The Social Media Advantage. Holly Berkley

      Social media is not just a marketing tactic. It’s a social phenomenon that is here to stay. It is the way consumers find new products and services as well as receive the input they need to make that final purchase decision. Whether it’s trying a new restaurant or seeing the latest summer movie, consumers have always relied on personal recommendations. Social media takes these recommendations to the next level. It makes what was once between two people, public. It puts word of mouth recommendations, both good and bad, out there for the whole world to see. While the voice of social media is personal, the reach is massive. And depending on what your customers are saying about you, can literally make or break your business.

      To be successful in today’s world of smart phones and constant connection, even small businesses need a social media strategy. The right strategy can not only help catapult your business ahead of your competitors, but also prove critical in avoiding detrimental business decisions. Social media puts the power back into the consumer’s hands. And when consumers have that much voice, businesses need to listen, and act accordingly.

      The Molly Katchpole story was a perfect example of how social media can magnify one customer’s complaint, and force even a billion-dollar world corporation to pay attention. This is exactly what happened when the 22-year old college-graduate posted a complaint about Bank of America regarding the new $5 per month fee for using her debit card. She turned to Change.com, a web site that allows people to use social media to post petitions and solicit signatures.

      Mainstream media such as TV producers and newspaper writers turn to the social web to see what’s trending and hot on the public’s mind. They caught wind of Molly’s story and as a result, she was interviewed on TV talk shows. In the interviews, she came off as a smart, respectable young American, who people could identify with — especially those living pay-check to pay-check that were tired of extra fees big banks were imposing on them. She became the voice of what so many Americans were already feeling. In about a month, she received more than 300,000 signatures from Bank of America customers who publicly announced they were leaving Bank of America in protest of the extra fee. In the end, Bank of America removed the extra $5 fee, a decision that costs the bank more than $3.4 billion in potential additional revenue.

      So let’s bring this back to you, the small business owner. If you have not yet started using social media, the time is now and this book will help you get started. If you are already using social media, this book will help you further amplify your messages and help you create a social media strategy in line with your business goals.

      The Time To Get Started Is Now

      We interviewed hundreds of owners of small businesses across the U.S. about their use of social media and how they plan to integrate it into their overall marketing and communication strategy. There were many similar responses:

      “I don’t have time.”

      “We don’t need it.”

      “We just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

      “I don’t know where to start.”

      Even today, with its wide-spread use, many small business owners are still claiming a lack of time, resources and understanding of social media tools, as well as intimidation by the vastness of the social media space as primary factors for not yet integrating a social media strategy into their communications efforts.

      Figure 1.1: Results from the Social Media in Action survey conducted by ZweigWhite.

      While some small business owners are still watching from the sidelines, cautiously dipping their toes into the waters of social media, there are millions of professionals who’ve already dived into social media and are riding that wave with some exciting results. These social media savvy professionals are watching their efforts exponentially ripple throughout the industry in powerful ways. They are successfully branding themselves as innovators in their industry by turning their social media connections into their most powerful advocates.

      But like any tactic, the results are always better when they are directly connected to business objectives.

      One of the major driving factors leading small businesses to investigate the effectiveness of social media as a communications or marketing platform has been the recession. “At the beginning of 2009, our phone stopped ringing,” shared Laura Davis, architecture principal and director of marketing for HPD Architects in Dallas, Texas (http://www.hpdarch.com/). “It became apparent when 197 people showed up for a pre-submittal meeting that our chance for success in winning the project was dwindling. We realized we had to take action to bring in business.” HPD included social media as a way to support their face-to-face networking and to expand the reach and influence of the firm’s brand.

      Howard Blackson, principal and director of planning for San Diego, California-based PlaceMakers (http://placemakers.com), a multidisciplinary planning and urban design firm with seven principals located in seven different cities, also points to social media as an asset for today’s economic climate. He refers to social media as not only a way to conduct research and distribute thoughts and ideas, but as the core of their “New Economy” business model, which relies on the internet and social technologies to function with no overhead, no full-time office staff or central office. For PlaceMakers, social media tools allow them to run a more efficient business, bringing in expertise from all over the U.S. and Canada to easily collaborate on a single project.

      Businesses of all sizes are quickly learning that social media tools enhance the efficiency of both internal and external communication needs. A single tweet or post is not only quicker than traditional forms of communication, but can reach more people faster and has a longer “shelf-life.”

      According to a 2011 survey (http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studies andresearch/socialmediaadoptionsoars) from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Market Research, more companies than ever view social media as an essential asset to business communications, with 86‰ reporting that social media technologies were “very important” to their business and marketing strategies in 2010. According to the survey, 71‰ of businesses used Facebook in 2010, 59‰ used Twitter and more than half surveyed blogged. Of this group, 85‰ view Facebook as successful in helping them meet their business goals, while a whopping 93‰ report message boards as a successful tactic.

      As one social media advocate, Vik Duggal (@VikDug), said “The internet is about 17 years old, just about to graduate high school and is about to really blow up.” Social media is even younger.

      Although still young, social media has already become an essential piece of most business’s overall communications strategy. Business owners are sharing ideas on Twitter, growing their customer base with Facebook, promoting their expertise on blogs — and seeing measurable return on investment for their efforts.

      Today’s social media tools aren’t