A growing number of Web users are going online to share information, opinion and all forms of media through free and easy to use applications such as Twitter and Facebook. The popularity of Social Media is evident in the amazing growth we have seen in the use of these applications over the past few years. The question is how this affects your business.
When considering the use of Social Media a business owner or manager should ask themselves two questions: Are your customers using Social Media and, if so how are they using it. This is not rocket science, it is a business fundamental to knowing your customer.
Not all businesses need Social Media for instance a company whose clients are a small closed group. They know their customers very well and personal contact is maintained using more traditional channels. The use of Social Media for them is not a priority. By comparison a company that has a large number of clients actively using Social Media for professional and personal communications should be communicating with them using Social Media as well as all the other traditional channels. It is it is even more important if their competitors are becoming more active on Social Media and targeting their customers.
If your customers are using Social Media you need to find out how they are using it. Do that for by searching for your products and services on the major search engines looking at blogs and Twitter. See if you can find your competitors and see what they are doing.
If you are convinced that Social Media is worth pursuing then the next big step is to get involved. You have taken the first step you have already by listening and getting an idea of how people use are using Social Media to communicate. My next blog will look at some steps to get started.
