If not, your small business owner need to read this.

If you are like many people with a small business, you go to a lot of networking events.  You also, more than likely, have pages on most social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Now, let me ask you a question:  Who is doing most of the talking, especially on your social media sites?

Based on what I see every day, it is usually the small business and often the small business is committing a major foul.

It doesn’t respond to comments from people who actually respond to a post.

I know of one Facebook page for a business with more than 13,000 Likes.  All they do is post items and no matter how many comments or questions they get, they don’t respond to any of them!

What kind of message does that send to the customers or clients of that business?  

It tells them that we don’t really care what you think; we don’t care that you took time to engage with us; we don’t care what your question is; we care about one thing and one thing only, talking, because we are the smart ones and you are the mindless minions who don’t really matter even if you do buy our product or service.

When I am putting a marketing plan together for a business or deciding to use a particular business, I often go on their social media sites and ask a question or post a comment.  If I don’t get a timely reply, I run away from the business.  Why? Because I don’t feel that they care to actually engage with me on a platform that they are using to put out information.  (Now, the time I give them to respond changes with the size of the business.  I don’t expect a solo proprietor to answer immediately because she may be busy with a client or customer.   I do expect a major corporation with a budget to respond within minutes.)

My advice to you as a business owner is if you aren’t going to really engage on a social media platform with your audience then don’t even have it.  If you aren’t going to respond to customers, then don’t let people think you are because all you are going to do is leave a bad taste in their mouths and that isn’t good for your business.