Mine Your Own Business

Small Businesses and Facebook

Facebook has been a frequent topic on this blog, in fact we just did one last week an a recent upgrade to Facebook Business Pages. Now comes an article titled 3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Avoid Facebook that describes how a Facebook Business Page can be a liability rather than an asset for your small business. The article presents three reasons why it might be a good idea to avoid Facebook.

• It's Stressful for Consumers
• You're Hard to Find
• Privacy and Security

Make sure and read the  comments at the end of the article that present some more ideas on the value of Facebook for your small business.  Two comments are in favor of a Facebook Business Page and actually have some figures to back up why they feel it is certainly is an asset. One other comment presents pros and cons of your business being on Facebook. So after reading the article and the comments how do you feel about your small business and Facebook?

More on Social Media

Still hesitant to jump into the Social Media Marketing arena? So was Colgate
-- toothpaste giant. But, they did it successfully by mixing video, games
and Facebook to target a new segment -- 18 - 25 yrs.

Their key to making it all work was engagement. Traditionally, marketing is
measured by impressions -- how many people will see you advertisement in the
paper, billboard, magazine, etc. Now days, the focus is on engagement -- how
many people will engage with your marketing, inspiring them to try the
product. It's more than posting an advertisement and expecting people to
buy. It's about entertaining them, showing them and making it fun. It's
about relating to them as an individual, not as another face in the crowd.

How are you engaging your market?

Here is a link to an interesting article on how Colgate engaged their market.

Kind regards,
Kendra Jeffery
Online Marketing Manager
Tacony Corporation

Pros and Cons of Social Media

Social Media is more than just a new buzz word. It’s taking the business world by storm and, as with all new trends, there is the good, bad, and ugly. At Tacony Corporation we have integrated social media marketing into several divisions. While it is hard to see direct ROI on our efforts, we are seeing positive results in other ways.

Want to know what your consumer really thinks about your product? Start a Facebook Fan Page, they’re your biggest online cheerleader! They’ll also let you know when you’ve let them down, but you have a chance to fix it right there in front of everyone – how great is that?! Need fresh ideas for new promotions, products, features, services? Ask your followers on Twitter. Within no time you’ll be inundated with ideas.

 As with most marketing effort, your effort and time is directly related to your results – more time = more results. What have you got to lose? Try it out, it could be just what you’re missing.

Want a second opinion, here is an opposing article.

Kind regards,

Kendra Jeffery

Online Marketing Manager

Tacony Corporation

Baseball and Bad News

This posting is especially appropriate because it is about an article in Business Week that uses the baseball metaphor in describing how businesses can cope with unexpected bad news and baseball season is finally beginning. For many of us "it's been a long cold lonely winter" (to quote the Beatles from Abbey Road), so baseball and spring are a very welcome change right now. The article describes that when a small business faces unexpected problems, such as new competition, a drop in sales, or other similar issues that the baseball metaphor can be very useful by listening to your coach and filling our your lineup.

The article provides a lot more tips on confronting problems and makes the comparison that your "coaches" can be industry groups, friends, people you meet at trade shows, etc. One source that we feel might be an even better source than some mentioned in the article is an industry specific forum. Tacony corporation supports a forum call VacHeads that is a weblog for independent retailers focusing on the vacuum industry. We are constantly amazed on a daily basis on the wealth of information that the dealers provide each other and at no cost. Next time your business faces some bad news, why not look for some help from a forum that knows your specific industry the best, other dealers?