Small Business Social Media Accountability

April 19, 2013 by

Small Business Social Media

Recent tragic events here in the United States (and around the world) have heightened awareness of the global reach of media, especially social media, and the consequences for businesses using it.

Small business advertising has historically been local, making it easy to craft messaging that is appropriate for the targeted audience. However, now any piece of digital content has the capability of reaching audiences far removed from those for which it is intended.

This creates new responsibilities that many businesses are only just beginning to fully comprehend.

Your small business may be local, but your words spread far and wide, and that has consequences that can dramatically affect its reputation.

It is prudent for every business to recognize that they are a media company, and with that comes responsibilities for which is must be accountable.

Have a Larger Perspective

Many businesses autopublish information on their social media channels. This practice is useful for convenience, provided the content is monitored. Unfortunately, many influencers and businesses were swept into a controversy in the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy, largely because what they were publishing had gone unchecked.

This is precisely why delegating the social media function to a low-level employee is not a good idea. When this is done the risk of making making poor decisions rises significantly.

To be sure, this may also hold true for media agencies that are inexperienced, or do not know your business well. And let’s face it, nobody knows your business like you do.

The solution is to weigh what is published against the values and beliefs of the organization.

Naturally, this larger perspective has to come from leadership, and it has to be clearly articulated in a manifesto or core values that everyone then adheres to.

Choose a Professional Approach

Zappos is an example of a company that manages their social media well; and this is accomplished by simply linking its employees’ social media sharing to its ten core values, which are focused on achieving world-class customer service.

When a business is intensely focused on the customer, it’s messaging necessarily becomes more professional. It’s when businesses seek to draw attention to themselves that the message can be interpreted to be self-serving, insensitive, or shallow.

Vital elements of the media message to carefully consider are these:

Language – We are judged by our words. Using profanity or slang rarely postions a company as edgy or cutting edge; it is likely to be viewed as amateurish at best, and more likely unprofessional.

Timing – Choosing your timing well respects your audience. This includes both the hour and day of the week.  Nobody wants to receive a business message on a weekend, with the exception of a light wrap-up of the week.

Content – Content is king, so design it for royalty – your customers. It’s quality reflects your personal and business brand.

Stories – Stories should entertain, educate, and inspire. They should deliver value and never make people feel uncomfortable. Stories about exceptional customer experiences are nearly always be appreciated.

Personal or Impersonal – Being too personal or too impersonal is not advisable when working with clients and customers, and so it is with your social media. Just be social.

Accuracy – Do your fact checking and avoid racing to report news that you have not verified as accurate.

Be a Responsible Publisher

Have guidelines that you live by. Minimize automation as much as possible, and always bring the wisdom of experience to bear on your social media marketing.

Responsible online publishing is now essential.

Learn to hold your business accountable for its social media, because its extended communities already are doing so.

About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, helps mainstream small businesses create exceptional customer experiences that accelerate business growth. Get more from Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.

Jeff is also the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – Just Released April 2013 (Wiley)

Photo Credit

Social Media for Small Business – It’s Still Early Days

April 15, 2013 by
The Social Marketing Process


The Social Marketing Process ©Jeff Korhan

The art of marketing has always been about making meaningful connections with ideal buyers.

Modern marketing is a practice that is new to most small businesses. Prior to that small businesses made meaningful connections through selling, not marketing.

One of the reasons for this is that most of the media available in recent decades, including magazines, radio, and television advertising, were far too costly for the average small business.

The Early Days of Modern Marketing

In the early days of marketing, impressions were a common metric that media agencies measured. The idea was the more times an ad was served to a target audience, the more likely it would stimulate buying behavior.

That’s not a problem anymore. In fact, these days the practice of focusing on impressions is considered spamming.

Every business has the capability to use technology to achieve countless impressions, and that is possible with even the smallest budget. As a result, we have gone full circle.

Now we are right back to where we started – seeking to use social media marketing to make meaningful connections with our ideal buyers. This requires practice, training, skill, and a bit of good fortune does not hurt either.

Digital marketing requires a strategic approach and committed focus. In the earlier days, most small businesses used the same forms of marketing — advertising in local newspapers and telephone books (Yellow Page advertising).

Today, mainstream small businesses have moved their focus to Facebook.

Is that the best approach for your business? It may well be, but the truth is achieving results with Facebook is challenging, because the changes are ongoing and many.

Whereas, by comparison, Twitter largely works today as it did in its early days. One could argue the same is true for LinkedIn and more recently, Google+.

These Are Early Days for Small Business

It’s true that the good old days of Twitter were five or six years ago.  I was there, and I can say that getting in early was a lot of fun.  It enabled me to learn by rubbing shoulders with leaders such as Chris Brogan, John Jantsch, and Mari Smith.

There are really two early days here: this thing that we once referred to as new media, and its use by respective business communities.  New media is no longer new, but its use by many small businesses is.

I was delighted to hear my friend Michael Stelzner comment in a recent television interview that we are indeed in the early days of social media. That has certainly been my experience from speaking to small business groups in multiple industries, including retail, franchising, agriculture, construction, and hospitality.

It was that experience that led to my authoring Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business. Today I’m celebrating its official release – and that is exciting, because I’m proud of the result.

Built-In Social Cover

The challenges and opportunities for small businesses are much the same from one industry to the next. Blogging and content marketing are still practiced by just a few. Although, nearly everyone is waking up to the fact that it is a practice that effectively attracts leads that drive their social media engagement.

What’s Next for You and Me?

Those of us that have been doing this for a while have learned two things:

a. What works for you may not work for my business, but I can still learn from your practices.

b. You have to make this a practice, expect to make mistakes, and then find a business model that works.

What I find fascinating is how social media amplifies our strengths, weaknesses, and personal qualities and capabilities.

For example, I could never match the personal magnetism of Mari Smith, the productivity of John Jantsch, the community focus of Chris Brogan, or the business-mindedness of Michael Stelzner – but I can learn from them.

And so can you.

Early days means you have plenty of time to find your way. What are your unique qualities that will best help your communities? That’s what’s next for you – and me.

Find it.

Show up – and show us who you are. You’ll probably surprise yourself, and make a significant contribution as a result.

Are you ready?

 About the Author:  Jeff Korhan, MBA, helps mainstream small businesses create exceptional customer experiences that accelerate business growth. Get more from Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.

Jeff is also the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – Released April 15, 2013 (Wiley)