Thanks for your comments! I think that the impact of ANY social networking venue depends on the business and the market they’re trying to penetrate. Most small businesses do well being on Facebook and Twitter (etc.) while others may fail miserably before even starting. I think the mistake that a lot of small business owners make is thinking that what worked for a large company, or even their peer company, would work for them.

Where is the budget money best spent? On whichever platform will yield the best result. By the same toke, spending lots of marketing money in one or more areas will not guarantee a profit. The draw of the SM landscape is that it’s free. And we both know, that in a lot of these cases, you get what you pay for, right?

I’m always reading up on Social Networking; particularly seeking the financial reward for owners of Small Businesses.

Is there any financial reward? I’m genuinely interested in your thoughts on this. Basically, I advise owners of Small & Micro sized Businesses to spend what little marketing budget they have on the more financially impactful channels such as Pay Per Click etc.

What are your thoughts Bridget? I know I have a point but perhaps you can enlighten us as to what extent. ha ha. Thank you.

In an attempt to succinctly answer owner’s of Small Businesses when they ask me about implenting Social Networks, I tell them that from what I’ve seen it’s not the most efficient way to spend their time nor money when growing their Sales. And that , larger fims such as Dell use SN’s to understand their Product Imperfections and to encourage CONSUMERS (not businesses) to spread the word of their product.

Surley you’re readers should consider…
Larger firms have more budget and more time. The U.S. based firms tend to be ahead of other countries in terms of Business Development Trends and so have been employing Social network Execs purely to keep on top of this Channel alone.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your comments!

Steve Walters.
e-Business Consultant & Director @Small Business Helper Limited.
Swansea, UK.