Social Media and Small Businesses

Over the ages, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) stood no chance against large firms. Huge corporations capitalized heavily on billboards, TV commercials and radio adverts to get their products in front of prospective consumers.

These engagements cost a lot of money. Typically, a small start-up would not have the financial strength to compete even in the minutest level. If you started a business, you needed to work your muscles off and grow based on little or no advertisement. Your dream was that one day, you would make enough money to be able to get on the TV.

With the advent of social media, this trend has been greatly disrupted and changed.

A research-based report on review42.com indicates that internet users spent an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019.

The average daily time spent on social media in 2018 was 142 minutes a day and by the end of 2021, more than 3 billion people are expected to be on social media.

More people are glued onto social media today than the attention traditional media houses have had in all of history. Aside from the groundbreaking traffic on the internet, social media is easily accessible to everyone. Nobody pays a dime to register an account on a social media platform.

This has given small and medium enterprises access to a bigger market at little to no cost. If a product is good, customers tend to recommend it to hundreds or thousands of their friends with just a click of a button.

Social Media has become the chance for MSMEs to start competing right from scratch.

It is obvious that a small business that has no account on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like, is shooting itself in the foot and leaving so much money on the table.

Why Small Businesses need social media in these recent times

Branding: With social media, small business owners can easily brand themselves online and establish a solid image. Brand identity is key in creating a relationship with customers and through social media, this is made possible
Communication: Social media has become one of the fastest means of communication for individuals and organizations. With just a simple post online, an important information could be passed to all stakeholders
Marketing and sales: Social media aids in digital marketing of goods and services. With just a sponsored post, a product could be shown to numerous prospective clients at various locations through targeted social media marketing.
Public Relations and reputation building: These days, customers search for reviews before patronizing goods and services online. With social media, one could use positive reviews to increase reputation in a particular field and hence increase sales. Also, social media could be used to combat negative reportage about a brand
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): with social media, small businesses could increase their search appearances and hence increase sales. One of the key things to do in ensuring increased SEO is consistent social media activity.

Mistakes Small Businesses make when it comes to social media

Not registering their presence on social media at all: Some MSMEs make a huge mistake by not being on social media. The world is rapidly changing and the majority of people are moving online to access the digital economy. Not being on social media in these times is like you never existed. It does not cost much to open social media accounts and small businesses must take advantage of this opportunity.
Inconsistency: In social media, posting one post a day is better than posting 7 posts in a day and going on a break for 6 days. Leaving your page dormant can make you lose customers. Constant posting is what makes people know that you are active and still in business
Not promoting posts: Sponsored posts work. Most small businesses think that promoting posts on Facebook or Instagram is a waste of money. It is value for money if done correctly.
Hashtags: Hashtags are good. They make posts visible to a wider audience if the right hashtags are used. Meanwhile, using too many hashtags can make a post noisy and messy. Hashtags should only be used if they are relevant and relate to the product. On the other hand, not using hashtags at all could deprive your business the opportunity of being visible to more audience
Poor copywriting: Some people post photos without captions; while some use hashtags throughout. Captions must be correctly written and it must communicate well the information.