4 (Stupid) Reasons Businesses Don't Engage in Social Media

As a social media trainer, I get to listen to a lot of excuses! It seems that a lot of business owners want to explore Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogging and other social media avenues to promote their businesses, but they find ways to talk themselves out of it.

Behold…  4 reasons why business owners don’t engage in social media and why all those reasons are stupid 😉

1) “I don’t have a clear idea of what my message or brand is yet” – Engaging in social media can help you with that! Even if you go in stealth surveillance mode, and just observe what your competition, industry peers and potential customers are talking about, what they are responding to, and what trends are sparking interest, you have already helped your business by turning to social media. You don’t even have to post a single thing… to start, just get out there and listen. Listening is the most important part of conversation.

2) “Social media is stupid” –  Look, I know there are a lot of irritating apps, games, idle chit-chat and other time-sucking aspects to social media… and to a busy entrepreneur like yourself, nothing could be less appealing. But the bottom line is your potential client is on Facebook and Twitter (ironically, probably wasting time!) and if you’re not on there with them, then they will find someone else who is! So quit stalling and dive in!

3) “It’s too complicated”  – Then hire a social media trainer to break it all down for you, quickly and painlessly. Hey, I happen to be a social media trainer! Learn more about my upcoming classes here.

4) “I don’t have time to keep it up” – Launching and maintaining a social media campaign is a lot like going to the gym; you won’t get stellar results if you don’t actively engage on a consistent and regular basis. If you’re too busy to make use of social media, then surely you have an assistant, or an intern, or a family member that can help you with your business needs. Get your intern to manage your tweets and Facebook page; get them training so they can improve their skills.

Before I sign-off, I have one more shameless plug for my social media classes starting next week (July 8, 2013). I’m excited to announce that we will have a guest speaker, Tony Aziz, Business Leadership Advisor who will help my students develop their corporate message. This adds a ton more value to this class series. There are still some spots left so register before time runs out!