Choosing the right tools: Worse, the wolves are at the door

I’m starting to worry…. Yes… worry.  I see a lot of businesses getting set to employ “social media”.  Great! you might say, so what’s the worry?

The worry comes from business owners hearing about a fad or a craze and how it has helped other businesses become ‘world famous’.  It’s easy to get lulled into believing that if you employ the same tools as a similar business you will have the same success.  Well it might (underline “might”) be possible.  But just because you get the same tools as the other guy, doesn’t mean you can build a great house!

Adding further to this worry is that there are truly a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing (or snakeoil salespeople) offering to help businesses set up a Blog or grab a million followers on Twitter.  These one-tool or two-tool salespeople scare me!!!  Why?  Because they aren’t necessarily selling you something you need.  Are you sure you need it?  Have you really looked into it?

Keep in mind that Blogs and Twitter accounts are merely  two tools in the communications toolkit.  So I ask: Can you safely and securely build a house with two tools?  If you can, you can probably walk on water too!

Before you buy any ‘tool-only’ services from any vendor… please please please… ask yourself these questions:

1)      Do these communications tools map to my business objectives?

2)      Do my customers/audience read Blogs?

3)      Are a million Twitter followers going to be QUALITY followers/leads/prospects?

4)      Does my audience reside primarily on Facebook?

5)      Can I contribute regularly to YouTube with compelling video?

6)      Do I have the ability to continually use the tools or will they collect dust in the toolbox?

Don’t misunderstand.  I’m not discouraging anyone from using the tools.  And you can DIY all you like if you’re confident in how and why to use them.  But most importantly, there are three things to keep in mind:  The tools work great if:

1)       you know how to use them,

2)       you have an end in mind, and

3)      you’re prepared to use them as required.

What I AM discouraging is employing tools just for the sake of it.  Employing one or two social media tools (and doing nothing else) and expecting huge and immediate results is borderline crazy.  Imagine, in a city of a million people, buying one (and only one) newspaper ad to announce a furniture sale and only 30 people show up.  Even though the subscription base of the newspaper may be 150,000 not every person read the paper that day.  And those who did may not have even seen the ad because they didn’t read every page! And even then, those who did either read about it and forgot it or had something better to do that day.

Communications means hitting an audience (the right audience) through multiple touchpoints.  A good vendor will look at the big picture with you.  They will map a plan to your business objectives… not what is currently popular.  Yes, Twitter is a very useful tool, if you’re prepared to USE it.  A Blog can help your credibility and search engine (SEO) rankings.  But don’t forget about your audience.  Who are they? Where are they?  They are multifaceted and they are found in multiple places… don’t forget that when you’re thinking about how to reach customers with the tools.   All of this takes time – just like building a house.  But more importantly don’t forget it when the wolves show up at the door.