3 Reasons To Get Your Business On Social Media Right Now

The experts keep telling you, your kids keep telling you and your neighbor mentioned it – you need to get your business on social media. But it’s a pain, takes a lot of time and you have to learn all these new things you would rather not. Still, you should – here’s 3 reasons why:

1) Your Competitors

Any business serving a market share a pie with other folks providing similar services or products. You each get a piece of the pie depending on things like word of mouth, reputation, pricing and so on. If a new business enters your market space, they are not bringing more pie, they want to eat yours. And they’re not messin’ around – they are in start up mode and have to work very hard to get any of the pie. So they will do whatever it takes and that will include building a social media presence. Some of your existing competitors may also want to eat some of your pie and they will do the same.  If they all get on social media and you don’t, your piece of the pie will get smaller and smaller. Like it or not, social media is becoming a major factor in the size of your slice of pie.

2) Your Business

It’s no secret that Google is using social media factors as part of their search algorithm. As more and more people rely on Google to find the products and services they need, ranking well becomes more and more important. Maybe you rank well right now for your keywords, maybe even the coveted number 1 spot. But what happens if you wake up one morning and find your rank has slipped to #2 or #3 or #10 or you are on page 2? Can’t happen? Think again. It can and it does. So if business levels drop 10, 20, 50 percent or more, will that be enough to get you to look at social media? Sure – that or early retirement. But here’s the catch: it can take 6-12 months to build up a presence on social media that Google may react to. Can you survive the hit in business levels? Why take the chance?

3) Your Customers

If the first 2 items haven’t convinced you (and they should), think about your customers. You may not be a big social media person, but your customers and prospects are. You can’t argue with the numbers, more and more folks, young and old alike are using one or more social media platforms. Remember the disappointment we felt 5 or 10 years ago when the business we were interested in didn’t have a website? Not having a social media presence is the same thing. Your customers want to engage with you and your business in a way that they are most comfortable with and for many, that means social media. So go on, do it for your customers!

Seriously, if you wait until you are forced to, it may be too late. It takes time to learn and build a good presence. You may find it hard at first and there may be new challenges to deal with. But putting it off is only going to make it worse. Now is the time to dig in and fortify your position – and continue eating your pie!