Small business marketing

Do I need a social media strategy for my small business?
The short answer is no.

In general terms, the smaller you are, the easier social media is.

Most social media technologies such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have been designed for individual humans to talk and connect with each other. So if you are the owner of the business, it’s generally pretty easy for you to log on to an account and chat with your customers the same way that you would at a business breakfast or if someone called you on the phone.

I highly recommend that you post from a personal account with your face on it in first-person rather than off a company account (or as well as). Most big companies would love to have the freedom to connect online the way that small businesses can so use this to your advantage. Be yourself and don’t try to sound corporate. Corporates are all desperately trying to sound small and personable!

It pays to not overthink it and just have a look around at what some other individuals and businesses are doing and learn from them. Play is a very important part of developing engagement and learning how to come up with creative ways to get people talking about you and your business. So don’t feel guilty about spending some time looking at silly cat videos on Youtube and commenting on them. It’s the best way to learn new features and to see what people are drawn to online.

This article appeared on the Xero blog and I felt it was really sound so I reproduced it here