Are You Making the 5 Social Media Mistakes?
Is Social Media Under-Used By Small Businesses?
Austin, Texas: A new study came out that reported some startling facts about the under-use of social media by small and mid-sized (SMB)businesses.
Some of its startling findings included:
1) Only 19.5 percent of SMB websites have a link to a Facebook page, and even fewer have links to Twitter and LinkedIn.
Really? Come on guys. Really??! In 2012??! You cannot tell me that you are too busy to blog about your profession or your expertise once or twice a week.
If you are a local business, Facebook and Twitter are even more important to building and establishing your presence, in my opinion.
In fact, I just met with a small mom and pop company owner today that said that 60% of his business comes from his blog.
Too busy? Doing what? Putting out fires? Well, yo need to build the pipeline for future growth, as well.
Do not neglect the sales funnel.
If you want to build your business for growth or develop expertise in your field or community, your Twitter account and Facebook pages are crucially important.
2) Six out of 10 SMB websites in the U.S. are missing either a local or toll-free telephone number on the home page to contact the business.
Marketing 101– Make it easy for your customers to find and contact you.
Listen, I like doing nearly everything online as much as the next person, but I let my clients and prospects contact me how THEY feel most comfortable. If they like to call me, I’ll be available. If they want to email me, I’ll be available. If they want to reach me on Twitter or Facebook or Message me from LinkedIn, I’ll be available.
I’m in business to service my customers, not the other way around, and nobody else should feel any differently.
3) 74.7 percent of SMB websites lack an email link on their home page for consumers to contact the business.
4) 65.7 percent of SMB websites lack a form-fill option to enable consumers to request information.
See above. Be easy to find and to contact. End of story.
5) 93.3 percent of SMB websites are not mobile compatible and will not render successfully on mobile devices or smartphones.
OK, this one might be losing its relevancy over the next 12-18 months, as many people do view websites on tablets and other PDA. Of all the five points mentioned, this one should be addressed, given time.
My website can be viewed on a PDA – though people will have to scroll around more than I’d prefer. However, because just over 6% of SMB sites are easily viewed on PDA’s, I think people have become more patient with this short-fall.
Convert to PDA-friendly? Ideally–YES. But make sure the first four points are addressed first.
Happy Promoting!
