I was reading this article http://bit.ly/18ED5gd on how small business is missing the boat on the power and effectiveness of business blogging. The article talks about how the buzz of social media and blogging may push some companies to “check the box” and jump into both areas. Unfortunately, they do this without strategic content initiatives in mind. This will more than likely cause more damage than good.
I couldn’t agree more. It may be cool for some owners to say they have a Facebook business page, Twitter account, Foursquare profile, Blogging on their website, etc., but if they do not have a strategic approach to each channel that makes sense to engage with their prospective audience, it will not work. All of these areas need a concerted effort to keep fresh for their audience. Now, you don’t have to hire a firm like ours to do this for you. There is a wealth of information and educational modules for each platform on this thing called the internet. The internet is not going away and neither is the need to engage with your audience. Although this article focuses on Blogging, the same 5 steps discussed in the section “demystify a small business content strategy” applies to other strategies (Social Media, Inbound Marketing).
Now time and money are often the things that holds small business leaders back for putting the effort in that is needed in these areas. As I mentioned early, leaders can learn this by the wealth of information available to them. It is literally at their fingertips by using the keyboard. Yes, it takes time. But, people follow a certain buying process, and much of the initial research is down by their potential customers fingertips on their own keyboards….if you are absent from that process, small businesses can lose out. It does not matter if you run a B2B or B2C, you will lose out. Last case scenario is to seek outside help. It will be a much better investment than pretending that it doesn’t matter to market your business via these outlets.
Don’t be afraid. In fact, you might enjoy it.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions.