It would be understandable if you thought that entrepreneurs would be all over social media sites like a rash, in order to raise their business profile and try to breathe in every last gasp of the oxygen of publicity that sites like Twitter and YouTube can generate.
Surprisingly, the majority of research that has been carried out with regard to the way entrepreneurs use social media sites, suggest that these business people are far more likely to use social media for personal rather than business reasons.
Why is that?
It seems that a number of entrepreneurs are reluctant to hitch a ride on the social media bandwagon for marketing purposes, preferring to use sites like Facebook and Linkedin to contribute information or convey an expert opinion to their followers, rather than pushing their brand directly.
This infographic looks at the relationship between entrepreneurs and social media and draws a number of interesting conclusions from the research data. One suggestion is that entrepreneurs are far too busy being entrepreneurial to get to grips with how to use social media effectively for business purposes, and they simply don’t have the time available to learn how to acquire those skills successfully.
There are also some helpful suggestions provided within the infographic that could help business owners ease their way into social media and learn to use it intelligently in order to enhance and improve their brand status and image.
There are many savvy business operators who understand the true potential of social media as a marketing tool and it would seem likely that more and more entrepreneurs will have to commit themselves to learning how to use it effectively, despite their apparent reservations.
Infographic provided by University of Alabama at Birmingham Online
