Remember back in 2005 when all serious business strategists were required to read and keep at the ready a copy of the book “The World is Flat” by author Thomas Friedman? Friedman challenged us to to think differently about markets and commerce and how the “flattening of the world” will be as much of a watershed movement as the invention of the printing press. The world’s geographic and geological barriers are eliminated by technology and the wall-free world of the internet. How we do business, make money and get access to information today are radically different than just 10 years ago when it was published. Friedman was right – and one of his points is that business owners need to stay ahead of this movement in order to best capitalize on the opportunities it presents.

Friedman’s book was published a year after Facebook was conceived – just 11 years ago.   It’s mind boggling, really. Since the inception of Facebook in 2004 the propagation of social media channels and their reach has been enormous. What other  teenaged media channel can boast about a reach of 1.75 Billion? Twitter has 310 Million active users! In September 2015, Instragram announced they surpassed Twitter with 400 Million active users – doubling their reach in the space of 18 months!  Pinterest, SnapChat, LinkedIn and others also continue to grow and expand their user bases – all with slightly different target demographics. The reach of social media proves out Friedman’s theory that traditional barriers have disappeared in just a decade or two.

Given the exponential growth of reach by social media, it is no wonder business owners, small and large alike, salivate over the potential these channels can offer.  Some large business owners invested heavily and early and it’s paid off for them – Twitter Case studies range from Airbus to American Red Cross to Taco Bell and Golden State Warriors.  Small Businesses across the US have latched onto facebook as a way to cost effectively communicate promotions, events and product to their customers. Instagram for business is growing – soon outpacing the “insta-celebrtity” teens who happen to have a great eye for imagery and a sharp wit.

When I meet with small business owners about a social media strategy, one of the first questions in our conversation centers on choosing the right channel.  With such a variety of options, how do you pick the right one to spend limited resources against to get the biggest impact? Its actually the same question they’ve been asking for years, just about different choices. Newspaper ads vs. Television commercials, radio spots vs. yellow pages. Billboards vs. post card mailers. It’s all about eyeballs on their brand.

While the answer is simple – executing the strategy is not, and like all good strategies, it takes work. Here’s the answer: Align your target demographic with the current and future trending demographic of a particular channel. The tricky part is staying on top of trends about who is using that channel! When Facebook started up in 2004 – I don’t think anyone would have imagined how quickly it would “grey”.  In 2009, AdWeek reported that Facebook’s largest growth was women over the age of 55. Since then, Zephoria states that women, as a demographic segment has reached a solid stronghold majority position, and the 25-34 year old age group has also reached majority at 29.7% of Facebook users . . This is just an example of how we need to pay attention to trends as we continually update our social media strategies! What will happen next? Good question – perhaps I need to a copy of World is Flat 3.0 and we can see into the future together!

Some quick tips when thinking about options, no matter what the trend:

• If you haven’t already determined your target audience, invest the time! It will pay back in any advertising you do, internet based or otherwise. Think about who your current client base is and where you want to grow.  Document it, cogitate on it and update it when you have new information
• Chose one social media channel that matches your target as closely as possible. Use current trending data rather than 2 year old data; it makes a difference as these channels shift quickly!
• Consider your product or service and how is it best communicated. In the food service business?

  

  Instagram may be a great place to start since we can’t resist shainrg great food via a picture! Consulting? Twitter is a great place to show off and share your business tips – 140 characters at a time. Massage Therapist? Facebook is a great place for clients to check in and describe how relaxed they are after they leave your shop!

• Don’t forget about Business to Business Social media – LinkedIn is a great way to build brand via information exchange. Blogging is also effective at establishing your reputation.

Most importantly, don’t let the large number of choices stop you from exploring your options to reach new customers. LittleBox Social can help you develop your target audience and segmentation strategy, as well as select the right channel for your business. We help small business owners tell their story on the best channels, in the most relevant and high quality manner possible.

Interested? Email jenny@littleboxsocial.com for more information!

Let’s face it – being a small business owner is hard work. No matter what stage you are in – as a start up, well established or somewhere in between – it seems you spend every minute of every day thinking about or working on your business. It’s always on your mind! You quickly learn how to master new tools like online accounting applications, or payment processing software.

Enter a new trend: social media – the glitzy shiny object that will send customers flocking to you and your product! It’s the golden ticket to solving all of your marketing needs. You’ve heard success stories, seen celebrities grow from oblivion into relevance, watched the hashtag trends and thought “I can play in this space”! How hard could it be?  If 13 year olds can become masters overnight, racking up friends, followers and likes by the 100’s, shouldn’t this be the easiest thing you’ve done for your business?

