- May 20, 2018
- Posted by: Con P. Sweeney
- Category: Social Media
That question in the title of this article has stopped more than one person from starting with social media.
The moment of truth for them came when they stopped and thought about all the work necessary to do social media right.
Especially, if they’d had grandiose visions of what they were going to do with it.
Many who consider starting with social media are, let’s be nice, somewhat innocent about what’s involved with doing social media properly.
Many think that they can use a “fire ‘n forget” approach to social media.
Not realizing that “social” means interaction.
Let’s discuss this!
I suspect that most folks don’t know what they’re signing up for when they think about doing social media.
There’s more to social media than just setting up a bunch of profiles.
Even with automation, there is that little matter of engaging with other people.
(Have you ever tried to have a conversation with a bot?)
A personal touch is required.
Then there’s the little matter of the back office details behind social media.
Things like capturing metrics, and creating and curating content.
A note of caution!
IMHO poorly done social media is worse than having no social media at all.
Your social media presence reflects on you.
Remember that old adage, “You only get one chance to make a first impression!”
If you’re thinking about using social media in your business then give some thought to who’s going to do all this work for you!
What can be done to deal with this matter?
First, delay starting social media until you can staff it properly.
Next, keep your first steps into social media simple. You don’t have to do it all at once.
Think about who is going to be your social media community manager?
Is it going to be you?
(Really? Just think long and hard if it is.)
If not you then who?
This is a difficult question for many small and medium sized businesses.
Options could be an existing employee (either full time or part time), a family member, or a virtual assistant.
Another possibility is breaking out the routine, administrative social media tasks so one of the latter can perform these while keeping the critical tasks like creating content to yourself.
I don’t want to scare you off from social media.
I firmly believe that it’s a critical component of modern business strategy and will only become more important in the future.
I just want you to do it right!
Approach social media thoughtfully, just like you would any other important business decision.
You’ll be glad you did!
That’s it for now!
Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.
Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!
In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!
I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.