I want to
apologize to those who looked for a blog post last weekend, since I did not end
up writing one. It was Spring break for everyone at Saint Michael’s College, so
I decided that I was going to give myself a break from any and all work. It was
a great week-plus of not doing too much at home with family. One thing that I
did do, though, was seal up a summer internship focused on marketing with
Goodwill Northern New England (special thanks to Jane!) in Portland, Maine! I
get started in May and I cannot wait. I am going to be able to work with and
learn from some great people who have a lot of experience in fields that I am
interested in while building my own experiences. I can check getting a summer
internship of the goals list now!
Enough about me,
though, time to move on to the real post. Being in my hometown of Biddeford
over my break got me thinking a lot about small businesses. Biddeford is a
coastal town (technically a city) in Maine with a population in the low twenty
thousands. Like almost anywhere else in the United States, small businesses are
everywhere. Specifically, two small businesses that I thought about more than
others were two restaurants, Pizza by Alex (which I’ll call Alex Pizza from now
on, it’s the local thing to do) and Palace Diner. Alex Pizza is so popular that
it is essentially a pilgrimage site for people who know it. Palace Diner, which
I went to over break, I was told by the woman behind the counter, is the third
oldest diner in the country. It is a tiny diner that seats fifteen that has
always been a popular spot downtown.
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| Palace Diner: A tiny place that holds on 15 people! The 3rd oldest diner in the country |
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| Pizza by Alex: A place that everyone in the Biddeford area is incredibly familiar with |
Both businesses
are certainly small businesses in my mind, and they have been around for a long
time. Why is this? Big businesses can often flush out small ones, and often
because they generally have greater access to resources (money) than small ones.
I realize this is a generalization, but it is often the case. There are many
reasons for this, and I could create a whole blog about what makes small
businesses successful, but I want to focus in on one factor that can be a
leveler of the playing field between big and small businesses. That factor is
social media.
It is no secret
that social media has taken over our worlds. Example number one: you are
reading this blog. Chances are, you have at least a Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Instagram, or Vine account. This is the first reason that social
media is a leveler of the playing fields: there is a possibility of reaching
almost anyone. This is great for small businesses, because the thing is that
they do not need to reach everyone. Small businesses like Alex Pizza and Palace
Diner only need to reach out to their surrounding areas, in this case the
Southern Maine area (let’s face it, people from Massachusetts are not going to
travel to Maine to get pizza or some home fries).
The second
reason that social media is a good leveler of the playing field between big
business and small business is because it is free to create a profile. Sure, as
a small business you may have to pay someone to maintain the profile, but
social media is essentially free exposure for a business. If you can keep a
social media profile maintained as a small business, you have the same tools as
the big businesses on social media. Your reach may not be as large as a small
business, but that is not what is important. What is important is that there is
a reach at all and that it is consistent.
*Check out Palace Diner’s and Pizza by Alex’s
websites and social media pages. I have linked their Facebook pages here so you
can see what they’re doing online/with social media:
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