Social Media|Is social media your friend or could it be not so friendly in the business world? The debate continues as to whether or not social media can play a significant role in enhancing a new business venture.

Entrepreneurs face numerous hurdles when starting a business everything from finding premises, staff, permits, suppliers and so on and then having to add to that creating a presence on social media might be just too much too soon. Some entrepreneurs, therefore, start their business with the basics which invariably does not include a social media presence and they create a plan to bring that service on board at a later date hopefully when the initial start-up issues have all been resolved and the business is moving forward.

On the other hand, will hear the argument that starting without a social media presence and a really strong, attractive and eye-catching website is going to work against you from day one. If you take this route and decide to create that social media aura from day one you now have to decide what is best for you – it is not just a case of choosing one specific service because there are now a good variety of options that a start-up can utilize. In as much as there is a good selection of opportunities to choose from likewise there is a good range of charges that could be incurred.

The debate will continue as I’m sure there is no definitive answer that is a solution for every new venture. As a new business owner, you need to prioritize on the things that will launch your opportunity with the greatest velocity and that may or may not include social media presence. In previous blog posts and certainly in our publications we talk extensively about the need for planning and that need also extends in the social media area. It is not just something that you decide to do – it is something that you decide to do after you have created a suitable plan research the options looked at the economic impact and benefits and only then when everything is in your favour would you consider moving forward.

Planning, as usual, is a key ingredient in the success of any business and never more so than at the early stages of business life. We welcome questions on these topics and also recommend our informative booklet on the subject of social media in the business world – which can be found on our website stainbooks.com.

And yes that is .info and not .com because we are very much in the information business and we believe that branding is also part of the social media exercise and so we brand ourselves throughout as an information resource for entrepreneurs.