The loans have been signed, the building is leased, and Norwegian Floral Design is ready to sell flower arrangements that will make customers feel as if they are frolicking through an enchanted forest. The owner, Sally, has handled the public relations, advertising, and word-of-mouth campaigns beautifully, but there’s one aspect of her marketing plan that has been intentionally put on the back burner. You see, Sally has no clue how to handle the social media end of marketing. When you ask her what twitter is you might as well be quizzing her on the answer to a quantum physics equation.
A whopping 45% of small business owners don’t even consider social media (Thought Leaders Live Conference), and why should they? Many entrepreneurs are not convinced that social media has any effect on ROI. But you see: it’s not as much about a direct and visible ROI. One of the biggest misconceptions about social media is that it acts as a sales channel: above all else it is a brand-building channel.
Just for kicks, let’s say Sally has set up a Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest page… Now what? Here’s where the age old statement “If you build it they will come” is completely false. You can have the prettiest Facebook cover photo, the cutest Pinterest page, and a few clever tweets: but where are the followers? The repins? the likes? “So if you build it… promote the hell out of it… They may come”. This is a quote from Entrepreneur Magazine’s Thought Leader’s Live conference in Atlanta. Jason Falls, a prominent social media marketing consultant and author gave a colorful presentation on the mathematics of social media, and made the controversial point that all social media has to involve promotion if it will succeed in a timely manner. Many of the audience members wriggled uncomfortably in their seats when he made this statement. Let’s face it- most of us assume that social is a free form of media and we simply hate the idea that we must spend valuable dollars there too.
This is the space in which business owners, like Sally, will have the most freedom to promote not only her entrancing floral designs, but also her unique personality, her employees, and her brand as a whole. Chances are, there are people out there already having discussions about Sally’s business on social media. Her job is not to throw in the towel and ignore it. No - it’s to get up, brush herself off, and jump head first into that conversation. Participation is the single most important action in the digital realm.
So even though she might have to drop some dough on her social efforts, Sally’s payoff will be huge. Her brand can now behave like a human being with a personality, sense of humor, and relatability. When you can relate and inspire your audience, you’ve become more than a product or service: you are apart of their conversation, their lives, and you have obtained the uncanny ability to influence and inspire those that you serve.