(And Why They Are All Silly)

I’ve been researching, using, living and breathing social media for years now. Yet after all those years of discussing social media with folks – I have yet to hear one good reason for someone to not use social media.

What I hear, instead, are a lot of profit-killing excuses.

Here are my top three. And here is the way I shoot each and every one down.

Excuse #1 But I’m so busy already! I don’t have the time.

Sure you do. The most time-consuming part of social media is getting comfortable with it and setting up your own individual strategy. Once that’s done, maintaining your social media program is a breeze. Mainly because all it involves is something you’re probably already great at: talking with your customers.

Besides – there are loads of great time-saving social media tools. I love programs like HootSuite, Market Me Suite and Facebook’s scheduled posts feature for making social media painless (but never overly automated.)

Excuse #2 But my kind of customers don’t use social media.

Really? Who are your customers? Mice? Three year olds? Because those are about the only two segments of society I don’t see on social media sites.

(What, haven’t you seen Dogster.com?)

Your customers do tweet.  They are on Facebook even if, for now, they’re just on there to keep in touch with their kids and grandkids.

Excuse #3  I don’t want my customers talking about me publicly. What if they give me a bad review?

Say you have 20 reviews posted about you online and 3 of them are bad. Let’s think about how that looks to potential customers. It looks like you have 17 great reviews and those 17 look real. Publishing the bad ones  too proves you don’t censor or fake your good reviews. So there’s built-in credibility.

And don’t forget to look at these reviews with objective, non-defensive eyes. As a consumer, what do you think when you read raving bad reviews in a sea of otherwise glowing ones? Especially ones that seem like they’re written by someone with a vendetta versus a reasonable business complaint? You ignore them. You write them off a bad apple and move on. If you’re doing your job right and treating your customers like gold, your good reviews will far outweigh the bad ones.

(If they don’t, that too is invaluable feedback. The review system might just be the best business indicator you have. It could help your business fix problems you never realized you had on a global scale.)

And finally, remember that if you give your customers a place to comment on your business, you too have that ability to comment and respond. So turn these negative PR moments into positive ones by quickly addressing each and every negative comment. Your disgruntled customer will love you for it  – and your potential customers will be impressed!

So what’s your excuse? Why don’t you have a social media strategy? And if you do – what mental hurdles did you have to overcome to get there? Let me know by posting a comment below. And don’t forget to Like, Tweet, Pin and Google+ this post!