How important is social media when marketing your small business? CBC News' Diane Buckner recently tackled that subject in her article, Social marketing: Is all that tweeting, facebooking and blogging worth it?

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Buckner asks, "considering the heavy workloads so many small business owners carry, is it worth the time and energy required to figure out an effective way to use social media?"

We put the question to our small business bloggers to see how they use social media to spread awareness about their business and how important the strategy is for them.

By Neil Jain, citizen contributor

When I first started my business, my support system consisted of my family and some close friends. As a sole proprietor, I needed to get up to speed on all aspects of running a business, including product development, pricing, sales, marketing and online presence, among many others.

Luckily, I realized fairly early on that I couldn't possibly do everything on my own and that having a mentor with complementary skills and more experience would be a huge boon to me and my business.

The Future of Frances Watson's design table is a hub of activity as they prepare samples for fall. (Submitted by Meg Watson)

By Meg Watson, citizen contributor

This week we have been focusing on our first women's designs for the shop. The demand generated from our samples debuted at our first party forced us to speed up the process.

One of the lessons we learned quickly through this is that you can't do everything yourself. For the first time in this experience, we're handing over our designs to someone else to help with the sewing and construction and concentrating on the design work.

By Neil Jain, citizen contributor

OK, so how do you find your market? Narrowing your target market is hard enough. Now, how do you reach them? This is such an essential aspect of your business -- I believe it's make-or-break.


If you don't know how to find your market, how will you sell to them?

The cast of Dragons' Den. Four Dragons answer your questions about small business. (CBC/Canadian Press)

As part of our Starting Small series about small business owners, CBC Your Voice gave readers the chance to ask the business experts on CBC's Dragons' Den for helpful advice about entrepreneurship.

We selected some of your best questions and posed them to four Dragons: Kevin O'Leary, Arlene Dickenson, W. Brett Wilson and Robert Herjavec. Watch the videos below for their responses.

To see Kevin O'Leary's responses, click here.

To see Arlene Dickenson's responses, click here.

To see W. Brett Wilson's responses, click here.

To see Robert Herjavec's responses, click here.

By Meg Watson and Kerry Butt, citizen contributors

We should let you know that the first week after opening your doors is a lot like this:

By Neil Jain, citizen contributor

Many entrepreneurs think, "The market for my widgets is $5 billion. If I can just get one per cent of that, I'm laughing!" I thought so too. Then I realized that without a focused target market, you're trying to satisfy everyone and end up satisfying no one (including yourself)!

By Shawn Konopinsky, citizen contributor

Last Tuesday evening, members of the Nascent team participated in our first Public Relations venture - a community/blogger event showcasing Canadian developers working on the upcoming Windows Phone 7.

It was a fantastic opportunity to chat with the other folks in the community, show off our capabilities and get some feedback on our Window Phone 7 applications. The response has been amazing.

The cast of Dragons' Den with host Dianne Buckner (Jeffrey Kirk, CBC/Canadian Press)

Aspiring entrepreneurs well know that launching a business is no small task. From landing investors to securing a space, it takes a lot of leg work and cash. On CBC's Dragons' Den, a handful of lucky entrepreneurs have a chance to get some help and pitch their business concepts and products to a panel of Canadian business moguls who have the cash and the know-how to make it happen.

Now's your chance to tap the Dragons for some helpful advice on starting your own small business. Whether it's their No. 1 tip for getting started or their top five "don'ts" when pitching an idea, we want your questions for the Dragons. We'll take the best ones to the team and they'll answer you on video.

To get your question to the Dragons, leave a comment below, send a tweet to @cbcyourvoice or post your question to our CBC News Facebook page. 

By Kerry Butt and Meg Watson, citizen contributors

As it's our now usual pace, transforming the store from dry cleaners to amazing retail space was HECTIC. We set the space up in a little over a month with a lot of great help from friends and family. Sometimes we were in there until the early morning but we did do our best to make it fun.

By Neil Jain, citizen contributor

I have always enjoyed meeting new people, it's part of why I started my own business. There is an underlying excitement learning about another person and sharing what you're all about. So I took to networking for business with great interest.

By Shawn Konopinsky, Citizen Contributor

If navigating the challenge of getting a business off the ground wasn't tough enough, the process of setting up our corporation was probably the most tedious. It was one of those things that I'm happy we did, and even happier that we only need to do once.

The Frances Watson team setting up the store. (Amil Niazi/CBC)

By Kerry Butt and Meg Watson, citizen contributors

The Future of Frances Watson is a dream that came to be out of a night terror. Kerry Butt was on her way home from the vintage clothing shop she owned and saw a FOR RENT sign in a store front she had always loved. She immediately started texting her friend Meg Watson, brainstorming what they could do with that space.

After a week of non stop brainstorming, business planning, budgeting, six packs, 12 packs and two fours, The Future of Frances Watson was born.

By Shawn Konopinsky, citizen contributor

Opportunity. They say entrepreneurs see great ideas everywhere. I don't know if the same is true for me; but there was one glaring opportunity I could see - and knew it was going to be big.

Straight out of school, in the summer of 2005, I went to work as a Program Manager for Microsoft Office in Redmond, Wash. My claim to fame from that period is that I was part of the team responsible for removing Clippy, the little unhelpful paperclip character, from Office.

From the first rumblings of an idea or the labour of love that keeps you up through the night, to the nervous anticipation of finally opening the doors to your own store, the journey of starting a small business can be both frightening and exhilarating.

Join us right here as real Canadian entrepreneurs share their trip to down the path less travelled. Meet the bloggers below.

Neil Jain is a Financial Consultant and Founder of Money Life Skills. He has presented seminars including "Financial Survival," "Top Ten Money Tips for Job Seekers" and has educated students on optimizing their tax returns. He has been quoted on personal finance web site Walletpop, presented to the federal Task Force on Financial Literacy and was interviewed by CHOQ-FM radio.

Shawn Konopinsky is founder of Nascent, a boutique user experience design and software development consultancy in Toronto. He has been a specialist in the field of interactive interface design for over five years and has been focused on touch and gesture technology. He holds a BSc in computer science with a focus on human computer interaction from University of Toronto.


Kerry Butt is a Humber College Graduate, with a visual merchandising background who used to own the Parkdale vintage shop Franny Vintage. Meg Watson has been a stylist for over 10 years and has managed a few really great Toronto boutiques, but grew tired of working for others. Together they run The Future of Frances Watson.