Why to avoid social media for business
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Tue, May 11, 2010
Are there any reasons why you should avoid social media for business? The first reason that jumps to mind is if you are just not social, which really goes without saying. Social Media is about people and engaging with each other. If this is not you then maybe look to outsource your social media strategy.
The second reason why to avoid social media for business is if you have no website. Social Media is a great tool to increase your brand awareness and to drive people and traffic to your website. Social media will not be of much benefit to you or your company if people have no way to follow up.
This leads to the third reason why to avoid social media for business which is social media is just not about selling. It is very hard to sell to anyone if you have no trust or a relationship with them first. A great way to build trust and build a relationship is by listening. So listen first to what is said about your industry, your products or your company.
The forth reason to avoid social media for business is if you think that social media is a strategy by itself. The top benefits from social media are to increase brand awareness or to publicise new content. If you have no content or any brand image then what is the benefit. A success strategy can go social but social is not a strategy.
The last reason to avoid social media for business is if you are not willing to commit the time. If you are coming to social media with the view that you can create a blog or set up your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account and then wait for the leads, traffic and conversations to start. For you to see any return you need to track it and monitor it like any other strategy. Really if you're not going to take the time to create a strategy and dedicate time to it, then don't start.
In the last few weeks Facebook has changed the way their fan page can operate. So SiliconCloud are running an updated webinar on how to use Facebook for lead generation. You can find more here: Facebook for business.