Social media has opened doors to communicating with people online at your leisure. You can read and comment on blogs, facebook, retweet and reply back when it is best for you as opposed to taking the time to talk on the phone or having to run to the next event.
When we talk about the first joining the social media party, we know that it is best when utilizing social media for business, to develop a social media strategy. The strategy involves defining your objective, developing your target market persona as well as engaging in conversation. But what happens when you are unable to engage? Are social media “friends” more forgiving and welcome you back or are they hesitant to let you back in?
In everyday life, if we do not call people or return calls, eventually they just stop calling. After a while it can be awkward to pick up the phone and talk about why you were unable to give them a call. As we tell people what we want them to know, do we call people and say that we will not be able to return their calls or talk for a while due to being too busy or whatever the situation is? Close friends and family of course but what about people we see around or talk with 3-4x a month?
What about in social media? Are we more apt to tell people what is going on as it is easier to write than talk? There is no face to face, voice to voice and if you post and people react, you do not have to react back right away. There are certain expectations of people in social media to be around, to communicate with, to learn from and to share with. What happens when they are not around? If they are gone for a few days, of course they will be welcomed back but what if they are not around for a few weeks? Do we let them back in right away?
Is social media more forgiving? Are there unwritten rules to time away with no explanation and coming back in? As a small business owner, do you feel pressure to be around despite time restraints? This is a challenge that small business owners face as the more you engage in social media marketing, the less time you have for other marketing and business related avenues. How do you balance the time and overall marketing efforts? Does the time commitment cause you to be cautious with our social media efforts?
photo credit: soot + chalk