Small Business Blog

It’s easy to decide one day that your small business needs to have Facebook and Twitter accounts. After all, these resources are free and all it takes is a few clicks of the mouse to get started…right? Actually, no, it doesn’t work that way. Social media campaigns should be evaluated in the same way that you evaluate any other marketing campaign; you need to ask yourself what it’s going to cost and what you’re going to get out of it.

Chris Crum writes a nice article entitled “Don’t Let Social Media Marketing Work Against You,” in which he points out four important considerations for effective social media marketing. These areas are consistency, quantity, reputation, and participation. In other words, you can’t delve into social media marketing in a haphazard way. You need a plan, with stated objectives, and you need to have the resources to deliver. By resources, I mean someone to manage the accounts long term as well as giveaway items or discounts you can use to attract new followers. Then, before you get started, you need to consider whether those resources might be put to better use elsewhere.

Social media marketing may be hot right now, but it’s not right for everyone.