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Small business advice for your start-up
| November 2010
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Start-up with Social Media
Michael Pranikoff, Global Director of Emerging Media
PR Newswire
Michael Pranikoff is charged with educating PR Newswire's internal and external audiences on the emerging trends in media, and how they can be adapted and used by companies and organizations to tell their story to the world. Here, he shares some thoughts on the growing influence of social media platforms, and how business start-ups can take advantage of them.
Expert Tips from Michael: Expert Tips for Social Media
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Q: What role does a small business website play in the new social media environment?
A: Think of your website as your home base. All of the channels that are outside of your main page should be set up to drive people to your business. Make sure that you are linking all of those various posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more back to where you want to drive people.
There is a school of thought that social media channels can serve as your landing spots, with all of that content aggregated somewhere. This is still a very new practice, but also one that can take a considerable amount of time and effort. |
Q: There are so many facets to social media today-blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Which ones offer the most value to business start-ups?
A: I personally don't believe that every business needs to be on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media spaces. The most value depends on where your customers are. Each of these channels offer some benefits and some drawbacks. They will all require you to be creative and create content on a regular basis, so be mindful about creating too many channels that you will need to maintain. |
Q: Any tips for figuring out the best social media match for a business start-up?
A: Start by doing a Google search on your business to see what people are finding now, and see if those are the results you want. Choose an industry-related term to see if your business is coming up in the right sets of search results. If your business is one that is specific to a certain location, check to see those results based on the "maps" feature in search.
Then start looking at the channels you want to use and think how they will help you drive better search results to you. When used properly, all social media channels can help drive your search results, which-while not often thought of in terms of social media-can be one of the best drivers of new business. |
Q: There's a perception that social media is solely about personal activities. What are some guidelines for keeping your news relevant to current and prospective customers?
A: Regardless of who your target audience is, remember that you are targeting people. It's OK, and actually encouraged for your company to have a personality. I often recommend the book Personality Not Included for some ideas on this topic.
That said, make sure that when you start utilizing social media that you aren't just having a conversation with yourself. You have to listen for conversations to join and listen to what your audience is saying back to you. If all you do is talk and no acknowledge what someone else is saying then you might as well be communicating in front of a mirror. |
Q: How can a small business owner manage the complexity of a social media campaign, especially given his/her other responsibilities?
A: Choose one or two channels, and start listening and setting up some searches to find your audiences-whether on Twitter or LinkedIn. Do what feels right to you. You will make some mistakes as you start out, but that's alright.
Stay relevant with your message and actively engage your audience. If all you are doing is posting and not getting any reactions - such as "Likes" on Facebook and "Re-Tweets" on Twitter - you need to re-think what you are doing or the purpose behind having that channel. |
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