Social media – everyone is thinking about it in some way, shape, or form. As a small business owner, it’s often daunting to figure out how to prioritize your time and participate in social media in the most productive way possible. To help you sort through the noise, we’ve reached out to a panel of esteemed social media experts and asked them all a single question: “What is the most effective way a small business can use social media“?

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
PRESENTED BY

2. Hmm… a single most effective way? I’m not sure there’s one effective
Ann Handley
way to use social media, but there is one key: Consistency. Unlike other
Ann is Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs and the co-author of
“Content Rules“
kinds of marketing, social media requires ongoing and active
participation, and the communities you build there require consistent
nurturing. The most successful companies using social media don’t have
a one-and-done campaign mentality, but understand that it’s an ongoing
commitment.Think of your social media efforts as less like marketing, too,
and more like publishing. In other words, think about growing your
audience and following that by providing them with interesting, solid,
enjoyable, and sometimes fun information that will interest them. It’s not
about pushing your messages out. It’s about connecting through content:
Curating and creating content, amplifying that content through social
channels, and then refining and responding to your audience. Which, by
the way, is exactly what publishers do.
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3. If you are the founder of a small business, It’s really easy to use social
Brad Feld
media – just do it. As the founder, you’ve got to dive in and embrace it
Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over
twenty years. He has co-founded Foundry Group, Mobius Venture
Capital, and Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder
of TechStars.
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fully and authentically. It’s not something you can hand off to someone
else or delegate – you have to incorporate social media into the voice of
your company, which has to come from you.

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5. Smart small business owners use social media to build communities
Deborah Ng
around their brand in order to have honest discussions about their
Deborah Ng is Conference Director for BlogWorld NY and LA
conferences and is also the Author of Online Community
Management for Dummies which is due out later this year. Deb
publishes a blog at Kommein
product or service. By offering rewards, and perks, and gathering
feedback and acting upon said feedback, the small business owners
aren’t only learning what drives their community, but they also create
advocates who are happy to recommend the brand to others.
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6. There is no single most effective way for a small business to use social
Francine
Hardaway
media because there is no such thing as a typical small business. If you
look at the way the category of small business is routinely sliced and
diced, it could be by SIC or NIC codes or by number of employees. But if
Francine is co-founder of Stealthmode Partners and is an
accomplished consultant, speaker and writer and blogs at
Stealthmode Blog.
you talk to small businesses about what they do, they categorize
themselves by what they do: I am a doctor, I am a pool cleaner, I am a
welder, I am a web developer. And many small businesses are fiercely
local.For any of these, the best start is monitoring. Not for your brand,
probably unknown, but for generic things people are talking about in your
field: lousy landscapers who leave the gate open to let the dog out,
people who want fences that don’t block their view. Dry cleaning that isn’t
poisonous. Web sites that have e-commerce carts. Getting customers to
your coffee shop in the afternoons.Look for 1) ways your business can
address common problems better. 2) ways you can offer better customer
service 3) ways to connect personally to potential customers in your
geography.And, BTW, don’t expect miracles. Social media is not free: it’s
a time suck. And it doesn’t make sales. It does build brand. But that takes
personal participation over years.
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7. The most effective way a small business can use social media is really
Gini Dietrich
three-fold: 1) Use Google alerts to keep yourself updated on what’s being
Gini is CEO of Chicago based Arment Dietrich and is an
accomplished, author, speaker and communicator. Also, Gini’s
famous blog, SpinSucks, is known web-wide
said about you, your business, the industry, and your top three
competitors. It’s a free tool and it’s a must have for any digital program
planning. 2) Learn the basics of search engine optimization and how to
use social, in combination with SEO, to increase your Google juice. 3)
Develop a really smart content marketing program. We talk a lot about
this at Spin Sucks, but every company eventually will become a media
company. If you can get there now, before anyone else does, you’ll be a
good 18-24 months ahead of your competition.
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8. Use social media to stay top of mind with your community.A lot of small
Jamillah Warner
businesses struggle with ways to monetize their social media efforts. But
Jamillah Warner is a poet with a passion for business and is the
Marketing Coordinator at Nobuko Solutions
using it to meet your people where they are (on Facebook, on Twitter, on
LinkedIn, etc) helps them to remember and reconnect with you, more
often. In business, reconnecting leads to that repeat sale. If you guys are
in the same social network, then your feed shows up in their social
stream. Your solutions, tips, advice, rewards, contests keeps you in the
loop. Plus, you get to overhear what they love and hate–and feedback is
always good for business.We trust what we know. Social media gives
people a chance to “know” you differently and remember you consistently.
And it gives you the chance to “know” your clients.
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9. What was most liberating when first diving into social media for my
Jill Foster
business was to make the mental decision that perfection was not the
Live Your Talk founder and videoblogger Jill Foster
(twitter.com/jillfoster) is a speaker coach for people in technical and
social tech fields (or as some say: a speaker coach for techies).
She’s coached CEOs, entrepreneurs, and innovators makin’ it
happen for stages like TED and TEDx, Ignite, and other keynotes.
goal, just consistent participation. So to that end, I learned and listened
regularly on a few social networks when starting out. Then experimenting
with content creation began to unfold. And I eventually became a big
proponent of video. It was (still is!) a natural fit for my work as a speaker
coach and how I want to ultimately engage with & teach my client
community.For small businesses getting started, it’s an exciting time in
social media. In your authentic way, I suggest greeting the social space
with a sense of discovery for who you serve and a willingness to
experiment.
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10. The most effective way a small business can use social media is to be
John Gruber
honest and plainspoken about news and information of interest to
John Gruber is an Apple enthusiast and writer of Daring Fireball
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customers. That’s it.

