Small Business and Social Media ~ What Is Your ROI?

Anyone that knows me can attest that I am totally bought in to social media.  I have used tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to build the on-line presence of the SBDC as well as to meet some really great people.  I firmly believe that social media is an effective, inexpensive way for small businesses to get their message out and create a dialog with customers and prospective customers.  It's the new "word of mouth" marketing.  It is, however, easy for small business owners to get confused when it comes to social media.  Issues such as "What tools should I be using?", "How should the company involve employees in the process?", "What about security?", or the biggest question of all "How do I make time to be involved in social media?" all contribute to the confusion.  As a small business owner you should look at social media like any other marketing function.   The key is to approach it much like you would any other business decision...Return on Investment (ROI). 

Measuring ROI on social media can be made to appear difficult but it isn't really.  For small business the ultimate ROI is $$$.  Like most marketing social media should be a process that will lead to sales.  To many small businesses think social media will have an instantaneous and direct impact on the top line.  There needs to be a strategy involved.  Don't get impatient if you don't see an impact in the first week.  The worst thing you can do is to go out like a bull in a china shop and start hammering people with your product.  Having said that there eventually needs to be an impact.  Analytics are nice but if you aren't getting sales re-look at the strategy.

Before you start developing your plan determine what drives $$$ for you and how social media can contribute.  Like any other marketing initiative you need to create your social media strategy to reach your audience.  Don't just shotgun stuff all over the net. While social media is viral by nature there is work involved.  There are steps that lead from point A to point B to point C and eventually to the top line of your income statement. For example, I have used Twitter extensively to advance the mission of the SBDC.  I started by following some people and listening to what was going on.  I began to interact and got to know about people based on what they were doing on-line.  I didn't drive the SBDC down anybody's throat I just talked to people.  Over time this led to my getting together with people I met on Twitter either through Tweet-Up networking events or simply meeting for coffee.  These are not out of the blue "let's get together to let you know what I do" meetings they are meetings with people you already have a connection with.  It has created a warm prospect as opposed to a cold call.

Social media strategies will differ based on the type of business you have.  Social media for a store front retail and a B2B seller of industrial machinery will be different.  One business may need to drive traffic and the other may want to focus on developing a customer feedback mechanism.  Also, not every platform will deliver the same results and you don't have to be on every platform to succeed.  Here is a quick guide you can use to understand the basics of social media by Amber Naslund...Download Gettingafootholdinsocialmedia.  This will allow you to get a feel for what is what as you are deciding what makes sense for your business.

As you progress in the development of your social media strategy remember it is for business.  You still need to engage and dialog.  You still need to build real relationships.  Yes, you need to do everything that they teach in Social Media 101 but do it with the end in mind...$$$.  If you decide to engage a Social Media expert to help you with this make sure they are helping you reach sales. (Read this before you hire an "expert" to handle your social media positioning and messaging..."Is your social media expert really an expert? The Top 25 ways to find out.")  You can ask for help in design and implementation if you want but be involved and make sure it is meeting the needs of your business. Remember this is your business, don't blindly hand over control of the delivery of your message.

Finally, track progress of your social media strategy.  Calculate the expense associated with social media and compare it to the results.  You have to give social media some time to work but you should have milestones built into a plan that will allow you to assess progress as you go.  You should be able to calculate the impact on your business and make decisions on how to invest money and time as you move into the future.

What are some of the best ways you have found to determine the value of social media on your business?

Comments

[ultrayellowpages]

There are a lot of opinions about marketing and advertising being expressed online these days. The internet is filled with people who are blogging about advertising your small business. Many aren't shy about sharing their opinion - even if it's not based on real world experience.

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[Sara]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sara

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[sandy378]

Definitely proceed carefully when doing social media marketing or else it may even backfire. That said, I still think it's a really good idea to put up short, fun videos on AdWido, YouTube, and Vimeo in order to boost your exposure relatively easily.