As a small business owner, you have embraced technology and are now well aware that social media is one the most efficient and cost effective ways to reach out to your customers. Or at least that should be your response. Too often to managers simply answer “we need to be in social media because everyone else is”. If that is as far as your understanding of social media goes then you will never be able to truly use it to its potential. Simillary, as Chris Barger put it in his new book:

The individual connections and relationships made within social networks on behalf of organizations and brands don’t happen because the brands want to appear more approachable or more human. Those are nice side effects. But make no mistake, as unromantic as it sounds, businesses and organizations get into social media because they want customers (or potential customers) to eventually buy their products, feel better about having purchased their products, and have problems with their products resolved more efficiently, and they want to get insight on what might make a customer more likely to buy those products in the future. “The conversation” and “engagement” are just means to that end.

PSFK expands, “We’re operating in a field which is still full of kumbaya and hugging. Social media is still a shiny object to many people – companies still come at it with a focus on the shiny object rather than on what they really need. In that context, asking “why” is critical to improving your odds of success. What’s more, you can do the same thing internally. Instead of challenging or editing, ask:

• Why did you use that particular phrase?
• Why do you think that’s the right platform for this contest?
• Why do you think a contest is the right tactic for this objective?
• Why do you think we should be on Pinterest?

Build a team culture where asking “why” is the norm, and you’re well on your way to building a high-performance organization…”