…if you do not use it correctly.

Just like anything else we use everyday, we have have to know how to use it correctly. If we don’t use a gas pump correctly, it’s worthless. If you don’t use Social Media correctly it will not help your business, if anything it will cause you stress and irritation and drive to possibly even write off Social Networking altogether.

When I say “use it correctly” I don’t mean the technical side of it. It’s not hard to make a post, the challenge is figuring out the content that you need to put in your post. Sure, simply sending out a fact or piece of history of the the business everyday can be nice and cute, it can even work well for some people, but the point of Social Media is getting the word out about business, drawing more people in, and better connecting with your current customers, no matter how large or small that number is.

NOTE: This post will not give you a strategy to copy and follow, the purpose of this article is to make you think and create a proper mindset for using Social Media with your business.

Strategy and goal setting are very important aspects of any successful business. If you run a business, you understand the importance of planning things out and deciding how you’re going to take advantage of different tools to better grow your business…so why would not put that same care into creating a strategy and setting goals for your Social Media usage? Social Media has grown exponentially in the last few years, it’s not just for teenagers anymore (we’ve discussed this in other posts).

You have to get out of the mindset that this is just a cute, static tool.

Learning how to create a Social Media strategy can be done several ways, all of which are useful. You can of course hire a Social Media consultant to meet with you and assess your needs and help you set goals and plan things out. You might be saying to yourself “A consultant to tell me how to use facebook and twitter? Ridiculous.”, but you’re then getting someone to teach you how to use something that will forever be free, which is not a bad deal at all. Another way is to research stories of how other businesses have used Social Media to get ideas and get the creative process started. This is your network, this an opportunity to be completely creative, with very few guidelines. This is your business, your mind, your thoughts, anything goes. You can come up with with specials and coupons to create buzz, you can have have random drawings from your friends lists to give out prizes like a free meal. The sky is the limit, this thing has an endless amount of potential but is completely worthless is you don’t know how to effectively plan and run with it.