Small Business And The Challenges of Social Networks

If large corporations struggle to come to grips with social networking what chance has small businesses got? With restricted manpower, small businesses simply do not have the ability to even examine the issue. But before one gets carried away with all the new jargon that has comes with the territory, it is worthwhile considering what all this fuss is about.

Simply put, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and now Google+ is all about conversations and the influence that these conversations exercise. These services have transformed the concept of "word of mouth" to new levels never seen before. People give more weight to what friends and other customers say about a product or service and this has always been the case. The thing with social networking today is that an individual's opinion can be transmitted to more people and at a fraction of the time it used to take, magnifying the influence of these electronic conversations both positively and negatively.

Small businesses are not immune to the reach of social media. In fact they are more vulnerable especially since they are unlikely to be monitoring what is being said about them in social networks. Negative sentiment about the products and services of a business that are not responded to will impact the business sooner or later.

The irony for successful small businesses is that they are actually good at listening to customers. The problem is that because they are not familiar with this new medium, they miss the signals simply because they are not monitoring it.

Creating a page for your business has never been easier. Facebook and now Google+ allows small businesses to have one up and running in no time. The real challenge is not simply creating a page but ensuring that you have new content and also responding and engaging customers who post comments to the page. Having virtual conversations with your customers is another means for keeping your customers engaged

Younger employees are more apt to make use of these facilities so make sure that you tap into them. Business owners would also do well to make posts regularly. It goes a long way to putting a human face to your business