The recent Staples ad reminds us that as small business owners we are trying to do it all…the unfortunate thing that we need an online presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, but the time to actively maintain and update these social media sites typically gets pushed aside for “real” business.

The time invested in social media takes away from managing what we do well….our business! Trying to justify the time spent…we try to sell our product or service…..and it does not seem to work….why?

Maybe the idea should not be trying to sell our product or service…social media has the similar connotation to face to face networking…Building relationships is what social media is all about.  The idea of social media is to present the idea that you are the expert/ the "go to person" that can be trusted in your “real” business.  That trust has to be built….through conversation not the hard sell!  Don’t pass out the business card and then walk away!

Creating the communication channels that can quickly share information allows companies to look fresh, current and at the top of the mind for a wide ranging audience in such of a global economy.  So easily spending hours every day to write blogs, research articles, news feeds, daily tweets, posts, give helpful hints, etc., leaving only little time to effectively run the business.  The answer is Social Media Maintenance with a company that will provide consistently updated and maintained the social network.

Check out http://www.catsllc.net/index_files/socialmedia.htm.