As you have heard me say before, it is important that small businesses begin using social media. Large companies are using it to have conversations with individual customers, to thank them and to solve problems for them. The problem for large companies is that they have so many customers that it is not possible for them to address every issue with every customer within the confines of social media. Their customers get the ‘not so personal’ attention of the much dreaded big customer service departments.

This is where the small business owner has a huge advantage. Your customers are able to get personal attention from you, the owner of the business. Customers appreciate that and will speak highly of you and your business when they feel you appreciate them.

This is where listening is important. Social media is a conversation broken down into short statements, but it is a conversation nonetheless. Being a good listener is a big part of conversation.

It is only by listening that we learn how our customers feel about us and our business. It is by listening that we are able to publicly resolve issues that our customers are having. And, it is by listening that we are able to publicly let our customers know that we appreciate them.

So, how to we listen with social media? On Twitter, for example, there is the obvious way of just seeing what they are saying as it is being posted but, let’s face it, that’s sometimes impossible to do. Many posts can go by without you seeing them and if you are not following the commenter, you will not see them at all. A better way would be to search @YourName. By doing this, you will be able to see what anyone says rather than just those that you follow. If you are not following them, this gives you the opportunity to not only follow them but also to respond appropriately to their comment.

So, you are listening, right?! If not, get started. It will make a huge difference in your social media endeavors.

When Steve and I started researching social media, WOW were we ever overwhelmed. It’s funny to think about now but when we first looked at Twitter, it was a little like looking at a foreign language. With all the @ this and # that and the fact that we were only seeing one side of a conversation, it just seemed crazy and quite frankly, useless.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are still many that feel just as we did. We talk to small business owners all the time that feel it is just a time suck. That there is no value to social media at all. Believe me, we understand these thoughts. We felt the same way not all that long ago.

When you first start with Twitter (or any other platform for that matter) is takes time to figure out what’s going on. Then it takes even more time to build your list of followers. It took us a while just to figure out how to get followers. How about you?

We realized that if someone follows you, it’s kind of like saying hello. If someone were to say hello to you in person, you would say hello back, right? So, the same applies in social media. If someone says hello to you (follows you), it’s important that you say hello back by following them. There are some that you probably will not want to follow back but we’ll talk about those in another post.

Another reason to follow back is that unless you do, you do not see anything they are talking about. It’s important that you see what they have to say and, from time to time, talk with them. Try not to only tweet about your business. Remember – it’s social media so, try to be social.

Follow other businesses in your area and retweet some of their stuff to your followers and hopefully they will do the same for you. By doing this, each of you has spread the word about the others business to each others followers. Doing just this extends your reach by the number of followers the other business has. You’re also doing a good thing by helping out a fellow small business owner which is part of what social media is about.

I guess I have strayed a little off topic here. Sorry! I do that sometimes. My point is that we have since learned just how powerful social media can be. The thing is that you really do need to have a game plan (a blueprint) so you know where you are heading with it. Without a game plan it’s easy to get distracted and allows you to wander around too much. Once you have a game plan, you are able to get on your chosen platforms, do what needs to be done and then leave it for a while. The game plan makes social media much easier and much more time efficient allowing you to get back to business.

Are there specific topics you would like us to talk about? If so, please feel free to leave a comment below or email us at Karen@organicbusinessstrategies.com.

Also, if you are interested in us helping you by developing a blueprint for you, visit our services page called “Personalized Social Media Blueprint” for more information.

Photo credit: hardaway