As you can see by my photo, I’m no kid. I am also no old school guy who shuns technology; in fact, I ran to Radio Shack and bought a Tandy – 64 (remember those?) as soon as they came out! I also bought a IBM PC a couple of years later to the tune of $4,500. I have more capability in my wrist watch today than I had in that PC! Point being, I feel as though I’ve tried to stay with the times, and having been in business for myself for many years, it has behooved me to be “in the know” in the latest and greatest so that I continue to grow my product scope and reach out to business beyond my own hometown in Wilmington, NC.  That’s how we arrived at www.seemoretile.com, which we continue to be excited about.  

However, it seems like I’m always one step behind at best. My frustration doesn’t lie with the technology as much as with the amount of applications out there. As a business man I have a full plate most days and we’ve been lucky to have the confidence of our local community who continue to hire Reilly Tile & Stone and www.seemoretile.com for their needs to get us through these trying times in tact.  It won’t be this way forever though, I want to stay ahead of the pack so that when the economy bounces back, I’m prepared.  We want our brand to be synonymous with  high quality, the confidence of experience, and getting it right the first time.  

I am aware of, and participate in most of, all the latest media i.e. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.  Heck I even know that Google can be either a noun or a verb!  And I recognize the power that social media holds in generating word-of-mouth marketing and expanding our branding with positive customer feedback and engagement.  At first I embraced social media with slightly more enthusiasm than when I hug my mother-in-law, nonetheless I’ve done it at the urging of my younger employees and other savvy local business owners.  Seemoretile.com has its own Facebook Fan Page (we’d love if you became a fan!), and we’ve used the platform to let local consumers know about a great contest we’re putting on for a bathroom renovation, in the hopes that we could grow our following in the local area.

My question:  is any of this paying dividends in “real life” for small local businesses such as mine?  What I have observed is that this social media industry thrives on itself; to navigate it and understand how it works, you have to hire someone, pay for Google AdWords and Facebook Business Page management, digital advertising, etc.  The more numerous and complicated the applications get, the more I pay out just to manage a social media presence and stay competitive.  Maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t seen much difference in overall sales, except for the fact that now I have to write a blog a week, and have hired outside staff to monitor our website, fan page, and so on.  

I would love some feedback from REAL business people who are not selling some type of course in management, digital advertising, or trying to convince me of all the rewards of social intercourse on the World Wide Web.  In a business such as mine where I operate a local business as well as an online catalogue, how is social media impacting sales?  Can anyone out there who has been through it successfully share their story?

There you go blog & rant, all in one.  Now that’s efficient!!!