After 10 years of preaching the merits of search engine optimization to sceptical business owners, I’ve found there’s a new challenge in online marketing and it’s a funny one.
Nearly all business owners I meet think they should use social media marketing to promote their businesses, but a good number have a real aversion to using social networking channels.
I am finding many people are afraid that if they don’t start using social media they’ll end up behind their competition – or even that they are just going to be missing out on this ‘next big thing’. I’ll be called in for a consultation on using social media for a business, and after discussing the ins and outs of a successful social media campaign, I see there’s something not quite clicking — but as averse to using social media the client may be, he still feels that he must use it.
Do you convince such people that they need to push on, as social media marketing is a necessity these days, or is social media just not for everyone?
Whilst we’ve all heard the benefits of using social media to promote businesses, the dilemma is that using social media as an effective marketing tool also requires:
* some technical ability (albeit pretty basic);
* time, when you may already have issues with time management;
* putting yourself ‘out there’, the social aspect of social media is intimidating to many;
* creative writing skills;
* buy-in from management that may be concerned about dealing with unfriendly comments, time and money spent, etc.;
* a budget to hire a professional to get started or run your campaign, if you just cannot manage it internally.
Nearly all business owners I meet think they should use social media marketing to promote their businesses, but a good number have a real aversion to using social networking channels.
I am finding many people are afraid that if they don’t start using social media they’ll end up behind their competition – or even that they are just going to be missing out on this ‘next big thing’. I’ll be called in for a consultation on using social media for a business, and after discussing the ins and outs of a successful social media campaign, I see there’s something not quite clicking — but as averse to using social media the client may be, he still feels that he must use it.
Do you convince such people that they need to push on, as social media marketing is a necessity these days, or is social media just not for everyone?
Whilst we’ve all heard the benefits of using social media to promote businesses, the dilemma is that using social media as an effective marketing tool also requires:
* some technical ability (albeit pretty basic);
* time, when you may already have issues with time management;
* putting yourself ‘out there’, the social aspect of social media is intimidating to many;
* creative writing skills;
* buy-in from management that may be concerned about dealing with unfriendly comments, time and money spent, etc.;
* a budget to hire a professional to get started or run your campaign, if you just cannot manage it internally.
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