Now that the kids are back in school, maybe it’s time for small business owners to crack open a few books. Of course, my readers who are small business owners are probably thinking, “I don’t have time to go back to school, I’ve got a business to run!” And, while it may not be practical for most small business owners to go back to school, it is imperative that they continue to learn new skills in order to run their businesses more efficiently and effectively.
Last year, when a friend of mine started pushing me to learn social media skills, my reaction was, “How am I supposed to find the time to learn new skills? I’m working way too many hours as it is!” Quite frankly, as a card-carrying technophobe, I was confused and intimidated by the whole new world of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging. But, eventually, my friend convinced me to start slowly by spending a limited amount of time each week learning how to build my social media communities. So, I started building my connections on LinkedIn and then began working on Twitter.
It didn’t take long for me to see why my friend had been so persistent. Within a couple of months of creating my LinkedIn profile, joining some groups and participating in some online discussions, I noticed that some of my prospects recognized me and were a lot more receptive to talking to me than they had been before. As if this wasn’t enough to convince me of the value of social media, one day I attended a networking meeting where there were 400 attendees and a stranger rushed up to me and said, “You must be Susan Fronk. I’ve been wanting to meet you.” As it tuned out, she worked for a company that fit my target market perfectly.
A short time later, a small business owner contacted me after noticing my comments in a LinkedIn discussion group and asked if I could help him with some issues he was experiencing is company. By then, I was convinced that any amount of time I invested in learning about social media was well worth it. After that, I began to invest even more of my time learning how to use social media.
Today, I am a regular contributing author on America’s Best Business Practices blog. I post articles at least once a week in over 50 LinkedIn groups and actively participate in all relevant discussions. Each of my social media activities has helped me increase my online presence and helped me build my visibility and credibility in the market. As of today’s date, I have 757 LinkedIn connections and 1257 Twitter followers.
Just how valuable are these social media connections and followers to me and my business? I now have a much larger group of people who know me, think I can be trusted and would feel comfortable doing business with me than I did before. The most amazing aspect of all of this is that most of these people I have never met. And, it has not cost me a dime except my time.
This is why I believe mall business owners need to go to school on social media. If people know you and trust you, they are more likely to buy from you. They are also more likely to recommend you to people they know who may be looking for your products and/or services. This short video titled, Social Media ROI: from Socialnomics should convince you of the necessity to learn more about social media.
Now, here’s the bad news. Unless you do it right, social media won’t help you and/or your business a bit. In fact, it could harm you and/or your business. We wrote about this issue in a previous article titled, When Social Media Goes Wrong.
One of the best articles I’ve read about how to make sure your social media activities generate the results you want is an article titled, “Social Media’s Critical Path: Relevance to Resonance to Significance” by Brian Solis, published on the Harvard Business Review Blog: Conversations.
In his article, Solis asserts that the key to making social media work for your business is to, “Always pay it forward and never forget to pay it back…”. The typical approach in business is “pay it backward” (customers must pay for goods and services). However, the capital of this new social economy is productive relationships and those relationships are characterized by “generalized reciprocity” or “generalized exchange.” In other words you must focus on building relationships through constant acts of reciprocity, recognition, respect and benevolence.
This means that what you communicate online must have relevance. If your social media messages resonate with your constituents, they will share them with their constituents. If this happens consistently, you will achieve significance with them which translates into brand equity.
Although going back to school may not be practical for most small business owners, investing the time to learn about social media could be the best investment they ever made.
Feel free to contact me by visiting my LinkedIn page or emailing me at susan.fronk@bestbizpractices.org.
Posted by: Susan Fronk
