those of us who work in technology forget that there are a lot of businesses (most) who work nothing like us and social media doesn’t apply to 90% of businesses – at least not in the way that we think of it.
What you’re saying here makes a lot of sense.
Yes, sometimes it’s hard to believe that everyone isn’t using social media. But when you talk to regular people most of them never heard of Twitter and Friendfeed or don’t know why they’d use SM for business. Sure there’s a lot of grannies using Facebook, but the majority don’t really care to use it. And reinstating what you said, a bulk lumber company isn’t going to find a use for social media(but on the other hand who knows) and for lots companies SM just doesn’t fit. I think the following should be emphasized: Not everyone is using social media.
I really appreciate your input. I think I’m going to address these issues in another post(my next business-social media write up).