Let’s face it, small businesses could use some help. I spoke to a relative of mine recently who has been doing pretty good in his business, even during the recent hard times. It took hard work and good planning to keep his head above water the past couple of years, but he did it. He was speaking to his accountant who said that most of his clients were not faring so well. In fact, upwards of 95% of them were either losing money or borrowing money just to make payroll.<\/p>\n
Pretty scary.<\/p>\n
I started to think at that point about what social media could do to help small businesses. I do believe that social media holds tremendous promise for small business in particular because many of the solutions are free or low cost. Most of it requires a tremendous time investment and some good solid planning, but any small business owner who has achieved any level of success can attest to that. Small business owners are used to going in early and staying late. And while success isn’t guaranteed with social media, it isn’t rocket science or brain surgery. <\/p>\n
So what’s a small business owner to do when they realize that they can’t afford to keep spending money on radio advertising, or newspaper ads, or trade magazine features? Maybe Facebook is the answer.<\/p>\n
If you look at many of the successful businesses in the country, just about all of them have a dedicated social media presence and a solid plan in place to manage their outreach. And small businesses can do it too. Facebook isn’t just for fun, and they have given business owners a boatload of tools to help you interact and reach out to your customers\/constituents. I will be publishing my new eBook on Facebook soon that will give you easy-to-use advice on how to leverage Facebook and the tools available therein. (UPDATE: the ebook is available for purchase at www.steveholt.com\/home\/online-store<\/a>)<\/p>\n So whatcha gonna do when times get hard? That’s right, get on Facebook. But don’t spend all your time on Farmville. Those crops can wait.<\/p>\n