You eagerly open your first social account for your business and build out your page – thank goodness it’s easy to fill out the template with your logo, key messages, “about me” info and your website. You click “Submit” and Voila! You are now relevant! Congratulations!  And then comes the dreaded moment – what’s next? How do I get followers? What on earth do I post about? How do I make this compelling?

And that, my friends, is where the easy part stops. Because unlike the 13 year olds who appear to master a social media platform overnight, your business and brand is literally on the line! You instinctively know that posting a random thought here and there aren’t going to net you the results you want. You realize that this is another tool to learn and master. Being the responsible business person, you do some research, you read articles and blog posts, and get to know more about the platform and how it works to your advantage. Great! That wasn’t too hard. And you plow through your first few weeks of social media induced bliss – you get followers and likes, people comment on your content, and you feel like you are part of a new community – you made it!  You proudly look at the dashboard or analytics page for your profile and see HUGE numbers!  You get an adrenaline rush every time you see your metrics pop up.

And then something changes. In the space of a day or two, – your metrics flatten out. You start to see declines in your impressions, or followers drop off. You try your old tactics, but they don’t work.  You start wondering if posting cat videos will help. Or maybe you consider the idea of “buying” followers. It hits you – this is harder than I thought it would be. Its what I call the “rope climb” of the ever changing obstacle course of social media. It’s the differentiator between those who get by with average level of skill and strength, and those who can push through to the next level. It’s a  moment of truth for the small business owner who is managing their own social media activity. You ask yourself:  How much more development can I afford to invest in this thing? How often do I need to refresh my skills? Will I ever get the investment of time and talent back in some form of revenue or growth?

Part of the research I did prior to creating LittleBox Social was to assess the “current state” of my neighborhood small businesses and their use of social media. I was happy to see many of my potential future clients had established a social media presence – Go Neighborhood Business!  Then I dug a little further and looked at their content. A pattern quickly emerged. A small minority of businesses had an active, if not thriving social media presence.  I could see a slightly larger group who started out strong, and every once in a while, maybe once a month, someone was tasked with that pesky “Social media stuff” on their to-do list and posted for a few days with good content. Then there was the largest group of all – well over 50% of the test sample: Businesses that had clearly started out and within a few weeks, discontinued posting and/or stopped providing any fresh content. It’s like they just ran out of steam, looking at that obstacle when something in the ecosystem changed.

This larger group hit the dreaded moment of Middle School Rope Climb and couldn’t make it past the first knot. They weren’t getting the return on the investment that they thought they were promised.  And just like in Middle School gym class – not all of us make it up the rope on the first try. Some of us didn’t even try – willing to take the demerit for the class.

Every business owner has run up against a rope that they can’t climb. The smart business owner recognizes the decision in front of them: Do I have to climb the rope? Is there a different way to attack the problem? Or do I just stop and walk away from this opportunity?

Clearly, some stop and walk away, but it haunts the bottom of their to-do list until they just simply pretend it never happened. Others will take another run at it occasionally just to see what happens. And yet another group will recognize the opportunity to do something they could never do in Middle School Gym Class – Hire it out to a specialist.

Organizations (like LittleBox Social) spend their days training for the rope climb! And we scamper up the rope at lightning speed (Figuratively of course because most of us are geeks and still have no upper body strength!). We train by keeping on top of trends, studying the shifting algorythms that Social Media Engineers keep changing, researching new and better ways to convey your personal story! Let us climb the rope for you!  And since we do it behind the scenes, you get all the credit!

If you find yourself feeling like that 13 year old middleschooler, staring at that rope dangling from the Middle School Gym Ceiling and wondering – “How on earth am I ever going to make it up that thing?” – let LittleBox Social help you out. We can climb the rope for you, or train you how to climb it! We take the fear out of social media by partnering with you to make sure that you get what you need!

Welcome to LittleBox Blog! It’s been quite the week at LittleBox Social. Since we are in start up mode, the days have been long, the to do list is still growing rather than shrinking, but overall, we’ve made some great progress!

Our hope for this blog is to provide you, our LittleBox followers and friends with information you can use – stuff you can immediately put into practice. Whether its social media trends, small business start up resources, or local merchant practices, we’ll make sure it’s high quality content from reliable sources.

We also like to have a bit of fun at LittleBox, so you may see some posts that are purely designed to lift your spirit, give you a chuckle or just let you ponder a deep thought for a second!

The other thing we’ll  use this space for is to highlight some of our client’s (future and current) accomplishments! We believe in celebrating our community members and providing a venue for those opportunities.

So, let’s get this party started – see you on the web!