In business, like life, nobody wants to be left behind or left out. Everyone wants their business to succeed and make money. Which is why no one wants to miss out on any business to be gained by engaging in “social media,” a phrase that basically refers to the Internet sites Facebook. Twitter and LinkedIn. These sites may be useful and of help for some companies and businesses, and for others they may not. The hard part is knowing which is true for your enterprise.
One thing that remains constant amid all the social media rigmarole is that good old word-of-mouth remains the best way for people to learn about a business. Which is important to remember when everyone from Angie’s List to Facebook wants businesses to believe they can’t succeed without them. But they can and they do. Despite the pressure.
Regularly, one can find free advertising for the big “social media” sites masquerading as news, such as a recent article from USA Today headlined “What’s new on Facebook for small businesses.” It contains sentences, without attribution, like this: “Facebook, with more than 1 billion members, is by far the largest social network. Because of its size, it has become the most important first step for any small business’ social-media plans.”
Really? That assertion isn’t backed up by the quote that precedes it from a small-business owner: “You can go out and pay (marketing) companies to get people to ‘like’ you, but unless you keep (customers) actively involved, a ‘like’ doesn’t go very far.”
The article goes on to quote a Facebook executive about how great some new feature is for small businesses.
The article directly contradicts another USA Today report published just a month before, “Study: Social media a bust for small businesses.” According to the survey released in April from Manta, a social network for small businesses, about 61 percent of small businesses don’t see any return on investment on their social-media activities. But almost 50 percent say they’ve increased their time spent on social media, and only 7 percent have decreased their time.
Small business owners (or even big ones) who find themselves in this predicament would do well to read the book “Social Media is B.S.” by B.J. Mendelson. He’s young, not a curmudgeon, and shows how getting businesses worked up about “social media” mainly benefits … the “social media” websites. Mendelson believes most businesses benefit more by tending to their own websites. He offers advice and insight which helps balance the seemingly non-stop blare that businesses are losing big by not devoting resources to maintain a “social media” presence.
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