Many times when I’m consulting with clients, I get asked, “Does my business really need social media?” And I’ve realized that the answer is often no. No, your business doesn’t need social media.
I’ve actually come up with a little quiz for you to take to determine whether or not your business needs social media.
My business doesn’t really need social media quick quiz:
Rate these on a 1 – 5 scale, 1 being for absolutely and 5 being for no way.
1. My customers and prospects never ask me any questions
2. My customers live in an area with limited electricity and internet connectivity
3. My customers never talk to anyone about the things I sell or the services I provide
4. My business is booked solid for the next 10 years with signed contracts
5. I hate my customers, my staff, and the products and services I provide
6. My customers hate me, my employees, my products, and my services – but they would never share that with anyone
7. I want to go out of business in the next 24 months
Tally up your points.
27-35 – You need social media. More importantly, your business needs social media. NOW. Did I mention NOW? Get going. What are you waiting for?
20-26 – Your business needs social media. A lot. It’s like oxygen. Getcha some!
14-19 points – You could benefit from social media a lot, you probably just don’t know how to use it. Contact a professional today.
7-13 points – Sell your business and move to a new country where you don’t need to make money or see people.
0-6 points – You don’t know how to follow directions, as the lowest score was supposed to be 1, not 0.
There, that was easy. Like I said, your business doesn’t really need social media – if you don’t really want to be a business.
Now, let’s get serious. Social media can absolutely work for your business. But it’s going to take time. And a strategy. And ignoring the fact that you need social media is NOT a strategy.
But what type of social media does your business need? And how can you get started?
Here are two quick ways to get started RIGHT NOW, even if you don’t believe that you need all of this social media stuff.
First, start a blog, and commit to writing two articles a month that are 500 or more words about your best product or service, and how people that aren’t already using your product or service could benefit from doing so.
Put another way, that’s 1000 words a month, which is like 30 words a day. Seriously – 30 words a day. You can do this.
Second, start an e-mail newsletter, start collecting e-mail addresses, and commit to sending one e-mail newsletter per month. Ask all of your existing customers if you can add them to your newsletter. Add the newsletter signup to your website.
In the e-mail newsletter, include one of the two articles that you wrote and invite your subscribers to share their feedback on your article. Invite them by saying something like “What do you think? Reply to this e-mail and let me know. I’d really appreciate it, and I read each and every e-mail that comes in.” If you get a response, answer the question. Or use that for next month’s article.
See – you can do this social media thing. And it doesn’t matter what business you’re in.
Did this motivate you to get started?
