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3 Social Media Tips for Small Businesses by Author Erik Qualman [video]

 

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Last Friday, I had the privilege of chatting with Erik Qualman, author of #1 web marketing book Socialnomics.

In the below video, I pick Erik's brain for some tips on how small businesses can use social media better. Watch below.

Tip 1: Build your business using social media while considering the principles of Socialnomics, or social commerce. 78% of people care about what their friends think, and only 14% care what advertisers think. Soon we'll be making the majority of our purchase decisions by considering what our friends say online. 

Tip 2: Businesses' number one obstacle is time, so begin using social media tools in baby steps. When arguing the value of reallocating time to social media, emphasize the valuable real-time feedback you'll be receiving from consumers and potential customers.

Tip 3: The three steps to using social media effectively are: listen, interact and react. Many people forget the last step and don't respond when someone says something negative about their products or services. Use both negative and positive comments as feedback to improve your business. 

For more social media statistics and information, watch Erik's social media video below.

 
What do you think? Do you agree with Erik's tips or have any additional advice?

Video: How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers

Learn how to use social media to attract more customers.

Download the free video and learn how to generate more business using social media.

comments Comments

Posted by Rebecca Corliss on Mon, May 17, 2010 @ 10:05 PM

COMMENTS

I just tried to play the video but it says it is private.

posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 at 10:36 PM by Carma

Nice work on simplfying the steps for small business owners - you are so right about their challenge being time. But I also think it's that for many they are just not into social media yet personally - so until they buy into the concept it can be hard for them to understand why they should bother. 
The social media revolution is a great way to convince people they should give it a go though :-)

posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 12:10 AM by Michelle Ackers

I agree that these tips are really helpful to small business but Some small businesses are still focusing on standard marketing channels rather opt in for social media, assuming that they are only for bigger ones!

posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 9:42 AM by Allen - Personal Brander

#2 is #1 for me. I just cannot have a dialogue with professionals new to social media concepts without #2 being top of mind. "How are we going to do this and that, when we're at capacity now," is the conversation killer every time I pitch the notion that leveraging social media needs to become a critical fundamental to any business plan. They look at me most times like I'm in need of an exorcism. So then my question is and remains, what is the best packaging when trying to deliver this message to stubborn leaders? Telling them the risk of not engaging is not working. So I begin to think it's not the message, it's the packaging. Because I got to tell yah guys, I cannot seem to find the voice yet to "trick" smart people using antiquated marketing paradigms into taking note. Thanks. Great post.

posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 12:53 PM by Scott Dailey

I'm very glad that Eric as well as other commenters are bringing up the point of reacting. I find many of my social media clients who are just starting out WANT to have the ability to delete negative comments. I always have to tell them they must be transparent and take negative comments as a way to help your business grow by using the feedback in a positive way.  
Also, if you have followers who believe in your organization, product, and service, they will back them up along side of you. The good will out-weight the bad. BUT, if it doesn't, then you really can use this as a sign that something needs to change

posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 10:49 PM by Kelsi Guidry

Social Commerce is an interesting concept, but for those small businesses out there who are just putting their toes in the business social media water, the way I make the subject less intimidating is to tell them to think about their own personal interactions with large eCommerce sites that allow Customer Reviews of products. For example, over the years I have found the Amazon Customer Reviews of books, especially technical books, to be invaluable in helping me select the most appropriate book for my skill level at the time of purchase. Yes, some reviewers use forums like Amazon Customer Reviews to make a name for themselves, but I find most reviewers are folks like you and me trying to help other folks make the right buying decision. So I tell small business clients to consider starting their business social media marketing efforts by setting up a Product Review section on their Web site and let their existing and potential Customers interact with one another in that setting. Of course the comments must be monitored so truly offensive and/or off-topic product comments don’t remain on the site, but I think it's a great way for small businesses to get started with "social commerce".

posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 12:53 PM by Dave Ingalls

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