5 Questions Small Businesses Need to Ask About Social Media Marketing

Small business owners and employees are often confronted with the idea that they "need to communicate with their customer" or they "need to serve their customer" but are often not provided with ways of carrying out these actions.

What small businesses often need is efficient and widespread marketing so as to reach the largest amount of people while maintaining efficient business operations and manpower.

Here are five questions small business should be asking about social media marketing in determining what is best for them and their business:

1) Do I know enough about social media marketing to make the right decision for my business?  Not knowing the possibilities would be the same disadvantage as operating a business without knowing such a thing as television advertising existed.

2) What is mybusiness strategy and how could a social toolkit align with my key initiatives?

3) Are my customers using the social web?

4) Are my competitors using this channel, and what are the competitive implications if I decide to participate or not?  Could I create advantage by being an early adopter?

5) Do I have the resources, or can I acquire the resources, to conduct limited, focused experiments to see if working through the social web can provide a cost-benefit exceeding traditional advertising?