I am often asked this question, usually by people who have a natural scepticism about the subject, or who believe that “social media” is something their teenage children do in their bedroom.

I firmly believe that social media does work for business. However, like most things in life, it really depends on how you use it, and for what purpose.

There are many definitions of what Social Media is, one of my favourites is that it is “a fusion of sociology and technology; transforming monologues into dialogues, and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers.”

I believe that Social Media works when the medium is used to reach out to individuals, and encourages them to engage with the message. Telling people what you had for lunch doesn’t usually do this, but passing on a link to some interesting and informative nugget of news or information probably will.

Using Social Media doesn’t have to take long – this blog has taken me about 15 minutes to write. Sharing your experience and information via Twitter or Facebook can take even less time. The possibilities of what might happen to your message, and how that might benefit your business is what makes Social Media so potentially powerful.

Social Media is rapidly replacing newspapers as a means of communication, and shares many of its characteristics. Some people read newspapers for the sport, some for the coffee break puzzles, some for the gossip; some cut coupons and look for adverts about local shop sales. Social Media does all this and more.

The question isn’t “Can Social Media be of any use to business”, but how.

I was talking with a client about the amount of business they were generating from their website. The key interface between the business and the customer is the contact form, that tells the business about what the customer needs, as well as a contact name, number and email.

A brief look at Google Analytics revealed some interesting statistics:

• In the last month, their website had received just under 6,000 hits, and
• In the same period, only 54 click through’s to the contact form had been generated by the website, meaning that
• Less than 1% of visits had resulted in a request for a contact.

This was pretty depressing, but it explained why the business felt that it wasn’t getting much benefit from the website.

By looking at each page, it became apparent that there was no obvious “call to action”. Even if the visitor was keen to make contact, it wasn’t clear how they should.

I’m no web-master, but I do understand the importance of making sure the link between you, your product, your “shop”, and your customer, is seamless.

When was the last time you asked someone to give you honest feedback about how easy you are to locate, find out about, and to buy from?

I was told a story over the weekend about someone who said they worked in shoe shop. It sparked a debate about whether the person was in sales, or in customer service.

Unless you are confused, I would think that if you walk into a shoe shop, the chances are that you already want to buy shoes – and that what you want is excellent customer service.

A good salesman will sell you something you didn’t want. A good customer service person will make sure you are happy buying what you already wanted.

Financial Business Support
Many years ago I interviewed a bunch of characters for the post of Nightclub Manager. Failing to make a decision, the panel asked itself the following question, “If the interviewee was a nightclub, would I go to it?”. Suddenly the choice became easy.

It is very easy to forget the impact that the person has on the identity of the business. Every employee, from security on the front desk to the chair of the board, adds a key ingredient to your brand. In times of apparent doom and gloom, what kind of impression do you give the outside world?

A visitor to your business, whether by phone or in person, may well learn more about your company from the first point of contact in the first few minutes than in the whole of the meeting you have carefully planned.

Another subject that is covered by a thousand books, prompted by a business running an on-line shop selling stylish products for the home and garden.

Assume a marketing spend of £1,000, how much of this should they spend on getting past customers to come back, and how much on finding new customers?

My view was a split of about 20:80, with the majority of spend on finding new customers. The type of products on sale are not daily purchases (think Christmas, birthdays and special occasions), so customers may come back, but maybe only twice or three times a year tops. To me, the key to driving revenue up is to find new customers.

How do you allocate your marketing and advertising spend?