The entire business landscape is amidst a sea of changes we are told by so called “Social Media” experts. Businesses believe that if they haven’t joined the social media than they are being left in the dust.
Are we really to believe this?
Is your business “tweeting”, “facebooking”, “Linkedin”, “digging” and actively engaged with all the other social media communications? If so, what are the quantifiable results?
If you are a celebrity, sports star, media guru or someone of interest than perhaps social media is a way to let others (who have way too much time on their hands) know what you are doing at every moment.
But if you are in the senior housing industry and operate nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health, retirement communites in which census is always a concern, or any other type of service business, do you really have the time to let the world know what you are doing at any given moment?
Who is reading and who is responding to social media?
I am the CEO of my company and I do not have the time to Tweet or Facebook. I use Linkedin, but after I “link” with someone, I usually try to call them on the phone personally. I like speaking to someone that I am connected to.
Are we losing the personal touch?
Most companies (mine included) would like to drive more traffic to their websites in the hope of more business. So we are using a lot of our resources to send tweets and business facebooking.
In reality we might just be yelling into an empty room.
The real issues that businesses face is beyond search engine optimization or “SEO” a term that has become the most signifcant buzzword so far in the twenty-first century. It’s not just about simply having a website anymore and it’s not only about “eyeballs.” SEO is about driving traffic to a website. Then what?
Business today is about relevance. It’s about the actions one takes after visiting a business website.
It’s not enough to just drive traffic to a website, it’s about a customer taking action after visiting a website. Will they contact you to inquire further? Will they buy?
Does social media draw attention to your business website? Maybe.
The bigger question is: what happens after that?
I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com. I welcome your phone call. (It’s your move.)