I'm afraid the answer to this is actually it's not.

Social Media is just one 'tactic' that can be employed by a business to support their strategic value proposition or marketing strategy.

Starting with the assumption you have to be on social media in a business is a bad strategic decision.

Before you can decide on any tactic you need to do the strategic planning in your business.

Know your market, know your customer and their behaviours, attitudes, interests etc.

Decide your strategy

Then work out and pilot a range of tactics and measure each for effectiveness.

If social is part of the mix, and it works for you awesome.

But don't make assumptions up front

Hope this helps

Hunter

For some business types Social Media is definitely questionable, and for others a total wast of precious marketing resources. There are however some business models that do well with social media, so there is no single answer to this question when it mentions "all businesses".

I agree with both Hunter and John in that how you use it *does* depend on the nature of the business.

But when you consider the level of market penetration social media has achieved in a relatively short space of time, you'd need a pretty compelling reason NOT to utilise it in some form.

It's not a case of 'it fits' or 'it doesn't fit' but rather, which platform is most popular amongst my target audience?

The next obvious question is 'Are my competitors using this platform, and to what effect?'.

I strongly believe that how social media works for your business depends on lateral thinking, and how willing you are to to engage and interact with - rather than broadcast - to your customers. Treat it like traditional media and advertising, and you're bound to be disappointed.

Greetings Kirsten from rural Australia,

I agree with all of the above.

Social media is not relevant for all businesses. And, at its best, can be a monumental time waster.

People are on social media to be - social.

Plus. When they're on social media, they are very self serving.

They don't want irrelevant ads thrown at them every time they page through their newsfeed.

And they're most likely to only respond to posts where there's enormous benefit to them.

What's new in your shop - or on your website - is always a good start.

Discounts come quickly to mind.

Free. The most powerful word in advertising. We all want something for free.

And tips on how to do things better. That are entertaining while imparting those tips. If you look at what's shared the most on social media, it's videos. On how to do things.

The above is what has the greatest appeal to followers of social media. All of the above come at a financial cost. And a cost in time to do regular postings.

If you have something new to post almost daily. Can easily give discounts. Or give something away for free on a regular basis. Or have the ability to make fabulous videos on how to do things. And that effort is worth it to you. Go for it.

But if it's not. Give social media a miss. Sometimes it's not wise to follow the herd.

Best wishes,

~Carol Jones, Ironing Diva❦

Purveyor of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies

350,000 customers. In 29 countries.