SMEs 'cannot be everywhere at once on social media'

Owners of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been urged to avoid spreading themselves too thinly across social media.

According to author and small business owner Scott Stratten, firms that want to use social networking sites as a marketing tool cannot use them all, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

This, he said, is because they will be unable to spend enough time managing each account properly.

Mr Stratten has therefore encouraged SME owners to pick one site in particular where they wish to be seen.

He argued that social media is "not about being everywhere" or "being scalable on every platform".

"It's being great at a few," Mr Stratten said.

He added that companies should not overlook email marketing despite the emergence of social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Mr Stratten suggested an email in a person's inbox can be "much more valuable" than a tweet or a Facebook status that only appears on screen for a few minutes.

This supports recent assertions from Stefan Drew of stefandrew.com, who said companies must ask themselves where their audience is located and what media they access on a regular basis before deciding what marketing channel to use.

Posted by Paul Newton