11. The most effective way small businesses can use social media is to utilize
Kristi Hines
it as a way to engage with their audience. Social media isn’t all about
Kristi Hines is a freelance writer for Future Simple’s Growth
University and is a blogging and social media enthusiast. She’s also
a blogs at Kikolani
marketing and sales – it’s also about customer support and service. It can
be a great way to simply get content to your clients and potential clients
to help them learn more about your industry as a whole. Overall, social
media can help you build relationships that lead to stronger brand loyalty
among your clients.
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12. Social media offers small business a chance to share expertise with new
Liz Strauss
customers when they’re searching for answers and even before problems
Liz is a Brand Strategist, Community Builder, Founder of SOBCon.
She blogs at LizStrauss.com and Successful-Blog.com
occur. Sharing information via social tools can attract people who share
the same values. With a clear shareable message that invites people to
participate, a small business can reach out to customers and connect in
more ways than ever before, responding with speed, ease, and meaning
that builds lasting relationships online and off.
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13. The most effective way a small business can use social media is to focus
Michael Stelzner
on developing a content strategy (ideally in the form of a blog). People
Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com and author
of Launch
love sharing great content on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Let your
content become the reason people choose to come back time and again
to your site.
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14. Social media marketing is very noisy, so unless you figure out a way to
Missy Ward
cut through the hubbub, your ROI will be DOA. The best way to do this is
Missy co-founded Affiliate Summit and FeedFront magazine, is copublisher of Revenews and also runs Suze Orman’s social
networking site, Money Minded Moms. You can find more about all
that Missy does on her website
to first figure out what you want to achieve by using social media
(branding, commerce, customer service, employee communications, etc.)
and develop a focused strategy (content, budget, resources, etc.) before
you even bother jumping in.The important thing to remember is that no
matter what you’re going to use social media for, your audience is not
going to grant you permission to engage them if you don’t share in their
interests. Be the type of person that they want to connect with by listening
to their needs and providing reliable and relevant information they’re
looking for.
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15. The answer is that a small business should be run as if everyone else
Seth Godin
had a social media account and you don’t
Seth Godin has written 13 books (all bestsellers) that have been
translated into more than 30 languages – his latest book is Poke
The Box.
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16. The most effective way small business can use social media is to think of
Steve Garfield
it as having a conversation with friends and friends you haven’t met
Steve Garfield is the author of Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to
Building Your Business, founder of Boston Media Makers, and host
of SteveGarfield.tv
yet.When I post to twitter, I’m sharing things that I’m interested in. Lots of
times I’m making comments on the news, or or forwarding interesting blog
posts. As it relates to video, I’ll share news on new cameras, new
software, and new websites. For me, twitter is a place where what used to
be a one-to-one conversation is public. Many of my followers retweet my
posts and that exposes them to friends I haven’t met yet.When I follow
people on Twitter, I get to see shared moments of their lives, and get a
sense of who they are. It’s a great way to see what people are like, and
can help you decide if you might want to work with them in the future.The
bottom line is that social media should be all about social first, and
business second. From time to time I’ll post about my book, Get Seen,
and about my live show SteveGarfield.tv. Those posts though, are
probably around 1% of what I am sharing on social media.Businesses are
made up of people, and social media is people.
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17. Small businesses first need to understand the goal of social media. It’s
Susan Payton
not to generate overnight sales; it’s to build trust with current and future
Susan Payton is a writer for FutureSimple Growth University. She is
also the President of Egg Marketing & Communications
customers. Engage in conversations, share links (even if they’re not your
own), ask questions and respond to comments about your brand. Social
media is only one channel of your marketing strategy, but it’s an important
one. Use it to find out what customers want and what they don’t want.
Learn from what your competitors are doing in this space and do it better!
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18. I think people get very caught up in the numbers game – even I
Viveka von Rosen
recommend creating as many connections on LinkedIn, “Likes” on
Viveka is a social media enthusiast, speaker & trainer. She also
hosts #LinkedInChat & is the author of Linked Into Business. She
also runs the social media resource Smart Blonde Media
Facebook and Followers on twitter as possible. I believe the mistake
many people make is thinking that huge networks with slick automated
functions is the way to do social media. The reason social media works is
the people. If we focus solely on building giant networks but forget to
create a genuine relationship with some of those connections, then we’ll
never attract the people to eventually purchase our product or service.
Recently I’ve become excited about the Social CRM apps being
developed – hoping one of them will help me create a system where I am
regularly reaching back out to the very individuals who helped position
me in the first place. To answer the question directly – what is one of the
most effective way a small business can use social media? To connect
and build relationships with their ideal customer base, one person at a
time.
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19. There is no way around it – you must first understand why: Why are you
Yvonne DiVita
venturing into blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. Is it
Yvonne is a very long time blogger, author, Co-Founder at
BlogPaws and President at Windsor Media Enterprises. Yvonne
blogs at Lip-Sticking Blog
primarily to increase sales or leads? Is it for branding purposes? Is it to
learn the tools as you go? The goal of social media is to be social. If you
are not prepared to make friends and connect with your customers on a
real-time basis, you will find social media frustrating and time-consuming.
To be most effective, learn everything you can about the tools – test them
over time – and devote an hour or two a day to participating, without
worrying about ROI. The ROI will be apparent, over time. To put that in
perspective – what’s the ROI of your cell phone? Apply your answer to
social media.
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