By: Tonia Ries

Tonia Ries — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:57:36 +0000

Erick: you’ve really nailed it in this comment — never before have millions of people posted public information on what they’re doing, where they are and what they want, right now. It’s an incredible opportunity, and companies are only just beginning to figure it out.

By: Erick Hagstrom

Erick Hagstrom — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:46:34 +0000

This doesn’t surprise me at all. Social media is very accessible to small business. The problem, though, is that that accessibility makes it prone to misuse. Well, not so much misuse as uninformed use. I see so many small businesses approach Facebook and Twitter as though they were additional advertising platforms. The reality is that social media is the new corner diner or town pub. It represents an opportunity to engage and discuss rather than sell. And that’s what makes it so valuable: you can get your customers to talk to you for absolutely no charge. They’ll tell you what they like and what they don’t, they’ll tell their friends when they get what they like (and when they get what they don’t), and they’ll give you the opportunity to fix things when they go wrong and to do it as publicly as the original complaint. Social media is all about relationships.

Comments on: Small Business Marketing: 44% Use Social Media, Only 21% Use Paid Search

By: Tonia Ries

By: Erick Hagstrom