The Buzz
Much hype has surrounded ‘cloud computing’ and how it can help small businesses in recent months. Cloud providers mainly offer assistance in streamlining business processes by using Web-based software for a monthly fee. A growing area of interest to clients lately has been in tools that help manage different social media. These tools, including Hubspot, Hootsuite and Buffer, offer an ‘easier’ way to manage social media accounts and publish from a central location.
Sounds great, right? But wait, digging deeper into these sites reveals significant flaws. Businesses often find that the economical ‘basic’ plans lack critical needed features, requiring upgrading to a much more expensive package. This upselling can be effective because needed features are not always apparent until the service becomes more heavily used. Additionally, is the service really all that useful? Advantages are often given without regard to other non-cloud options; for example, sites tout the ability to be able to schedule posts ahead of time as a unique feature. But this can be easily obtained by investing in developing a WordPress blog and using WordPress’ own scheduling ability with autoposting Facebook’s autoposting feature. Once the initial investment is made, the ongoing cost is minimal and you, not the cloud provider, have total control over the system.
The bottom line:
Always explore all your options before getting swept up in the cloud craze and remember that a small and savvy focused marketing firm may often offer more value than a cloud service. Contact Us if you have any comments or questions on this fast-changing subject.