Tree photographed by Mike Fay.
The following guest article is written by Marcus Sheridan.
When I first started studying the principles of inbound marketing and social media, I was struck with the number of media I ‘just had to implement’ based on everything I was hearing from the experts. From Facebook, to blogging, to Twitter, to LinkedIn, to YouTube….the list goes on and on and on, and seems to grow every day.
The problem with this reality is that it’s simply too intimidating for 99% of the small business owners in the world to handle. Why? Because the majority of small biz owners do not have much, if any, marketing staff, and so they’re stuck trying to handle social media and marketing on their own.
When this happens, and they see the mountain of stuff ‘they should be doing’, it’s common to see one of two reactions:
1. They turn and run the other way.
2. They end up attempting as many social media platforms as possible, and essentially become a jack of all trades and master of none.
I’ve seen both cases again and again and again, which is why I’m a huge advocate of becoming great in one area, and then branching out from there.
Blogging Saves a Business
To give you an example, just over 2 years ago my swimming pool company was in bad shape (Yes, along with writing about marketing and sales concepts I’m a pool guy 
). The economy had rocked us and I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to do about it. To make a long story short though, we ended up embracing inbound marketing concepts, and instead of focusing on a huge amount of platforms, we decided that blogging fit our business needs the best.
By going after a long-tail keyword strategy focused on common consumer questions and answers, within a very short amount of time our organic search traffic shot through the roof. You see, in the swimming pool business, just as is seen in most other blue-collar industries, there is a major dearth of quality content on the web.
Because of this, we knew things were ripe for the picking and after only 12 months of content creation (2-3 articles a week) our website became the number one swimming pool site in the world—all because of blogging. No Facebook. No Twitter. No LinkedIn.
Now does this mean that we should never embrace these other media? No, of course not. In fact, today we’re heavily involved with YouTube and just starting to gain traction on Facebook. But when your business is small and there is only a finite amount of time to dedicate to marketing, picking one medium and being great at it is clearly better than simply signing up for a bunch of SM accounts and hoping the magic somehow happens. Because as we know, the beauty behind social media is that we have to earn our success. The concept of ‘just signing up’ is completely worthless and irrelevant.
Facebook as a Core
I have a client who owns a small-town burger joint.
Because his customer base is in such a rural area, upon looking at social media we decided Facebook would best suit his needs. Therefore, knowing his only focus would be to attain as many FB fans as possible and then leverage this list, my client made it a point to invite every single customer that came through the front doors to be a fan.
Within 6 months, he’d achieved 800 fans, a very large amount for the area in which he’s located and way more than any other restaurant within 40 miles. Today, whenever he needs a cash infusion or is looking to promote an event, it’s all over FB, and the results are astonishing. But just as I mentioned before, the man has never written a blog or made a tweet in his life.
He’s a Facebook superstar, and because of it his business is profitable in a time when most restaurants are sucking wind.
Time to Make a Choice
To close, I’d challenge all small businesses to ask this simple question:
Am I a social media jack of all trades or am I a master of one?
Depending on your answer, I can assure you that a focused social media campaign will be one of the best marketing decisions your company has ever made.
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{ 16 comments }
Hi pussycat
This must be the shortest article you have ever written… but it’s still a goody.
You know me and social media, oill and water, but your final words will ring in my ears over the weekend…
“…I can assure you that a focused social media campaign will be one of the best marketing decisions your company has ever made.”"
Mmmmmm got me thinking.
Cheers Marcus
March 26, 2011 at 9:38 AM
Keith my friend, great to see you here on Ari’s blog. Yeah, it may have been a tad shorter, but not too much
But, being that we’re on the subject Keith, may I assume that blogging has been your ‘master of one’, or have you branched out in other areas for your speaking business, like FB or Twitter or LinkedIn?
Thanks for the comment bud.
Marcus
‘master of one’
Love it Marcus.
Made my weekend, that and meeting Randy Cantrell via TSL.
March 25, 2011 at 4:31 PM
Great post Marcus. This is something I tell all my clients. They try to do too much at once and end up doing nothing. And it doesn’t only apply to social media. It applies to everything in business.
Again Marcus, excellent advice.
March 26, 2011 at 9:42 AM
Brandon, a pleasure to meet you sir, and it sounds like you’re giving your clients excellent advice. In terms of ‘business’, I always use the phrase ‘Hedgehog Concept’. I’m sure you’ve heard of it but I learned about it when I read the book ‘Good to Great’, and it’s when I started thinking hard about the concept of ‘being GREAT at one thing’….so yes, businesses need to figure out their over-all hedgehog concept for their company, for their marketing, and most all their other departments.
