Just returned from my local Chamber of Commerce meeting, where a resident expert gave an excellent presentation on Social Media Marketing for small businesses. She offered a few resources for those just getting started with social media — I’d like to add one more. Hubspot’s “How to Use Facebook for Business” provides an easy-to-understand guide and terrific step-by-step instructions for setting up a business page on Facebook. Download requires you to provide some information, but it’s worth it. Highly recommend for the novice Facebook business user.
I’ve been meaning to get back to my own post about social media marketing, but it will have to wait because I want to comment on what caused the most buzz at today’s CoC meeting — and that was Groupon! Everybody was talking about Groupon, and nobody was really in agreement as to whether Groupon is useful or worth the investment. Really, it’s all about setting your expectations.
As with all online marketing channels it’s critical that you track your efforts, and in this recent article from the Times’s “Your The Boss” blog Jay Goltz outlines what’s important for small business owners to consider when measuring Groupon ROI.
In another conversation taking place on Quora, business owners with first-hand Groupon experience talk about its pros and cons. Lots of insightful postings — certainly worth a read.
And one more link from Ries’ Pieces about how coupon discounting may have negative effects on your company’s brand.
