Social media basics for a small business

Many businesses, especially small businesses, are wary of social media and for a variety of reasons. The reasons are legitimate given that owners are wrapped up in the business of actually running their business, so they are often in uncharted territory with very little time.

One of the biggest reasons, and biggest pitfalls, is:

What do I talk about?

It’s a genuine worry. What on earth do you put on your site, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account etc.? You can save yourself the hair-tearing and hand-wringing by focusing on content around five things:

1.    Who you are
2.    What you do
3.    Why you do it
4.    What interests you
5.    Why

It’s really just a small variation of who, what, when, where, why and how. Answer those questions and you’re on to something.

However, if you focus on my variation, those five questions, you’ll have a kind of manual for generating material for social media. Let’s have a look at those in a bit more detail.

Who you are

It seems a simple enough question (though there have been great tomes written on the subject by the more philosophically minded). But you need to understand just who “you” is/are. You means:

•    You (owner, manager, top banana)
•    Your staff
•    Your customers

Why talk about who you and your customers are? Because people are always more interesting to other people. No one cares about a brand; they care about people. A brand gets its brand identity only through people.

What you do

If you aren’t going to talk about what you do, not only is there little reason to be online, there’s little reason to open the door to your business.

What is your product or service? What does it do? What have you added? What have you removed? Are there specials? Sales? And so on. You can’t sell it if people don’t know you have it.

However, talk about it; don’t sell it. No marketing happy talk.

Why do you do it

There must be a reason you’re in the business you’re in. What is it? Why that business and not another? What brought you to this business? Is there something particular that excites you about it? If so, explain what that is.

It’s possible you’re simply in it because you figured you’d make fistfuls of money. If that’s the case, talk about it. Just try not to sound too greedy.

What interests you

People want something a bit more personal from you than, “Wanna buy some stuff?” Beyond your business, what excites you? It could be related to your product. For example, if you have green products it’s likely you have an interest in a wide range of green initiatives – community projects, causes, charities and so on.

What are they?

Maybe you sell motorcycles. It’s likely, then, you’ve heard about Sturgis. Maybe you’ve been there. You could talk about that – what you’ve seen and done, who you met; what you hope to see and do and who you hope you may meet.

Your interests connect you to people (such as customers) in ways that go beyond a sale and help create a community that is open to listen when you introduce new products and services. Or maybe you’ll just make new friends.

Why does it interest you

This is the real hook. It’s great that you’re into all things green or all things motorcycle or all things whatever. Telling people about why something interests you is where the passion comes in and binds the relationship with the people you connect to.

Involvement is important but why displays the reasons you have a cause, support a community, commit to a charity. And those reasons are what people identify with.

Don’t over think it

Think of social media as a way to establish and maintain relationships with your customers. Get the marketing/sales mindset out of the way. Stop worrying about the technology.

Just talk to people. Tell them who you are. And listen to them. Ask them who they are. That’s what social media is and why it helps businesses that do it right.