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Five Assumptions on Social Media and Small Business

First off, I’m going to dig myself into a hole and dive to the bottom of it: I don’t know all that much about small business.

I’m an independent consultant, so technically I run my own small business. But I’m under no illusions: My primary expertise has been helping big (huge, even) companies figure out what to do with online community and social media (which covers everything from e-mail listservs, discussion forums, blogs, profiles, and new stuff that people keep inventing).

However, I am a very strong believer in the power of social media, and how it can help people do valuable things.

So, what I’ll try to do in my blog entries is offer my own thoughts and observations about social media, and how I think it can help people with small businesses (and bigger ones, too, I guess). Then, I’ll listen to you folks, take my lumps on any wildly-incorrect assumptions, then try to shape all that together into things you can use to help your business.

Assumption #1: Social Media Is Valuable to Your Business
I’m biased, of course, because I work in the field and I’ve gotten jobs thanks to social media. If you’re a consultant, social media is just another way to maintain relationships with people you know; form relationships with new people; tell people what you’re doing; and keep tabs on what other people are doing.

Change “people” to “customers” (as well as “collaborators” and “competitors”) and this is why social media can help your business, too.

Assumption #2: Social Media’s Impact Is More Immediate on Small Businesses
Over the weekend, Johnson and Johnson kicked up a storm over some Motrin ads that some mommy bloggers found insulting (Jeremiah Owyang has a pretty good roundup, with stats). But even though it kicked up a big fuss among Twitter users and mommy bloggers (both very vocal, somewhat insular, communities), we won’t know how (or even if) it’s going to effect Motrin sales or Johnson and Johnson revenues for some time. (Since JnJ reacted and apologized pretty quickly, the role of social media here might simply be as a tripwire before it turned into a really big problem in the mainstream.)

However, if you’re a small business owner, you’ve got a simpler way to see if what you’re doing in social media has an impact (good or bad): Count feet coming in through your door, and sales coming up on the register.

Assumption #3: People Are Talking About You. So You Should at Least Know What They’re Saying
In a user-generated content world, every person who steps through your door is a potential reviewer. Blogs, local city guides, and review sites are all part of this conversation. At the very least, you should know what they’re saying: rants, raves, and useful feedback you can act on. (It’s like a focus group, only more valuable.)

The insidious thing is, once you know what people are saying about you, you usually want to respond (so make sure it’s in a way that helps your business).

Assumption #4: Your Web Presence Is Like Your Yellow Pages Listing… Only Much More Important
Just like your Yellow Pages listing, your Web presence should help people find your business, and answer basic questions about it (what you do, how to reach you, etc.). Unlike a Yellow Pages listing, though, you can interact with your customers and prospects, and they can interact with each other.

This is an opportunity: Having a presence on the Web and in social media can help you stay relevant to people’s lives — especially if you can be useful to people, even when you’re not even trying to explicitly sell them something.

Assumption #5: Who I Think I’m Talking To
Outside of the usual gaggle of self-proclaimed and self-promoting social media experts (of whom, of course, I am one), I’m thinking about real and regular people using the Web: Consultants and information workers trying to drum up prospects; brick-and-mortar retailers trying to drive more foot traffic; roofers, plumbers and other service professionals looking to drive referrals; restaurant owners trying to figure out how to stay connected with regulars; pet groomers trying to tap into the community at the local dog run.

And of course, anyone interested in figuring out ways to improve their search engine rankings, engage their communities, and tap into word-of-mouth.

If you have anything that you want to share (about social media and your small business) — challenges you’re facing (or that you’ve conquered), questions you have, things you want to see us cover, and of course, anything I got wrong — let me know with a comment.

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