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Does Your Business Really Need Social Media? 10 Questions to Ask

There is a ton of hype these days surrounding all the social media outlets out there, and there are a million and one “how to” articles that provide reasoning as to why using a Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter might be important for developing relationships for your business (we’ve posted a few of those “how to” articles even here).  For some businesses, it really does make sense to create a presence, but for others it might become more of a burden than a benefit.

I wrote this post to give businesses some questions to ask themselves when they’re considering their social media plan — and there really should be a plan.  I read a really interesting article on The Berkun Blog the other day about why it’s important to temper your view of social media.  I’ve never believed in it as a solution for every business, but reading this article it made me realize that it might be useful to list the kinds of questions businesses should ask themselves before joining in full force.

1. Who is your audience?  Social media requires a significant time commitment in order to make it effective as a draw for your customer.  If your typical customer or prospect isn’t using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or other forms of social media, then your presence on these networks isn’t going to draw in new customers.  Make sure you understand the benefit to your customers before you invest time and money in it yourself.  Think about demographics such as age, income and location before you take the plunge.
2. Will you use any of this stuff?  Be honest with yourself.  After a month of using one of these sites, are you going to continue to maintain your presence there with any regularity?  I’ve heard many times over from PR professionals that you should give any new form of advertising at least a year before you truly see results from your new outlet.  The same is pretty much true of social media.  It takes time to build trusting, quality relationships that’s not just about sales.  If you’re not able to dedicate some time to it regularly and for an extended period, you’ll never realize any benefit from it.
3. Are you purely interested in the sale?  If you’re just looking for the sale, social media is not for you.  People don’t like to virtually socialize with people if all they’re hearing is a pitch.  There has to be value to what you’re saying.  If you don’t like the idea of giving away your knowledge for nothing immediate in return, it’s not the time to join a social networking group.
4. What are you after?  What are you after when you set your business up in the social media space?  What are you hoping to accomplish?  Don’t jump on the bandwagon simply because everyone else is doing it; you should be thinking about your plan.  Are you after more sales?  Or are you hoping to establish yourself as a subject matter expert in your field?  Are you hoping to offer new ways for your customers to communicate with you?  Perhaps even as a venue to support your product(s)?
5. Is it legal?  Many small companies will never have to worry about the legality of what they’re doing if they join a social network, they just need to worry more about how people will accept them within social circles.  But, there are a whole plethora of businesses out there that need to tread carefully with the type of information they provide in a social media setting.  Pharmaceutical companies, for example, can’t provide information to consumers that could be misconstrued as direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, otherwise the Food and Drug administration might have a problem with it.  Law firms are another group that are careful about what they say because it might be considered legal advice by their readers.  Businesses like these are just now starting to dip their toes in the water, but are still very careful about what they have to say.
6. Do you have the time?  As I’ve mentioned previously, there is no doubt a time commitment when you’re using social media.  For different businesses, the amount may vary.  Remember that as representing a business, however, you don’t need to have one person maintain one account.  Sharing the responsibility is an option, but you must have the resources to do so.
7. Will you be active on social media when your customers will be?  For blogging, this doesn’t make too much of a difference, but if you’re going to be promoting your blog posts or special offers using other social media outlets, especially Twitter, you need to think about how your customers use the service.  If they’re going to be typically checking their accounts at a time when you can’t post, your message might get lost as other messages appear on their news feed as more recent.  For example, if you have a restaurant and you’re promoting 20% off a meal at 7am, I would argue that even if customers start checking their accounts by 11am, your message will be lost.
8. Are your competitors using social media?  If so, how?  While it’s always better to be a leader than a follower, gauging the value of social media might be hard to do unless one of your competitors is using it effectively.  For example, there are many, many web development companies out there that I follow, especially in Twitter, that under most circumstances might be a competitor.  You might not necessarily mimic their plan exactly, but it might provide a good roadmap for new services you can offer your own clients.
9. Can you be a leader in the social media arena?  In contrast to #8, there are so many business areas that don’t yet have a strong social media presence.  The automotive industry is the first that comes to mind…general contracting, plumbing and any of a number of other direct to consumer businesses.  That’s a tremendous opportunity for your business, if you’re interested enough, to really develop a new way to reach customers and prospects.  If you can prove your value, your customers will follow and more importantly, they will encourage other potential customers to follow you.
10. Are you open to new ideas?  The thing about social media is that it’s a two-way street.  There are some very opinionated people out there, and they will let you know what they think of your business.  If you’re not ready for both compliments and criticisms, then social media isn’t for you.  Even if a comment seems flippant towards your business, you must remember in your response that you’re representing your business.  Prospects that see only a part of the conversation may get a bad first impression of the way you do business, and it’s difficult to erase once it’s out there.

I’m sure there are many other questions people need to ask themselves when preparing to go social with their business.  Please be sure to sound off below and let me know what you think!

UPDATE July 7, 2009: Seth Godin, a well-known marketing expert, sounded off on this very topic recently.  As he says, it’s not about the number of relationships, but of the number of quality relationships you make using social media.  See more information here.

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