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 world’s 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 doesn’t 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?

Control over information

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.

But social networking sites nowadays prove to be a great venue for small-business marketing. They are relatively simple to set up, can accommodate small (or huge) budgets, provide options for precise regional or demographic targeting, and come with user-security features.

Brand advocates

Take, for instance, Facebook advertising. Each ad is tied to a campaign which is managed from Facebook’s Ad Manager, an administrative console that contains the list of campaigns and ads. It renders complete information on the targeted audience: social reach, connections, number of clicks received, click-through rate, etc.

It also allows the advertisers to compare performance rates of each advertisement with the actual cost-per-click and overall cost for each advertisement. Most importantly, it tells them which ad campaign/article brought customers to their Web site, of which how many actually made a successful purchase and what was the value of that purchase. This greatly aids in calculation of ROI.

Alternatively, a variety of paid social media management tools available online can help with everything from source-network connections to campaign and social content management to monitoring and measurement.

Social networking is a long-term activity and cannot be done for short-term results. SMEs should at least have a medium-term focused social media strategy because social media efforts fructify only when they have an engaged and flourishing community.

It is, therefore, a challenge for the SMEs to maintain consistency in their daily operations and explore the social media marketing possibilities that will enhance relationships with clients and motivate them to share their experiences and become brand advocates.

Finally, social media is not just about marketing and brand building. It also plays a key role in driving traffic to merchant Web sites and physical stores, increasing Web site exposure through search engine optimisation, and procuring and enhancing supply chains through business-to-business Web sites.

In addition, SMEs can do their own social media optimisation by learning about the competitors in their industry or region that are tapping social networking.

Roadshows

Social media has evolved and SMEs can leverage its power and reach to develop a solid customer base and help business owners and managers realise growth and efficiency. To this effect, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has joined hands with Facebook to boost the country’s local business sector.

In the next eight months, starting July-end, both FICCI and Facebook will be organising road shows in six major cities for spreading awareness, among SMEs, on the benefits of using social media.

Faridabad and Hyderabad have already been identified as the first two locations. SMEs can, therefore, look forward to expert guidance and resources for doing business online and allay fears of social media adoption.

(The author is Assistant Director, FICCI.)

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