Tim Lorang is now retired and not accepting new clients.

olde_typewriter1.jpg

Tim Lorang Blog

Reasons Your Restaurant should not do Social Media Marketing

Posted by Timothy Lorang on Mon, Feb 28, 2011 @ 10:00 AM

Shut Happens Closed Business resized 600I have written a few blogs recently about writing blogs for small businesses and generating ideas for small business blogs. A lot of times when I’m talking to restaurant owners, shop keepers or other small businesses they tell me that they doesn’t need social media marketing. They get enough customers by word-of-mouth, or their clientele really don’t use twitter, or they are too busy to blog or they don’t understand social media and it really is a waste of time. And I usually agree with them. I mean if they have enough customers and they are making enough money who am I to argue. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Even if they don’t have enough customers I’ve found that the excuses tend to fall into these five categories.

1: Peer Pressure

None of the other businesses are doing it so why should I do it? When you get into this teen-age anxiety frame of mind you can sit back with the knowledge that at least you are with the crowd. When one of your peers finally does start using social media marketing and leaps ahead you’ll be so busy trying to catch up you won’t have time to worry about anyone else.

2: Fear of Failure

What if you tried this social media marketing and it didn’t work? This is a real possibility. Generally when you are afraid that if you do something you may fail the best thing to do is nothing. That way when your business does fail no one can blame your silly social media marketing plan on the failure.

3: Anxiety

Doing anything new is often an anxious time. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know if you are doing it right. You don’t know if you should pay for twitter software or use the free service or if you should write a blog or update your Facebook page. In cases like this the best thing to do is re-arrange the storage room. At least you know what you are doing there and you’ll know where everything is when its time to clean it out for good.

4: Negative Self-Talk

What do you know about this stuff anyway? You don’t know a tweet from a digg and now you are starting a social media campaign. What if someone posts something negative about your business? I’m sure you can be sued for something you are thinking of doing. What grade did you get in English Composition in High School? And now you think you can blog? Give it a rest; you’re right you can’t do anything.

5: Perfectionism

You have a lot to do before you start anything new like a social media campaign. You have to make sure inventory is all caught up and the staff is trained. You are thinking of maybe changing the logo because this one is not the right color. Besides, if you start tweeting who is going to proof read the tweets? What if you misspell something or say something wrong?

There are a lot of reasons why you should not do social media marketing. But usually it comes down to social media marketing is something small businesses do not do. To get the point of view of a small business owner you should read Marcus Sheridan’s recent blog: The Blue-Collar Blogging Revolution: Is Your Small Business In or Out?

If you would like to know more about how your small business can benefit from social media marketing contact us for a free consultation.

Free Social Media EvaluationClaiming Your Google Places

Topics: Social Media, Online Marketing, Business