Enterprise Nation

When it comes to social media there seems to be people on both sides of the fence - some think it is a fad, while others find it as the holy grail of new marketing strategies. Wherever you fall, there is an important question to ask, is it right for my business?

Social media can be used for a myriad of reasons - to get your message out to your target audience, networking and even find a potential employee.

Twitter for example, is a great way for a freelancer to showcase his or her work, and be able to connect to possible jobs. If you are just starting out and need to contact decision makers at a certain company, you can now send them a message on LinkedIn.

Employers are ready to use the medium to find new employees (well at least over in the US). According to eMarketer, "nearly three-quarters of companies surveyed were using social networks for recruiting, and 58.1% said they had successfully hired a candidate found through a social network."

There are many cases where social media wouldn't be a great fit as well. {Grow}, a practical marketing solutions blog, goes on to say to, "use clear-eyed intellectual honesty when assessing the social media opportunities for your company. There is a natural tendency to want to climb onboard Facebook or YouTube because everyone else is...but take a hard look at what effort is going to be the most effective use of your resources."

Social media is about engaging, you may have very insightful important things to say - but if your key audience isn't engaging you will be talking to yourself. And who really wants to do that? Do some research before diving into the social media world, and decide if your company would actually benefit from it. You may be surprised what you find.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on postage machines based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as postage scales at Resource Nation.

Photo credit: Matt Hamm