1. Being small is a good thing.
Small businesses have an advantage when using social media because of their speed to market against the big guys; they have less legal processes and more time interacting with their followers.
2. Social isn’t just for communicating to the public.
Social media is more than just for sales and marketing; it could be a valuable tool for internal communications, too. Software like Yammer or SalesForce Chatter can help you set up an internal social network for your business.
3. Don’t try to be everywhere at once.
Figure out which social network has the most impact for your customers and focus on that network. It’s better to excel in one and establish a strong, meaningful community than to two or three badly.
4. Foster community and customer service.
Social media is a two-way street. You can’t only respond to the positive and ignore the negative. Show your customers you care, and they’ll keep coming back even through the inevitable bumps.
5. Tie in your social media plan with your business plan.
To start a social media plan, begin with your overall business plan and think about how to integrate social media with all parts of your business (e.g., Twitter for customer service, LinkedIn for HR, Facebook for customers).
And, just to show that social media does impact the bottom line, one of our staff said he he had a bad experience whilst checking in at a major hotel and tweeted #fail. A neighboring hotel saw it and responded, “Sorry you’re having a bad time, hope the rest of your stay is better.” The next time, he stayed at this neighboring hotel; not only that, his friend asked if he’d recommend it for a family reunion because of the tweet he saw. Twitter works!
