Is Social Media Right For Your Small Business? Have You Got The Resources To Make It Work?

Yes social media can be effective and efficient means of business marketing, especially, if you get it right. But is social media right for your small business?

Do you have the right resources to make it work for your business? In our social media-centric world, every small business wants to be socially connected.

Businesses want to be able to reach their potential customers through other means than the usual traditional forms of marketing.

Social media is one of the trending and most talk about marketing topics nowadays. It’s the most popular “news”; you can hardly read a magazine, newspaper, business blog or anything connected with business without coming across social media. It’s like the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.

Social media, businesses and customer interactions

No doubt about it, social media has changed the ways business communicate and interact with their customers.

And when it comes to promoting and monitoring business or brand reputation online, there is no other ways to do it better than social media.

Social media is simply one of the best things to happen to online marketing and customer support as it’s one of the most effective communication tools that any business can easily use.

Yes, social media is a huge shift in how businesses engage with their customers. And yes, it can deliver great results. However, it’s not necessarily right for every business. So, is social media right for your small business?

SEE ALSO: How To Easily Kick-start Your Small Business Social Media Presence

There are a number of considerations to think about before you jump aboard. Here’s a checklist that will help you to understand a little more about what’s involved and whether it’s right for your business.

Is social media right for your small business?

As a business owner, before you put your business on social media and join the ever-growing list of social media ‘users’, you should be able to know or determine whether your presence on the platform will be of a great benefit to your business.

You have to be able to ask yourself whether the time is right for your business to be on social media. Are your customers, clients and the people you want to connect with using social media? There’s a possibility that more than 90% of the people that interact with your business almost daily have access to social media.

Mind you, it’s not just about having your business on the platform, you have to be able to understand why your business should use social media for business marketing and promotion.

This is particularly important because it’s when you have an idea of why your business should be on the platform that you will be able to leverage social media for brand awareness, marketing and sales.

SEE ALSO: How Well Are Small Businesses Using Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Are your competitors active on social media platform? Have you searched to see if people are already having conversations about your business, your industry niche or even your brand on social media? If the answer is yes, then it could be a very useful tool for you.

Do you have the resources for social media?

Another thing is that you should be able to understand what social media is about before you decide to put your business on it.

The fact is that not all the small businesses on social media are actually maximising the benefits of the platforms. Some are just on social media to make up the numbers. Is your business one of them?

As a business owner, you have to set aside a dedicated team of people that can help you maximise your presence on social media. So, do you have someone that can dedicate on-going time to your business’s social media activities?

Do you actually know the best ways your business can get better social media marketing results?

Can you commit to this time and not take this person away from their social media activities when it gets busy? Remember, you can’t open the door to social media and close it when workloads increase.

Do you have the time for social media?

If your business is on social media, you will be making some expensive social media mistakes to think that you can record success overnight. Social media does take the time to blossom and if it finally does, it will offer immense benefits for your business.

Get this right, social media successes don’t just come overnight, you have to be patience in order to make it work for your business. Social media is like a marathon, not a sprint, don’t expect some instant results.

So, are you prepared to invest the time with little output at the beginning? Are you prepared to put in the groundwork even when you won’t see the return on your investment straight away?

Do you have the patience for it? Check out our article on simple but effective ways to use social media for business marketing.

Do you know what your objectives are?

Do you know, and understand, what you want to achieve with social media? Are you clear what it can achieve and what it can’t? Have you tied this into your business plan?

You need to be certain of your goals before you start, otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of time and effort on something that isn’t targeted to your specific needs.

Is social media a priority for your small business? Do you have a quality, fully optimised website you can direct people to from your social media profiles or blog? Make sure your house is in order so that it will be easier to integrate social media with your other activities.