If you haven’t been to HP’s 367 Addison Avenue Blog, it’s a great resource for small-to-medium business owners with helpful tips, tricks and advice to help bring your business to the next level.  Melissa Zieger, the editor at 367 Addison, has been kind enough to share some of her content with us; it will be cross-posted here from time to time.  – Tina

SMIconsIf you haven’t already, you might be scrambling to usher your small or medium business into the digital world by setting up a Facebook page, or trying your hand at tweeting or blogging. It’s a natural, normal inclination: for the past few years it seems that social media – or social networking – has been the main topic of conversation in many business circles. What savvy business person would want to risk missing out on such a huge opportunity? At the same time, to borrow a decidedly non-tech image or two, what savvy business person wouldn’t kick the tires and look under the hood before making an important decision?

Obviously, I believe in blogging, and Twitter, and Facebook. But these are channels that even my company, as big as it is, only approached when we knew we had the right resources to support them.

Unfortunately, the lure of “free” social media channels can be hard for some businesses to resist. So, I was glad to see some good advice for small businesses thinking about getting involved in social media channels in this post on Small Business Trends. While the actual title – “4 Reasons Your Brand Should Avoid Facebook” – may seem a bit harsh, I think the points made by branding expert Lisa Barone merit careful consideration.

First, is your audience there? Millions of people may spend hours on Facebook and Twitter, but at the same time, there are millions who do not. As in all marketing endeavors, when it comes to social media, if you’re trying to reach your audience in a venue it doesn’t frequent, you’re wasting time and money.

Speaking of avoiding waste, are you sure you have the resources to invest in establishing and maintaining an effective social media presence for your business? The post reiterates what I believe is one of the most timeless business truisms: the one thing worse than having no presence at all is having a bad presence. In other words, if you don’t have what it takes to do it right, doing it sort of right is not the right thing to do.

Does social media align with your business goals? You may run a business that does not necessarily want to communicate with its customers. Or you may be required to follow strict review-and-approval policies and procedures that could cause your social media outreach efforts to get stuck en route. If that’s the case, it’s important to remember that Facebook and Twitter are not the place for traditional press releases – they’re meant to be used spontaneously, in real time.

Finally, do you have the time? Keeping up with your company’s social media presence will require more than generating content. As they often do in nearly all social situations, things change quickly in the world of social media, so if you don’t have a way to stay on top of it, you may be left behind.

Thanks for reading,

Melissa Zieger

Melissa Zieger (@HP_SmallBiz) is the editor-in-chief of HP's SMB blog, 367 Addison Avenue and a worldwide public relations manager for HP's Personal Systems Group.