By Crystal Coleman
Facebook, Twitter, Vine, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, YouTube, Pinterest… just trying to figure out where to get started in social media can make a business owner or marketing director dizzy. And if you’re not confused by it, then the amount of time necessary to set up and post to social media daily seems daunting. These four questions will help you figure out what’s worth your time.
1. What kind of business do you have?
Are you selling directly to consumers or do you offer services primarily to other businesses? If the latter, LinkedIn may be more valuable to you than Facebook or Twitter because members use it more for business than for social conversation. Do you exist in brick and mortar or solely online? If the former, then developing your Foursquare and Yelp profiles is a must to let your customers know that you want to hear their opinions.
2. Where are your customers?
Search for your business name on social media services like Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp. Are people already talking about you there? When in doubt, ask them. Add a survey into your newsletter, take an informal poll of your key influencers, or literally ask them when they visit you.
3. What time commitment does each service require?
Although the specifics of these services will be covered in detail in future articles, the following list provides a general estimate of the minimum you can expect to spend on set up and maintenance of some popular social media services.
Service Set Up Maintenance
Facebook 2 hours 1 hr/wk (1 post every other day)
Twitter 3 hours 2 hrs/wk (2-3 posts a day)
LinkedIn 3 hours 1 hr/wk
(Personal)
LinkedIn 2 hours 1 hr/wk
(Business)
Google+ 1 hour 2 hrs/month
Foursquare 1 hour 2 hrs/month
Yelp 1 hour 1 hr/wk
4. How much time do you or your employees have to spend doing this?
Do you have a dedicated social media employee or will your marketing department be absorbing these duties? Talk with the employees who will be managing your social media to determine what a realistic commitment is for them. If they only have a couple of hours a week to manage it, then setting up every social media platform isn’t the best course of action.
If you take the common denominators of the first two questions, you can then use the answers to the last two questions to determine your priorities. A pizza parlor may want to prioritize Facebook, Foursquare, and Yelp while a business printing service might focus on LinkedIn and Google+ instead. Once you establish your main social media avenues, you can look at adding additional services as time permits. Do you sell something that lends itself to video? Look at incorporating YouTube or even Vine on a budget. Do you have an amazing writer on your staff? Set up a blog to establish your company as the local authority in your area. You may also want to look at niche networks: yarn stores should be on Ravelry; wedding service providers need a Pinterest presence, and non-profits should explore Care2 or Causes.
Marketing yourself in this digital era can be daunting, but if with a little research and guidance, you can make the most of social media and use it to successfully compliment your overall communications strategy, increase your client loyalty, and – ultimately – grow your business.
Crystal Coleman is a Gainesville native now living in Silicon Valley and working as a Community Consultant for Ning. You can follow her Tweets @ThatGirlCrystal and read her blog at: https://thatgirlcrystal.com. Look for Crystal’s social media column in our future issues of Business.