Time and time again I hear business owners saying, they are trying to utilize Social Media to grow their business. The truth is a lot of these businesses have no clue on what they are doing and sometimes feel they are wasting time, energy and resources to Social Media, all while trying to measure a ROI.

The key word in the title of this post is “MANAGE”. It is so common to hear people stumble over their words and give me a duh look when I ask the question, “What are your goals for Social Media?”. Social Media is a platform that can help your business but you have to decide first how you want it to help. If you are in business, setting goals is a no-brainier for the everyday tasks and it seems most have forgotten to set their goals for Social Media. Once you have your goals set, you can now start to “MANAGE” how you will use Social Media.

Keep in mind your goals can vary from one business to the next. Keep your goals realistic, specific and measurable.

Choose cable or the internet and we all agree, we would take the internet. We all love the internet.

This is not a post saying I hate the internet but just some ways of how it is hurting business.

I am not going into great detail, just some watch outs.

What you do to with the internet to kill your business.

1. You spend to much time leaving post and notes on all your social media sites.
2. You get lost in the news that is not important to your business.
3. You sign up for various things only to have way too many emails in your Inbox.
4. You get sucked into talking on an instant messenger.
5. You try to learn new software on your own.

What your clients do with the internet to kill your business.

1. They have access to all your competitors.
2. They research the heck out of you and your services/products.
3. Clients have a good idea of your cost.
4. Clients figure out how to do a project themselves.

Those who sit with me at local Indianapolis C.A.S.N. meetings know, I love the business world and working for myself. They also know that I do not try to sell services or products at these meetings. Strange I know, most come to a meeting hoping to get new business but I almost always leave with no new business. Could this be a sign I am doing something wrong?

When I started my business a couple years ago, I took on a idea of how I was going to do business. Now, I am sure this is no new idea and not something I invented but it is something I challenge others to do. My idea was to simply not focus on building my business but to instead strictly focus on building relationships.

My reasons.

1. I knew building relationships was going to be a lot easier than building a business.

2. I knew more about relationships at the time than I did running my own business.

3. The best things in life grow from some form of relationship.

4. Finally, I figured if I treated each potential and new client like a marriage and the client saw this, then it would mean until death do us part. (Bad analogy I know since so many marriages fail but the good ones do survive and are very special)

So how has it worked out for me? It has been awesome! I have not only had the chance to meet some great people but I have learned much more and feel I have some of the best people around me. I find the relationships to be extremely valuable and find my clients are happier.

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