Point One: Social Media Works
Frank Reed presents two examples in Twitter, Local Business and Results: Naked Pizza, where an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day’s business, and Berry Chill, a yogurt store, whose use of "Sweet Tweet" promos on Twitter to give away yogurt has not diminished daily sales.
Point Two: But...
Small businesses aren't using social media much. Social Media and Small Business (Are) Getting Acquainted Slowly, Frank Reed reports in a later blog. In fact, according to his analysis of a social media study conducted by Sage Software and AMI-Partners, actually only just under 1% of the small businesses in the U.S. and Canada are using social media!
Mr. Reed comments: "So what’s it take to get the little guy involved? Well, extra time, money and people for one. With social media being so time intensive the barriers to entry get higher as a business gets smaller."
You can say that again. My own experience suggests that using social media is so time-consuming that it's almost impossible for the one-person small business operator to participate at all, let alone use it as an actual marketing strategy.
However, my own experience also says that being innovative types, small businesses are perfectly willing to give social media a try.
Right now in my own social media poll asking which types of social media you use, Facebook and Twitter are running neck and neck. Vote in the social media poll or view the results here.
More on Social Media
Frank Reed presents two examples in Twitter, Local Business and Results: Naked Pizza, where an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day’s business, and Berry Chill, a yogurt store, whose use of "Sweet Tweet" promos on Twitter to give away yogurt has not diminished daily sales.
Point Two: But...
Small businesses aren't using social media much. Social Media and Small Business (Are) Getting Acquainted Slowly, Frank Reed reports in a later blog. In fact, according to his analysis of a social media study conducted by Sage Software and AMI-Partners, actually only just under 1% of the small businesses in the U.S. and Canada are using social media!
Mr. Reed comments: "So what’s it take to get the little guy involved? Well, extra time, money and people for one. With social media being so time intensive the barriers to entry get higher as a business gets smaller."
You can say that again. My own experience suggests that using social media is so time-consuming that it's almost impossible for the one-person small business operator to participate at all, let alone use it as an actual marketing strategy.
However, my own experience also says that being innovative types, small businesses are perfectly willing to give social media a try.
Right now in my own social media poll asking which types of social media you use, Facebook and Twitter are running neck and neck. Vote in the social media poll or view the results here.
More on Social Media
- What is Social Media?
- Social Media Marketing
- Top 7 Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Use Twitter
- How to Promote Your Business on Twitter
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