Social Media FAQs for Small businesses

After I delivered another successful workshop introducing some basic principles of social media to small business owners and managers, it occurred to me that there are some FAQs which keep rearing their heads in discussion. Social media is a buzz phrase at the minute and with any hot topic there are some really strong opinions being aired in the discussion. The most common point raised was "How do i find time to do all this as well as running my business, bringing up a family, walking the dog, putting food on the table etc?" 10 years ago I think people probably said the same about email... and now we can't live without checking it hourly at least. Its all about time management and the beauty of modern technology is that you dont even have to be sat at a computer to carry out your social media strategy. Mobile phones are the most popular way of "Tweeting" and within 2 years smartphones will be in the majority which makes this time-saving technology open to more people still.

Another common concern was "How do i protect my private life?" A lot of this comes down to common sense, in the same way that it would be pretty foolish to drive around with your mobile phone number in large digits on your car bonnet, so its sensible not to give away all your personal details on public social media sites. Sites like Facebook offer a variety of privacy settings that can be used to limit who sees what information so for example family photos can be reserved for viewing by selected friends only. Some bosses are wary about the implications of employees' raucous activities being published widely on the internet but no one will ever censor this completely. Instead a more open-minded view that perhaps it is best to know what employees are getting up to in their spare time rather than have them secretly getting into mischief could be a positive way forwards. Some people advocate the use of separate social media "identities" for private and professional life but I think this is rarely necessary. A small business owner or one man band in particular can use their social media "brand" to enhance their personal branding as this is a key part of the motivation of customers to buy - people buy from people they like after all.

Likewise there is always a question about "how do i get rid of negative comments and customer complaints - its not fair that these are published online." Think instead of how damaging customer complaints can be if they are spread solely by word of mouth but never raised to the business owner. While the initial shock of seeing a complaint in public is unpleasant for any hard-working business owner, at least we have the opportunity to address the issues raised, and respond with our improvement actions. Surely it is better to see these complaints for yourself by engaging with social media rather than ignoring the issue.

Securing Sponsorship

I was recently asked for some advice on finding a sponsor and found myself getting quite carried away with a detailed response which i thought i would share.

When looking for sponsors I would suggest a two-pronged approach. As with any form of public relations or marketing activity, following up and persistence is critical to success. Make an initial contact by phone and ask who the best person to speak to about sponsorship. Try and gauge their level of interest briefly and then offer to send them a sponsorship pack out. Follow up with a call after the pack is received and ask if you can come and see them to explain more. Therefore the pack needs to contain the key details but leave a few gaps/questions which means the target will need to see you to find out more.

I would certainly recommend spending some money on getting your sponsorship brochures nicely presented and bound – the extent to which you spend on this will depend on who you are targeting and how much money you want. If for example you are approaching a blue chip company and are looking for several thousand pounds then the package must be smartly presented. Conversely if you are a small charity asking for a few pounds from local organisations then you may give the wrong impression if you use a plush brochure for your appeal as it looks like you are already rich! The sponsorship package must outline the key benefits to the organisation that this sponsorship association will bring. So if you are a charity you might outline your work, the opportunities for sponsor engagement (eg free tickets to an event), opportunities for sponsors to promote themselves (eg weblinks, adverts in programmes/magazines etc), the profile of existing customers and how this matches to the sponsors’ target audience and so on.

Without knowing the context of the sponsorship need its difficult to suggest anything else but if its an event that you seek sponsors for then you could ask them to attend a previous event (FOC) to see what its like before they commit to funding. Similarly if you are a sportsperson for example then invite potential sponsors to come to an open day at your training centre or watch you compete.

Good luck in your search!

If you would like further support in securing sponsorship then contact kate(at)activemd.co.uk or call 01603 716700