Effort & Time Question Addressed Using Social Media for Local Businesses

Some business owners contend: I / we don’t have time to “use Twitter” or Facebook, contribute to & maintain a blog, etc. We just don’t have the time!

With this contention come very real concerns that not only are small business owners currently over inundated with work, but there is an outstanding question as to the efficacy of using Twitter, Facebook, developing a blog, etc for their business. Does it really work? Is it in my demographic? “Do people actually watch / use this stuff – consume this information? And why???”

The answer is that 70% or more of the people – for most retail business – that come into your store, use your service or otherwise patronize your business came in contact with you or were some way influenced by your online presence. 70%. 50% is a very conservative number. Considering this, wouldn’t it be prudent to spend more time here developing your brand and making a very real contribution and connection with your customers online?

Cut something else out! Stop doing that direct mail campaign, stop doing whatever it is your doing where 50-70% of your customers are not being influenced. That is the real paradigm shift here. That is the real handle. Make the time to get involved with this medium. It takes time, both in terms of the day to day time it takes, and in the overall time it takes to build up an audience, but it will pay off.