Tonight, I'm the invited Twitter expert for E-Commerce Diva's private teleseminar entitled, “Powerful Twitter Strategies for Small Business Owners.” I am honored to present on this topic because social media is without question one of the most powerful tools small business owners have. But as good as social media is, it is not a panacea.
Social media will not swoop into your business and fix problems that are already there. For example, if you do not already have a blog, social media will be of little long-term use to you. If you do not have or do not want to have genuine relationships with other small business owners, again, social media will be no use to you. If your products stink, social media will ruin what little business you can hope to have. And if your website is a messy collection of blurry photos and spelling and grammatical errors, social media will not only be useless to you, but it could also actually hurt your business.
No social media tool owned by a third party should form the platform for your marketing outreach. The core of your marketing strategy should be supported by content that you own and control: your e-commerce site, business card, email newsletter, brochures, blog, podcasts, etc.
In other words, social media should supplement a machine that already works reasonably well on its own.
While social media is no substitute for an innovative, attention grabbing, system that markets a fabulous product, it does a heckuva job at supplementing a system that is already getting results. Twitter is like cake frosting. It's useless unless there's a cake to frost. But put it on top of a rich and scrumptious slice of cake and it's hmm hmm good for you and your customers.
Question: Are you perplexed by social media and how it can possibly work for your business? If so, check for holes in your existing marketing armor and plug them up. Chances are that, when you do, social media will take on a whole new meaning for your business. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments, experiences and even questions on this topic in the comments section below.
