Social media boosting business

Dubai: Give in to a flight of imagination, and one would be convinced that social networking sites were made-to-order for small businesses to spread word about themselves.

With the increasing number of such sites, in one stroke these businesses can choose to ignore expensive branding options and focus all their marketing budgets on getting a presence on social networking.

This could turn into a compelling win-win situation for the businesses themselves. With a flick of the finger they are able to volley their brand identity across the ether and exponentially raise their chances of connecting with the eyeballs that could look upon them favourably.

"The possibilities of connecting with people are endless," said Ernesto Verdugo, a consultant specialising in internet marketing. "Right now almost 30 to 40 per cent of our business comes through social media."

According to a recent survey by YouGovSiraj, 80 per cent of UAE's consumers use social networking sites to make purchasing decisions. In other words, that's a sizeable captive audience out there who could be targeted by small businesses.

Online essentials

According to YouGovSiraj, 70 per cent of the group surveyed said that they would look for online reviews before making a purchase decision, while more than 80 per cent said that they would look for the website of the seller.

Their growing popularity is demonstrated by the number of local institutions including social networking in their marketing campaigns. However, despite this display of confidence, online marketing is still in its early stages where UAE-based businesses are concerned.

The 2010 Social Media and Marketing Report shows a significant 65 per cent of marketers surveyed have only been involved with social media marketing for a few months or even less.

"In reality most of the businesses around here have no clue on how to use these tools in order to grow these businesses," said Verdugo. "For example, according to FedEx, 37 to 38 per cent of their business globally has come from social media while in its UAE offices this remains dormant and untapped."

Social media has many platforms that can be utilised, depending on the structure and the sector the business is in. Unlike with other media platforms, marketing of social media generally takes the form of transmitting many smaller messages on a daily basis to followers.

But sifting through the vast expanse of the online world to stamp your presence on select platforms can be daunting for those not familiar with cyberspace. All that is needed is knowledge the basics.

Because of the demographics of online users, a key in using social networking sites is to let go of all those established corporate attitudes and become more informal with the audience.

"Social media acts as a watering hole where certain people of certain groups gather to get information," said Verdugo. "This is great for businesses that are looking to tap into a certain community. There will always be a group somewhere that suits your business."

According to the recent survey, social media marketing significantly raised the exposure of businesses, as attested to by 85 per cent of the respondents. Another gain was in drawing higher web traffic to these businesses, vouched for by 63 per cent of those polled. Another 56 per cent cited the way social media marketing helped build new business partnerships.

For those looking to get started, Rick Itzkowich, vice-president of marketing at VP Productive Learning & Leisure, says the easiest way is by creating a presence on the web and building up from there. "It's often very overwhelming when people first get started," he said.

"My suggestion is they break it down and understand it. They don't have to do it all at once, they can just get a domain name to get started and build off of that.

"It doesn't have to be perfect or all at once, you can take one or two strategies and implement it. I use what I call the learn-do model."

Verdugo advocates the importance of "value" in online marketing. "The most important online marketing tools are free — if you can provide value beforehand just enough to let them know there is more available if they pay, people are willing to buy anything from you," he said.

"For example, I offer an online book. By doing this I have already developed a relationship and people are far more eager to listen to what I have to say. In less than a year over 12,000 people have downloaded that book which allows me to gain visibility.

"I also gain credibility by gaining their trust. Once you've gained these two, you have a much more captive audience more willing to buy what you have to offer."

Good value

Larry Loik, founder and president of The Real Estate Investor Network, believes the key is to give good advice and good value.

"For example, a hotel can add value by offering ‘10 helpful tips for when you come to Dubai'. Customers respect you more."

Along with value, the power of recommendation is more important than ever with the introduction of social media. Those old faithfuls when it comes to doing any business — reputation and integrity — will also come in handy.

"Because we're so time-poor we're relying more on what other people recommend, so we don't have to spend the time looking it all up," said Itzkowich. "Because of this, it's important to be mindful of building a relationship with your client. If you abuse that you will never be able to regain your credibility."

Once a small business has got the hang of how to get on to the right social networking sites, they can try and offer incentives to attract the online customers. "Offer people something if they go online that they can't get off-line," Itzkowich added. "For example, airlines are making online bookings cheaper than off-line."

Link baits are one way of increasing awareness on social media websites. Digg and StumbleUpon can be used to divert and direct people to a particular business's site and the information that is there. Becoming popular on social news websites like Reddit comes with access to a sizable number of links, some of which may be topically relevant.

For all those small businesses out there, the universe of social networking sites is up for grabs. Go for them!

Google maps

Aside from social media platforms, there are other ways to instantly boost a firm's on-line presence. One is to use the Google Map.

"One of the most under used on-line marketing tools would be the Google Map," said Larry Loik, president of The Real Estate Investor Network. "Businesses can get themselves on Google Map for free and when a search is conducted by someone looking for a service.

"Just by being on Google Maps, they will instantly be placed on top of the search with their company's names, location and number."

Another way that could work is by putting up a video. "The biggest thing is to just video tape yourself, it doesn't even have to be professional," Loik added. "It automatically puts you at the top of search engine rankings. The trick is to have fun with it. Everyone loves a bit of comedy."