Absolutely, unless of course your company wants to increase:

Brand Exposure
Lead Generation
Marketing Reach

I hear all too often that businesses do not have time to allocate to Social Media.  And I would agree if it were only about socializing with family and friends.  Social Media is an online networking tool that works along side traditional media to enhance your existing sales and marketing efforts.  Social Media can leverage your offline presence online, creating an extension of your brand experience.  

Through Social Media we now have the ability to reach our target market daily, and with open dialogue, for little to no cost.  When was the last time your expensive brochure provided you with feedback?  

I’d like to provide answers to a few common questions.

Q: I have a website, isn’t that enough? 

A: A wonderful website is a necessity, but only does a good job if the right people are finding it.  One great source of driving traffic to your website is through a blog.  A healthy blog can:

• Help establish yourself/ company as an expert
• Generate fresh content, so people have a reason to return time and time again
• Keyword rich posts help search engines find your site
• Provide a platform for discussion and open communication

Begin to think of your website as an online storefront, that makes blog posts the beautifully updated window displays that get people inside your store.  Once inside, they will find fantastic content.  They may need to browse a few times, but new blog posts (think window displays) will get them inside again, and again.  When the time is right for them to purchase they will turn to you because you have established yourself as the expert, and answered their need. 

Q: Will Social Media replace my need for sales and marketing?

A: Social Media works to compliment your sales and marketing efforts, not to replace them.  There are no miracle pills to take to increase your profits.  All good things come with time and hard work.  The power of Social Media really lies in the fact that you can take one effort (i.e. writing a blog post) and reach many people within a very specific target market.

Q: How will I find the time for LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, FourSquare, Yelp, etc?!  Won’t this create extra work?

A: Applying Social Media in the appropriate way is the key to success.  Align the various Social Media platforms to accomplish your specific goals.  I would never suggest hopping on all Social Media platforms at once.

There was a time when we thought emails would take too much time, but now it is an indispensable tool that actually decreases the time spent on phones.  We have new tools to help us be efficient in our delivery.  If you are in the Interior Design industry and wondering how you can apply Social Media to your business, I encourage you to explore a fantastic learning opportunity.  Deborah Flate of Dialogue Consulting and I are teaming on “Weaving Social Media into your Interior Design Business.”

So, I guess the question is how much time and money is being wasted by not participating in Social Media?  If you would like to discuss connecting the Social Media dots for your company please contact Brown Bag Agency today.