How to Explain to Business People What Social Media Can Do for Them?

Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing specializes in working with individuals and companies who know very little about using social media to get in front of their target markets.

But our ideal clients are those who "get" the importance of this new kind of marketing even if they do not yet know themselves how to harness the power for their own businesses.

Here is my dilemma:



How to explain the power of social media to well-educated, well-established business owners who know very, very little about social media and yet challenge every word I say? I had yet another one of these conversations today.

The company in question has an elementary Twitter account, Facebook account and LinkedIn accounts. I talked about Twitter for several minutes.

Then the company chief executive said: "How do you know how many followers my company has on Twitter?"



I said: "The number zero followers is shown right on your company Twitter profile."

And he said: "I've never seen our Twitter profile."



It's a good thing this conversation was right before lunch instead of right after lunch or I might have lost my lunch.

He's never seen his company's Twitter profile? The way his company is being portrayed online even if he is not involved? And when I asked him who had set up his minimal LinkedIn profile, his reply was that he didn't know.

Okay, deep breath. I will admit that not everyone needs to be actively using social media. But as a company chief executive wouldn't it be a good idea to know what people are seeing online about your company?

In other words, if you have social media profiles set up and even if you yourself don't understand the power of social media, it's a good idea to check on what is being presented in your company's name.

And just because you believe that most of your clients and customers are not using social media doesn't mean that you don't have to participate. You should be participating both to connect with potential new clients and customers as well as to model online marketing techniques for your clients and customers.

This brings me back to my original question:

How to explain the power of social media to business people who must be living on an alien planet since financial, professional and other online and offline publications are filled with articles about Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites?

I'd love to hear any suggestions for the best brief way of explaining the power of social media and why business owners should care. Write your suggestions in the comments section below this post.

© 2011 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) is the co-founder of Miller Mosaic Social Media Marketing. Get the company's free report "5 Tips for Staying Top of Mind With Your Prospective Target Markets" at www.millermosaicllc.com/los-angeles-s...