{"id":2036,"date":"2016-02-03T07:46:46","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T13:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/?p=2036"},"modified":"2016-02-03T07:46:46","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T13:46:46","slug":"social-up-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/2036","title":{"rendered":"Social-up your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Small Business Owner,<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a potential customer of your small business, I\u2019m frustrated<\/strong> by your lack of response to my email, tweet, Facebook post, Instagram Message, text message, Skype chat, etc.<\/p>\n

I think I know what happened that led to my frustration.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

You’ve got an established or new business.<\/p>\n

At some point in the business life cycle, you decide to build a web site. (\u201cHey! You totally need a web site to drive more traffic!<\/em>\u201d). As you realize building web sites is not core to your business, you spend some hard earned income to invest $200 in a web site.<\/p>\n

To your untrained eye, you may not recognize the Microsoft FrontPage style template that $200 bought.<\/p>\n

Not only has the web designer created some static content, they\u2019ve thoughtfully created:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • A blog<\/li>\n
  • An e-mail address<\/li>\n
  • A \u201cContact me\u201d form<\/li>\n
  • The Full Social-Package\u2122, including but not limited to: Twitter, Facebook Pages, Instagram, and Skype.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    After an all-too-brief explanation, you, sit back and wait for new business opportunities to arrive, digitally.<\/em><\/p>\n

    And nothing happens. <\/em><\/p>\n

    Maybe a blog post will help. So, you create the first (and last) blog post.<\/p>\n

    And still nothing happens.
    \n<\/em><\/p>\n

    So, business resumes as normal. The web site goes unmodified. The blog post remains, dull, and outdated.<\/p>\n

    E-mails aren’t flooding in, so the e-mail address that was set up isn\u2019t checked frequently or at all.<\/p>\n

    So, when a potential customer uses one of the social options or an email to contact your business, there is no timely response (if there’s one at all).<\/p>\n

    And then\u2026, you’ve lost a customer. <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Sorry, but I’m going to find a different business that meets my needs.<\/p>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    If a small business doesn\u2019t check and respond to voice mails once a (work) day, they may loose business. If that same business does not check their email, social accounts, MySpace pages, etc., they also may loose business.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m sure they meant well by having a web site with an email address, etc., but if it\u2019s not used, it\u2019s no different than not answering the phone.<\/p>\n

    So, what happened? It started with unreasonable<\/strong> expectations.<\/p>\n

    A blog, social-media accounts, email accounts, do not directly create new business opportunities. They are simply new channels for communication. It’s two-way. If your business doesn’t have a plan for these new forms of communication, they will fail.<\/p>\n

    You will miss out on new customer opportunities. And worse,<\/strong> you may lose existing customers who may transition to using the other forms of communication you’ve claimed to offer. Spend an extra $100 to have a daily (or more frequently) plan developed to consistently use these communication options. Delete and remove any that don’t fit your business needs or that sit unused. If you don’t understand these forms of communication or how to integrate them effectively, there are lots of on line resources that can help, both paid and free.<\/p>\n

    I like buying local and will support businesses that work best with my lifestyle and communication preferences.<\/p>\n

    Small business owners can do better. Please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear Small Business Owner, As a potential customer of your small business, I\u2019m frustrated by your lack of response to my email, tweet, Facebook post, Instagram Message, text message, Skype chat, etc. I think I know what happened that led to my frustration.   You’ve got an established or new business. At some point in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5,29],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5QIe-wQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1508,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1508","url_meta":{"origin":2036,"position":0},"title":"Nest Thermostat Review, Update #9","date":"January 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary\/Index When I woke up this morning, I decided that I\u2019d use the remote features of my Nest Thermostat to increase the temperature of the first floor as the normal schedule hadn\u2019t started yet. Here\u2019s what I saw on my iPad: Basement: ? First Floor: ? When I tapped the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/image23.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":368,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/368","url_meta":{"origin":2036,"position":1},"title":"Do we really need another Javascript framework for UI?","date":"June 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"From the web site, RoughlyDrafted magazine, Cocoa for Windows + Flash Killer = SproutCore. Apple doesn\u2019t sell ads, it sells hardware. But if the web requires Flash or Silverlight to run, Adobe or Microsoft can either intentionally kill alternative platforms like the Mac (or Linux), or simply make them work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coding"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1933,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1933","url_meta":{"origin":2036,"position":2},"title":"Fitbit Flex, dead and won’t charge?","date":"August 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My wife and I both pre-ordered a Fitbit Flex. While it\u2019s not a life-changing device, it\u2019s been generally fun to wear. I\u2019m always interested in the sleep tracking when I travel \u2026 \u201cAwake 16x, slept 5 hours.\u201d Last night though, my wife\u2019s Flex had stopped working. The lights wouldn\u2019t show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":331,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/331","url_meta":{"origin":2036,"position":3},"title":"Velocity — a rockin’ distributed in memory cache for ASP.NET","date":"June 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Velocity, the code-name for a new in-memory distributed caching system for ASP.NET was released as a Community Tech Preview today. What is it? It's described in the documentation: Microsoft project code named \"Velocity\" provides a highly scalable in-memory application cache for all kinds of data. By using cache, your application\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coding"","img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/image-thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1576,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1576","url_meta":{"origin":2036,"position":4},"title":"Nest Thermostat Review, Update #10: Wifi Settings Missing","date":"March 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"One more brief update about our Nest thermostats. After a few weeks of limited use of our HVAC system due to a very unusually warm late winter and early spring, I\u2019d set the whole house to AWAY mode last evening. However, a bit later, I heard the furnace running. Odd.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recommendations"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1749,"url":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1749","url_meta":{"origin":2036,"position":5},"title":"Nest Update #12: Software at 3.0 with New Features","date":"October 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As the blogosphere exploded yesterday with news of a second generation Nest thermostat and a new major version of the software (for the thermostats and the controllers such as the web site and various SmartPhones), I wondered what impact the new software and hardware would have on average users, like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recommendations"","img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0630","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/IMG_0630.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2036"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2038,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions\/2038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/wpjson\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}