How Social Media Can Hurt Your Business
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A lot of small business owners like to just jump in to things without ever really thinking about it. Social Media is just one of those things that “Everyone” is doing, so you should too, right? Wrong. Social Media – just like every other form of marketing and business-consumer platforms has its pros and cons.
Social Media can actually hurt your business a lot more than it can help if it’s not done correctly, or you don’t have the right type of business. It’s a scary risk to take, and I am constantly surprised at how many small business owners don’t even know that it’s possible to hurt their sales by starting a Twitter account.
So what exactly do I mean?
Let me give you a scenario. Let’s say that you need to go buy a super energy drink. Let’s say that Charlie Sheen wasn’t on cocaine and that he was only on this energy drink…and it was extreme energy. Forget Red Bull, forget Monster, this is Tiger Blood, and you want it pretty bad.
The thing is, you’ve seen how crazy Charlie Sheen went, and you can’t help but wonder if Tiger Blood was the reason why, but you kind of want it anyway.
You go looking for this epic drink and you end up hopping from store to store looking for it, but after a few hours you finally give up. As one last ditch effort, you decide to go on the Tiger Blood website and see if there is any for sale there. You go on the website, and you suddenly remember your health concern about going Charlie Sheen crazy if you drink Tiger Blood, so you look for any health related information on the site.
The site really isn’t helpful, and you REALLY wish you could just talk to someone for 30 seconds to ask them about your concern.
You see a Twitter link in the top right of the Tiger Blood website and you get excited. Suddenly you can see what’s happening with the product in real time, and you can even tweet over a question that will get answered!!! WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!! HERE COMES TIGER BLOOD!!!
You click on the link, and suddenly, Tiger Blood doesn’t seem so appealing anymore. On the Tiger Blood Twitter account, it hasn’t been updated for a month, and it only has 25 people following it.
What you thought was a sold out product that was super popular just a second ago suddenly turns to a old outdated product with a ghost town for an online presence.
You just assumed everyone else wanted Tiger Blood, that’s why no one carried it…but now that you see the twitter stats, it looks shady. The health concerns you have could very well be an issue.
So Social Media Sucks?
Not in all cases, but you have to really know what you are doing. Think about it. If someone is on your website, it really is timeless. If you had the same website without a date on it, it wouldn’t mater if they came today, or a year from now, it has relevant information.
The problem is when small business owners try adding a completely new element to a formula that was working fine on its own. When you throw Social Media into the mix, you suddenly HAVE TO HAVE social proof. That basically means that once you have an account on these places, if people don’t like you or follow you, you suddenly LOSE credibility with everyone else, and don’t gain anything at all. It ends up hurting you instead of helping you.
Having a Facebook or Twitter account without a decent following and a constant stream of INTERESTING updates is like making a giant sign that says “Do NOT buy from me. I’m not very cool.“ Don’t make that mistake.
Please, please, please don’t make that mistake.
I’ve seen it way to many times. Don’t fall victim to the hear-say syndrome, and don’t listen when you’re told that everyone needs Social Media accounts. It’s not true, and it can end up biting you in the ass if you do it the wrong way.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t get involved, and don’t take on a project like this thinking it’s easy.
So then, have you or someone you know ever started Social Media accounts before and not kept up with them? What happened?
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