As a small business owner please do not sell yourself short! As a former Advertising Director of a few very popular publishers in Atlanta and Chicago I have consulted with thousands of small businesses over the years. The part I truly enjoyed was learning about the customers business in their own words. This is where the passion exuded from the owners and you were able to listen from a true expert in each individual field. If I were to ask the owner of a business to share the expertise they have gained over the years, I would get a wealth of content and knowledge.  The problem was, typically owners are too busy running the business and do not have the time or expertise to write or share the knowledge with others on e-mail newsletters or other traditional forms of communication. That of course is changing quickly with social media and content curation tools.

On the flip side, many traditional publishers and media outlets are using content curation tools to expedite news from other sources. Tools such as Twitter , TumblrFacebook and Linkedin are ways to share relevant content with readers and subscribers alike. Unfortunately we have learned about the downside of not validating stories and the all to quick “trigger finger” impulse to share first and check facts later by publishers. This recent activity has damaged the reputations of many large publishers Admit it, you have seen it more times that we care to admit.

Which leads me to my next point. People trust content shared or recommended by friends more than traditional media sites. This means you small business owner! Speak to the client base you have worked so hard to earn. That is the foundation of the multi-billion dollar multi-level marketing industry. Right?. They trust you. They will absorb the content you share and they will respect it. If writing the content is the challenge, there are many tools out there (we are kinda partial to Flashissue) to help you find some for your business. You can certainly see great content when you read it right? Share it with others!  You will become a trusted resource for others and a true publisher of quality content. I encourage you to go for it!