Thanks again Brandon!
Marcus
March 26, 2011 at 8:20 PM
Man, I can’t go anywhere on the web without bumping into you these days, Marcus – you’re like that Al Gore fella!
Brilliant points, and one that so many people miss (usually because of bad advice from cruddy consultants). It’s like anything – research, research, research. See where you need to be, and then be there. Everything else is superfluous.
After all, you wouldn’t pay for a radio ad if all your audience are TV lovers, would you?
Cheers, sir, have a great one!
March 27, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Al Gore?? Geez Danny, couldn’t you have come up with a different metaphor
Just kidding bud, I appreciate what you’re saying, and I’m trying to get out of the ‘Lion’s Den’ a little, ya know…and Ari has a great platform of SM thinkers and followers here.
And you mentioned bad advice from SM consultants…So you mean to tell me that not all SM Experts are ‘Experts’??
Thanks again mate.
Marcus
Ari has a great platform of SM thinkers and followers here.
You said it, not me. Thanks!
March 27, 2011 at 1:52 AM
Right on spot with what I believe myself, Marcus.
Although I am already slowly branching out now, I always believed in going at slowly and surely, one at a time. There is no need to overwhelm ourselves with too much at one time, right? It is great that you wrote this. Will give people a chance to look in on what they are doing and really ponder. 
March 27, 2011 at 4:33 PM
Wes, a pleasure to meet you sir.
Sounds like you’ve had the perfect approach of building your SM the right way….without all the stress.
Continued success!
Marcus
March 27, 2011 at 8:22 AM
Great post! I haven’t client but have lots of friends on Facebook. There i chat and get new ideas from inspirational guys.
March 27, 2011 at 4:31 PM
Thanks for stopping by Rakesh, and good luck finding success with your social media.
Marcus
Social media is a very big platform and each one of us are trying to make use of this advantage whether it’s for advertising and marketing or just keeping in touch with friends. Well written Marcus, you’ve emphasized on all the important points of social media and how social networking play a vital role. By the way the ‘Hedgehog Concept’ is something new I’m hearing.
March 30, 2011 at 12:45 PM
Hey Jarrod, appreciate those words and if you haven’t read Collins’ book ‘Good to Great’, where he delves into quite a bit, so check it out.
Thanks!
Marcus
April 3, 2011 at 1:56 PM
Awesome guest post, Marcus!
I especially like when you wrote, “I’ve seen both cases again and again and again, which is why I’m a huge advocate of becoming great in one area, and then branching out from there.” – Sound advice, and I couldn’t agree more!
I hadn’t thought about social media in this way before. I’ve always heard this principle voiced when selling products, choosing primary niches or markets, and learning new skills for your business. However, applying the same advice (to become great in one area, rather than good in multiple areas) to the social media networks that you’re a part of never occurred to me. And now that you mention it, I’m kind of leaning more towards a jack-of-all-trades as far as social media is concerned.
In addition to blogging, I’m also active on Twitter and semi-active on Facebook. Other social media networks I’m a part of are StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Delicious – so I’m all over the place.
Thanks for bringing some light on this issue! I’m definitely going to cool it down and focus on one or two areas to become amazing in. Since I’m the most active on Twitter and my blog, those two platforms will be where I’ll start. Once I start seeing results in those areas, I’ll then branch out to Facebook and maybe StumbleUpon.
Christina
April 3, 2011 at 5:56 PM
Marcus – I found you from NittyGriddy.com’s mention of this article on her Sunday Roundup Post. Great job man. I’ve honestly learned so much about Social Media Marketing from you, directly, that I feel like I need to put it to work…like I need to start the LLC paperwork! (I say that jokingly, but never doubt crazy things that run through my mind!
)
The biggest thing that I’ve learned from you is one consistent message – that you don’t always say, but it’s always clear. [SIMPLE COMMON SENSE! and of course QUALITY] That’s always layered inside of your messages and you often (more like always) give real life examples…which I think is what sets you apart from the “so-called gurus” – who know it all, but haven’t lived a lick of it!
Greetings Ari! I’m Marcus’ biggest fan just stocking him around the web. On a serious note – I’m glad I found the place – because it’s obviously enriched with value. Look forward to seeing you around and connecting further (looks like I’m already following you on Twitter!) Regards!
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