Mediaboss Marketing

Small businesses, unduly apprehensive about social networking, are losing out on online marketing and commercial possibilities.

Social media in India is growing at 100 per cent and by 2014, 129.3 million Indians are expected to join social media forums. According to eMarketer, the fastest growth in social networking this year will come from India, followed by Indonesia and China.

With an increasing number of users registering on social media Web sites, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can successfully use social media platforms to promote themselves. Despite the fact that social networking sites now reach 82 per cent of the worlds online population and social networking is the most popular online activity worldwide, SMEs are not capitalising on it.

It is true not only in India but even in the US, where nearly half of the population is engaged in social networking. Yet, according to a survey by Zoomerang, one out of every two small businesses in the US doesnt have a strong social media presence.

Similarly, in Australia, which has a social network penetration rate of 44.4 per cent, only 34 per cent of medium and 27 per cent of small businesses are plugging into social media (Australian Interactive Media Industry Association). So why is social media still a scary prospect for SMEs?

Primarily, the fear of losing control over sensitive information hinders social media adoption among SMEs. It is like putting part of the message in the hands of customers, who may go the wrong way.

The fact is that not every business is going to be able to use social media in the same way. So before engaging in social media marketing, SMEs need to be clear about what they are trying to promote. What is their unique selling proposition? Who is the target audience?

It is imperative that they do a target audience profiling, which entails deciding on demographics (who your customers are) and psychographics (why your customers act as they do).

Though the main objective of using social media is to generate leads, it is equally important to understand the target customers and engage with them accordingly. Hence, social media is about community building, not blatant advertising.

Perceived difficulties in technical implementation, ROI (return on investment) measurability and the ability to tackle new and complex security threats also make SMEs (especially the ones with limited technical ability) resist social media.

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Social media — big visibility for small biz