New
Published on:
December 26, 2022
By
Paramita

SMEs: Importance of Social Media

With over 400 million Twitter users, 3 billion Facebook users, and 800 million LinkedIn accounts, it's safe to say that social media is a powerful tool for both personal and business use. Gradually, more and more SMEs are becoming aware of the importance of social networks in the day, but still have doubts as to whether they provide benefits or not. Many small-business owners are hesitant to participate in or use these channels for promotion. The question is whether the effort is worthwhile or not. They are not large corporations with larger budgets. As a result, these entrepreneurs wonder whether they should promote their small businesses through these channels.

Is it necessary for SMEs to have these platforms?

Swipe Social media

Why SMEs should promote on Social Media

Social networks have evolved into highly effective business tools. If you use these platforms effectively, you can attract millions of new users while maintaining direct contact with existing customers, thereby improving the brand experience and reputation on a daily basis. Social media should be used by SMEs as a vital tool for growth. According to the findings of a Wildfire study, which polled 700 companies in the digital world via social media,

1. Boosting your brand by 88%: social networks allow us to achieve visibility through a clear and useful message to position ourselves in the minds of our consumers, allowing us to differentiate ourselves from a diverse range of competitors.

2. Encourage dialogue by 85%: Social media allows you to stay in direct contact with each client, listening to their needs and providing feedback on a regular basis. This also enables each brand to gradually improve by getting closer to its customers and improving their experience. This direct link establishes a human, honest, and highly dependable relationship. 

3. Increase sales and alliances by 58%: creating such closeness has a direct impact on company sales, as consumers are increasingly happy and buy more frequently. This can also be an opportunity to attract new customers or form strategic alliances.

4. Cut costs by 41%: social media can be a great way to save money. Not only can social networks be used for marketing strategy, but they can also be used for market research and staff recruitment.

How could we possibly forget?! The most obvious advantage of using social media is that it is completely free. There are no registration fees on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram. There are account options on LinkedIn that require a subscription, but they are completely optional. Importantly, the free options are designed to meet the needs of a company. It's critical to ensure that the tools are used correctly.

The importance of the Digital field for SMEs

The social revolution is undoubtedly altering the way brands and businesses communicate with their customers. According to recent studies, 60% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices, and user-generated content is linked to 26% of search results for the world's Top 20 largest brands. About 32% of bloggers share their thoughts on products and brands.

Most brand executives agree that they have complete control over their brand's perception among their target audience. The most difficult part is gaining genuine insights. True to the saying “only half of the advertising really works but I don’t know which half!”. Plans will start to fall into place fairly well once we find the one key insight on which we can act. The idea is to converse with your audience. That is only possible if you have insights and can create content that will compel them to discuss their issues or their opinions on related issues. Emotionally involving them is also important.

Use of Multiple Channels for SMEs

In this scenario, SMEs must recognise that the conversation is taking place in a variety of areas and situations. It is critical to observe and learn about such conversations, as well as to ensure that you are participating effectively in them. You must abandon the pursuit of large groups of people in favour of highly targeted groups of people. Make Twitter another channel for customers to contact you about problems or jobs to be done.

Many companies have successfully used these principles to achieve superbrand status: Starbucks, the number one brand on Facebook for a long time, uses it as a distribution of information to add value to conversations with their customers. It uses its brand as an interface for content distribution by establishing communities for activism, entrepreneurship, good music influencers, and so on. 

Another global brand in the digital space is Virgin. It repositioned itself as a distribution-facing brand. It is now a place to construct and incubate ideas.

The open nature of digital platforms increases information availability while eroding the advantages of large brand power. The social revolution also necessitates the coordination of marketing, sales, and consumer research functions, which have not always worked well together in the past.

Most experts agree that it is critical to test and learn. It is more important to achieve goals than to deliver perfect but irrelevant metrics. The metrics will arrive, but the opportunities may have been underutilised. SMEs must consider product and people stories.

How to make the audience our brand ambassadors

1. Define the engagement rules: What types of remarks necessitate a response? Which types of people should be avoided? When posting a response, what is the proper way?

2. Define the target audience: With whom should we communicate? Which of our brands' target consumers or topics is of interest to them

3. Decide the Leaders: Who is going to be in charge? Who is in charge of implementation and oversight? How should a firestorm be managed for the sake of the brand.

4. Fix templates and time of reply: The structure must direct the tone of the response. Corporate blogs are frequently chastised for being boring and biased. This is frequently caused by excessive bureaucracy. It would have been sanitised multiple times by the time a response was posted, and it would be too late to make an impact. Only two layers of approval are recommended, with a turnaround time of fewer than six hours.

5. Ensure Transparency: The most successful social media engagements were those that used the highest levels of transparency in informing customers about new product launches or publicly admitting product flaws.

Swipe Importance SMEs

Importance of online presence

Experian's research clearly demonstrates the importance of having an online presence. It has the potential to make or break a company, which is especially true for smaller businesses. According to their findings, 76% of British adults use the internet on a daily basis. Up to 2 million small businesses lack an online presence, according to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, despite the fact that "small business owners now have an array of options when it comes to raising awareness of their company."

According to the Experian article, one of the most common reasons for start-up failure is a lack of online presence. When you consider the amount of exposure a company can get, it's not surprising. It goes on to say that many established SMEs aren't "digital ready," which means they're missing out on important marketing opportunities. When you consider that in 2014 and 2015, the most important benefit of having an online presence was being able to reach a larger geographical audience, it's clear that using social media is a must for SMEs.


Conclusion

Social media is a resource that SMEs should utilise because it provides benefits such as increased sales, increased interaction, and increased brand awareness, all of which contribute to the success of a business. Of course, it's critical to use these platforms correctly - there are companies that specialise in this - but doing so can only benefit the SMEs that embrace social media in the long run. In addition to the platforms mentioned throughout, we'll soon be looking at the advantages that Instagram and Snapchat can provide to a business.


Suggestions

Check Out: Top 10 Small Business Ideas In India 2022 & 10 Best UX Best Practices For Ecommerce Success

Suggestions



GST Rates and HSN Code for Iron Chain HSN Code 7315
Mahila Samridhi Yojana: Objectives and Features
GST on Sale of Land After Levelling, Laying Down of Drainage Lines, etc.

Updated on:
March 16, 2024