The Rural Business’s Need for Social Media

Every business needs a social media presence today. No matter who your target demographic is, you will reach at least a portion of them online. Even those who do not have access to Internet service will often rely on family and friends with service to help them source things they need to purchase. Having a quality presence on social media will help build your business and generate new leads.

Here are some things to consider when it comes to your business’s social media presence.

• Why – Why do you want a social presence? Being on Facebook and Twitter will not hurt any business as long as the posting is professional, or as professional as the business requires. A comedy club can get away with things a law office cannot.
• When – How much time do you need to spend on social media? To save time you can use social media management tools to schedule posts. Conventional wisdom says not to repeat posts, but at least one social media powerhouse sends slightly modified tweets scheduled 8 hours apart for maximum exposure.
• Where – There are two schools of thought on this. One is to only register on the sites you are interested enough in to use. The other is to sign up for as many as possible, even if you never use most of them. This will at least prevent others from registering with your name. Some of the social media platforms you should consider using include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest.
• Who – Will you be the sole poster, or will there be a team?
• How -How will the posting be coordinated? Will sites be assigned to individuals? Where will the posts come from? Will a lot of posts be automated? Automation saves time, money, and is much more efficient than manually posting everything – especially if you spend a lot of time reposting.
• What – Will the posts be sales oriented? Will they provide information on your products and services? Will they be made up of trivia that appeals to your ideal clients? Will they provide valuable information to help your audience and build your reputation as an industry expert?

When you take the time to evaluate the who, what, when, where, why and how of social media, you will soon see that no matter where your business is located, you can no longer ignore the importance and need for a social media presence.