Slow and Steady Wins the Social Media Race

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Social media is growing at an impressive rate. It seems like every week a new app, website or platform is created that connects friends, acquaintances and strangers, or allows broad-spectrum posting of text, images or video. And while the majority of these new solutions are geared towards the individual user, several have become every day tools of modern marketers. But, while Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn have all proven to be important and useful arrows to have in the marketing quiver, often times businesses will make the mistake of grabbing hold of the latest social media tool and swinging wildly. According to Steven Strauss, argentina whatsapp number database small business expert and author of “The Small Business Bible,” 53% of small businesses still struggle to use social media effectively.

Back in 2008, while working for a mid-size PR agency based in Washington D.C., Twitter was not yet a year old, but was gaining popularity. Our CEO came out of his office and stopped at my desk. “Eli,” he said, “I need you to go online and create a Twitter account for our company and start tweeting.” I stared back at him blankly. I had signed up for a personal Twitter account and was still just dipping my toes in the water of a platform, whose potential had yet to become clear to me. The CEO’s view of this tool that he barely understood was that he needed to be using it to remain current. In the end, he was right – Twitter became and still is a powerful tool for marketing your company and brand. But at the time, it was too new to be used effectively.


Info & Image from a Staples Small Business Survey.

Facebook, began as an exclusively college and individual focused networking site. Overtime, it has developed into a sounding board for individuals, companies, brands, non-profits and various causes and groups. But had a company found a way into Facebook in the early days, and started friend requesting users at random, they’d have come under a lot of attacks and likely lost potential customers rather than gained any. Facebook needed time to evolve, and once it became global and open, companies were able to fold it into their everyday marketing tactics.

So, how do you know when a new social media tool is ready to use and how do you approach it?

1. Wait: Give it time for the initial excitement over the new social app or site to die down. You want to allow time to evaluate if the tool has staying power or if it will simply be a flash in the pan. Lauren Simonds wrote a recent article on Time.com about business growth and social media including information from Steven Strauss. Simonds states every business should start small: “Run a poll on your website and find out where your customers congregate: Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter—or maybe even YouTube. Pick one, and focus on it until you’ve mastered that platform. Then, if your customer base warrants it, you can consider expanding to another platform.”