Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Social Media

I suspect we will all agree that social media can be a very powerful tool.  Using it to showcase your work and advertise your skills is obvious of course but many forget to use it to network too.  Networking on social media is easy and quiet individual.  Those of you who know me as @MANDARINLEISURE will no doubt be familiar with my early morning music quiz where I post lyrics from my daily ear worm (I always wake up with a song going around in my head).  It started out by accident but has become a daily ritual and gets lots of engagement from around the world.  It increases my ‘reach’ and makes me a good account in the eyes of the twitter bots.  Following up with conversations and light hearted chatter keeps the connections alive and, I’m pleased to say, has resulted in me making some very good friends as well as a few business connections and commissions.

Grow Your Business On Social Media

Some big businesses are extremely good on social media of course.  I recently had cause to tweet @AppleSupport following an issue I had with my iMac and the response and service I received were second to none. Thank you Apple for your care and attention.  Obviously Apple are a very big company and probably have a vast social media team looking after their customer enquiries.  That doesn’t mean they ‘have’ to be good at it though.  However, they ‘are’ very good at it and we can all learn lessons from their forward thinking and caring ethos.

Good Manners Cost Nothing

Alas, not all larger companies are as good as they could be.  I recently had an enquiry from outside of the County and I happily gave two separate recommendations.  Neither of the recommended companies bothered to thank me for those recommendations until I publicly tweeted my disappointment at their lack of response.  As a sole trader I look forward to recommendations, retweets, shares, and comments from all businesses but I do wonder why so many larger local businesses refrain from sharing or commenting on other peoples hard work.

Does Social Media Work?

Hand made ‘Ribcage Light’

Of course it does!  This morning I tweeted a request for some original local pictures depicting local business. My request was answered within seconds by @ArtedlyLight who design and make bespoke lights.  Not mass produced lighting but hand crafted, made with love, feeling and a lot of soul for each client.

Social media shares and good old fashioned recommendations will help small companies like this (and me) to become larger and more profitable companies.  A more profitable company might employ staff then more staff and become a larger business.  It’s important to remember though that this small business is ‘here’…. ‘right now’! Small businesses like ours have more chance of growing if we work together and share each others work to reach a wider audience.

Please take a look at www.light-artedly.co.uk to see what Emma and Jim provide.  Obviously they are ready to take your commissions but will be happy to have your recommendations too.

Share And Share Alike

When you’re using your social media please don’t be one of ‘those’ companies who just posts their own work and expect everyone else to share it for you.  Be an ‘Apple’ or better still, be a @LincsConnect.  To see what other local businesses are doing on social media make sure you regularly search the #LincsConnect hashtag.  Look what’s going on, share a few messages and make some positive comments.  You’ll quickly learn who the supportive businesses are and you’ll form bonds.  It’s good to share and if you get the chance, it’s good to support with a purchase too.

Let’s all work together