The value of a presence on social media is a hotly debated topic among small businesses, particularly those businesses that have passed the start-up stage and have grown roots and developed their customer base. Businesses question whether the time spent on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and a dozen other social media sites is worth the increase in revenue or new customer traffic. Do people really pay attention to what they read on Twitter? Do Facebook likes really matter for the clothing boutique down the road?
The answer is emphatically YES!
Unless you already have more customers than you can possibly ever handle, you need to be advertising your goods and services to the people who will want them. And you do that by being where your customers are. And your customers are online.
It really is that simple.
Think about it. How much time do you spend online? How much time do your friends and family members spend online? Where do they go to get news, updates, deals, reviews, and all sorts of other information regarding where to go and what to buy? The answer: online. While there may be exceptions, they are just that: exceptions.
And the studies support this. Though the exact numbers vary, research is finding again and again that the average American spends at least 2 hours a day online…with most studies seem to push that number up to closer to 4 hours a day. That is a huge percentage of our waking hours! And every business that isn’t on social media is missing out on all of those hours of potential advertising opportunities.
So the debate over social media presence is pointless and a huge waste of your valuable time. Stop asking yourself over and over whether you belong on social media; you do. Instead, start asking yourself where you should be on social media and how you should be engaging. That’s the question worth your time.
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