[Part One of a series, hoping to help folks make real connections online that can be planned out, acted on, and measured/tracked for more meaningful personal/business return...]
Small businesses have lots of hurdles to jump, lots of hoops to go through to gain traction in this economy. With online connections, some of the not-so-level playing field is plowed a bit flatter - but where other entities might be able to hire marketing staff and spend big bucks for monitoring and planning, the small business owner often has to find time to do that after the family goes to bed.
CONNECTING - With so little time, I see many small business folks unable to make time to connect. With Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+ and the rest, it's hard to make connections without having a persistent/consistent presence. Everyone has limited time to be on their favorite platforms, too, so be smart about how you want to use these channels in your own sphere of influence.
Recommendation: Add 15-30 minutes in the morning, 15-30 minutes around lunch time, and 15-30 minutes in the evening to be active online. That's it, maybe an hour a day total. Spreading it out might work better for an already full and hectic schedule, and it definitely makes you more real and present in those spaces.
Recommendation: Create posts and status updates that resonate with your audience. Whether friends and family, or the smart kids you're learning from, or anyone who might be looking for what your business offers - make sure people can find it. When folks think of that thing, you want them to think of you - and the only way to make that happen is to be actively talking about that online and off.
Recommendation: Plan ahead. Use that extra time you're adding to this interaction each day to schedule some posts, to reply to others, to retweet and share the good stuff you find (giving credit where it's due). I find that thinking about how you're connecting, how you're engaging others - that's what might make the difference between what really works and what's just scattershot about the whole thing.
It takes time. It takes creativity. And it takes planning. Without that, I'm not seeing how it'll happen for you. If you can't begin to give more on those fronts to connect with others in a real and meaningful way, then you're just an advertisement on the radio or in the newspaper - money/time tossed out so whosoeverwill might luck out and find your offerings by chance and luck.
I'm betting you can do better than that.