Why are businesses afraid of social media?

There are a number of reasons (no money, no experience, no guarantee, we’ve never done it that way before…) why businesses are afraid of social media.

Here are a few reasons why they shouldn’t be:

— Here to stay. Social media is not a fad. It’s not something we’ll forget about. Businesses may come and go, but real-time communication isn’t going anywhere.

— Who you know. Doing business has always been about building strong relationships. Now, it’s much easier.

— People driven. Social media is continuing to gain a larger foothold on how we communicate, share opinions, obtain information and receive news.

— Fast & wide acceptance. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners; television took 13 years to get 50 million viewers. Facebook added 100 million users in 9 months.

— Inexpensive. Facebook is free, Twitter is free, blogging is free.

— Measure it. One big difference between social media marketing and regular marketing is that you can measure social media marketing through online tools (like Google Analytics and SocialMention.com).

The Internet and social media isn’t going away. And while it seems like everybody is using it, there are still hundreds of thousands of businesses that haven’t even considered it. It’s not too late to start. It’s not too late to create a Web site, Facebook profile, Twitter account or blog… and then talk directly to and hear directly from your clients and customers.

There’s nothing to be afraid of.

— If it’s time your business had a distinctive, informative, social and search-friendly online presence, contact me today: ted@ted360.com.