It’s Good to Say No

If you’re a business owner, do you have a social media presence yet? Set up your Twitter account, added a shiny new company blog and joined Facebook? How about a Squidoo page or a Ning community? Networking on LinkedIn? Got them all on your checklist? No?

GOOD.

Despite what you might hear, you don’t need a presence on every single social media network or community.

Contrary to popular belief, social media is not the be all and end all to your business worries. It’s not the one-fit-catches-all solution that will bring you endless streams of revenue and profit.

It is a powerful medium to spread your message and engage with your customers – but your customers need to be there first, old and new.

It is a hugely cost-effective medium when compared to traditional promotional and marketing spend, but you need to invest a lot of time to make it work. Time can be just as expensive a commodity as a media campaign.

Ask yourself who your core audience is. Are they the early adopters that would use social media much like boxers would use mouth pieces? Do they fall within the key users of the mediums you’re looking at? If not, why waste time in that arena? Why try and spread a message to people with closed ears? Even the most silver-tongued persuader will have a hard time if he can’t speak sign language.

By all means, open your business up to the strengths and opportunities that social media can offer. But open up the right doors – make sure your business is the key that fits.

Your business survives because your customers say yes. But sometimes it’s good to say no too. No?