Small business expert highlights social media rules for Bentonville chamber

Smallbizlady speaks during National Small Business Week events

 Melinda Emerson Melinda Emerson
Melinda Emerson Melinda Emerson

BENTONVILLE -- Laura Brown started her first business a couple months ago, but hesitated to dive into social media.

The co-owner of Ramo d'Olivo, a gourmet olive oil and vinegar boutique and wine bar in Bentonville, changed her mindset Tuesday morning after hearing the SmallBizLady speak.

About the speaker

Melinda Emerson is author of “Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months,” speaker and creator of the Huffington Post syndicated blog www.succeedasyourow…. She launched #Smallbizchat on Twitter in 2009 and run the peer-to-peer mentoring program from 7 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays.

"I was afraid to blog, and now I'm going to go for it," she said.

Melinda Emerson is a national small business speaker and author who became known as the SmallBizLady in 2008 when it became her Twitter handle. She hosts a weekly #Smallbizchat, has 295,000 followers and said she tweets 32 to 36 times a day.

Emerson spoke as part of National Small Business Week events coordinated by the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. She told a group of about 50 people that everyone should be blogging consistently two to three times a week, but they need to commit to the project.

"Don't start something you can't keep up," she said, comparing blogging to Double Dutch jump rope. "Doesn't it look scary at first, but the more you do it, the more fun it is."

Emerson said social media is the best thing that has happened to small businesses, but entrepreneurs need to make sure they have a focused approach.

Knowing where a businesses' customers go online will help business owners find the best social media outlet for them to use, she said. It will also force owners to drill to who their core customer is. Being specialized makes a business more in demand and lets it charge more for services, she said.

Connect with customers and communicate compelling content consistently to help build a community, the business expert said. It can take between seven and 21 online interactions to build a relationship, she added.

"At my core, I'm a teacher and I like to give actionable items," Emerson said. She was a television news producer before starting her own production company in 1999.

Brown said the direct, to-the-point presentation resonated with her. She was a thir-grade teacher at R.E. Baker Elementary School in Bentonville until last week. She began work on Ramo d'Olivo about 18 months ago with her fiance, Tom Gheen.

"It was a leap of faith, like jumping off a cliff," she said of starting the business.

Brown agreed with Emerson's final step in her six-step plan on starting a business: Don't quit a job until you can get the business off the ground.

"You may go a year or two before you make any money, and you want to make sure you don't short-change your job," she said. "My mission is to end small business failure."

Dana Davis, president and CEO of the chamber, said it's small business council organized National Small Business Week events for the first time this year.

"Small business really is the key to a community and the key to growth," he said.

NW News on 05/06/2015

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