One only has to watch the daily tweets of Donald Trump to witness the power that social media holds on a global scale. Love it or hate it, social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest keep people occupied, distracted, entertained, informed, touched and even motivated to enact change.

If you own a business, is social media your friend or your enemy? Specifically, do you you get enthused or deflated when you think of using social media as a marketing tool for your business?

I don’t have time!

On a basic level, in your current role running your business, do you have time to post on social media? There are many social media scheduling tools, such as Hootsuite, that can help you schedule your posts and engage with your followers without having to open multiple browser screens. It allows you to post to multiple social media accounts at the same time, saving you time.

I can’t afford to hire someone!

Many small business owners are sole-proprietors or partnerships, wearing many hats and juggling personal and professional lives. Social media marketing falls lower on the list than printing out a weekly or monthly batch of invoices, for example, when multitasking.

Think about it this way: it only costs around $75-$150 per month to manage scheduled social media postings for your company, based on the number of posts and promotions per month. Think about the time it would take you to come up with campaigns, sit down at the computer, hunt stock photos, and devise marketing messages to post to your social media accounts… and not even sure if the message will be well received by your followers or get noticed in all of the social media noise. How much is YOUR time worth? Can you spend that time earning billable hours so you can afford a professional to help you carry out your social media campaigns with polish as your brand ambassador?

I’m not good at sales and marketing!

Social media experts are able to watch trends, create engagement (meaning your followers like, share and comment on your posts), and help you create content that rises above the cute kitten videos and graphic news feeds on the never ending scroll of social media noise.

Social media specialists help you engage with your customers with sincerity, connection and authenticity. And, if done properly, a social media guru can help create more credibility for your company, connecting you to the community, and creating campaigns that are focused on a people-driven economy.

Done right, you will find that social media can be your friend, not your enemy. If you are feeling intimidated by social media, contact Ideas In Bloom today to find out how we can help your business blossom.