UNIT 1 (B2): Fill in the gaps in the text with one word. More than one answer may be possible.
Is social media damaging local business?
Ask business owners about what they want to use to increase sales and they’ll tell you ____ (1) right near the top is to have a good grasp of social media and how it can get you out there in terms of promoting your business, but what they will also tell you is how social media can affect employees and even their customers For most small businesses, social media is a huge waste of time, there is simply too much information and too much competition. ____ (2) find out why, follow me on Twitter. I´m just kidding! Social media is in one sense a tool, but it is also a distraction for the general public. The purpose of using social media ____ (3) marketing is to be seen by, and connect with, as many of your target market as possible with the hope to eventually ____ (4) them into customers. It´s important to recall that there are many ways to promote and market your business and social media is just one of them. Not the be all and end all. So why are we so obsessed ____ (5) using it. Why is it so addictive? And it’s not even the most important one. Your time and money are finite resources: allocate them accordingly. Rather than believe you have to post on Facebook, instead review all of your options, evaluate ____ (6) your efforts will have the greatest return, and double down there instead. For most small business it’s not social media. ____ (7) because it isn’t an effective mode of advertising, but because most business owners are doing it incorrectly, which not only makes it a waste of time, but can actually hurt your brand and image of your business. We didn’t start posting ____ (8) social media until after we built a successful business; there were just too many other, better marketing options. Once we were ready to use social media for a clear purpose, it finally made sense to allocate time and money to it. Sadly, what most businesses see is what it looks like to do social media “wrong”!
