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Business people: don’t dance on the bleeding edge of social media

Posted by Lisa Hoffmann in Marketing, Small Business, Social media on 07 16th, 2009 | Comments

A recent post on the Viral Garden got me wondering how many small business people finally understanding how to blog for business and connect with customers through Facebook and twitter are hearing us dismiss blogging, and diagnose social media as terminal and thinking they’ve missed the boat.

I’m here to tell you, Mr. and Ms. Small Business, the ship is just coming into sight for you.

Stay focused on your goals and strategy, and spend time delivering value and encouraging communication with your customers. If it’s working (don’t waste your time in social media if you’re not measuring your results), you’re doing fine.

It takes time to establish a niche, find your voice and build a community. If you’re always trying to balance on the bleeding edge of new technology, you’re going to get hurt.

Photo credit: jamelah via Flickr

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Comments to “ Business people: don’t dance on the bleeding edge of social media ”

jakrose says:

July 16, 2009 at 1:19 pm

It seems like some cornerstone of the internet dies every week. Blogging, RSS, etc. I think it is more of a symptom of the boredom of insiders and the super savvy.

But you are right, it does not do much for the business owners and marketers trying to learn how to make the social web work for them. I would advise anyone trying to learn social media to stay away from blogs that sensationalize. Blogging will be around for some time. Social media as well. Invest in both.

Lisa Hoffmann says:

July 22, 2009 at 4:19 pm

"The boredom of insiders" – astute observation. Whatever the reason, I hope people are not discounting the impact of online efforts because of a few vocal naysayers. People like to share and interact. The vehicles will evolve but the premise is here to stay.

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Jayne Navarre says:

July 16, 2009 at 3:10 pm

I totally agree, and, its not just small business peoples' ships coming in. These tools are just now finding acceptance in whole industries. I work in the legal industry. While there are hundreds of law blogs and lawyers on social networks, the majority and the mainstream is just arriving. On the positive side I look forward to what the new bloggers and social networkers will contribute. I look forward to seeing how the space will evolve once the mainstream gets in there. On the negative side, they could and probably will just play it safe and model after the early adopters who are already on to the next thing…and since they are lawyers they will probably find dozens of loopholes that lead to liability which could put a damper on even greater adoption. Oh well, ying and yang.