Day 29 – Small Business Social Media Hype

I teach a Social Media Marketing Class at the local community college.  Due to low enrollment, the class was cancelled for Fall term.  One of the students who did sign up decided to contact me about private tutoring due to the impression that social media was uber important to her business.

The class is actually three classes: Social Media for the Workplace, Facebook, and LinkedIn/Twitter.  The Facebook class is the most popular, but the first Social Media for the Workplace is actually the most useful.  The Facebook class covers mechanics of how to do things, but the general class, discusses the theory, different options, the process, pros/cons, etc.  It is a great class, because it gets a person out of the honeymoon and moving on to the real work.  

Most importantly, it tells you the truth of how social media marketing works.  Most people come into the class, because someone told them it is SUPER important and you MUST have an account.  And then you get online and do a little research and everyone is telling you that you are missing out on customers if you don’t have a social media business account. 

Yes, you should probably have one social media account, notice I said one.  Yes, customers expect it.  No, it will not increase your sales dramatically, unless you are the one in a million.  But it will give you a voice and it will give your customers a place to check you out, share your greatness with other people and comment.  It is a public dialogue, not a miracle.