Grow your business through social media

A growing number of brands have established social media as a communication and marketing tool in their business. These brands are looking for increased levels of connectivity and engagement with their customers and are using that to create richer interactions and improve service. Crucially, they are equipping both staff and customers with the social tools to turn themselves into brand advocates.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube and LinkedIn are the most promising technologies for businesses today.

The use of any of these channels, which at present ranks high on most successful businesses’ priority lists as a marketing strategy, is greatly changing the face of businesses world over.

With over 750 million users, Facebook is the world’s largest social network. 50 per cent of active users log on to Facebook in any given day and an average user has 130 friends. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
YouTube, a video-sharing website on which users upload, share, and view videos is the world’s second largest search engine while Flickr ranks top as an online photo management and sharing application, providing an excellent marketing tool for any business.

Twitter on the other hand is the world’s most popular micro-blogging web platform. The site is handy for promotion and real time updates.

The creative manipulation of these platforms has revolutionalised the marketing landscape, enabling businesses to take charge of how their brands are viewed by existing and potential customers.

Warid Telecom Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Shailendra Naidu, says that being on Facebook has helped the telecom to fully understand changing consumer preferences and source views and opinions on varied topics so as to understand emerging trends.

This, he adds, has enabled the company to tailor innovative products that meet the ever changing customers’ needs.
“The platform has enabled us to effectively reach our consumers. We also use it to test new concepts to get a holistic view from different consumer segments before rolling them out in the market. This enables us to understand emerging trends and changing tests and preferences and it saves us from launching products that can later flop,” Mr Naidu explains.

Statistics
Out of the 3.2 million people who have access to internet in Uganda, about 350,000 are facebook users according to Libilinks Managing Director, Mr Boaz Shani.

Unlike the traditional way of advertising where messages are put out and businesses would never know what customer reactions are, social networks enable businesses to engage in online discussions with existing and potential customers and monitor what is being said about their brands and products.

Through the platforms, businesses and individuals not only market their products but also cement their relationships with customers or find new businesses.

“People have identified us through social media and vice versa and this has translated into an increase in brand affinity. Once we make ourselves relevant to consumers, they become more receptive to try out our products and services,” Mr Naidu says.

The cost-effective channels of advertising have forged a new era in business transparency and engagement, shaking traditional media such as print, radio, television and billboard advertising.

Kenya Airways Country Manager Uganda, Mr Donald Ajuoga, explains that social media has broken the communication barrier between organisations and their customers through discussion forums, enabling companies to get ahead of their competition.

Small and Medium enterprises
Social media channels also represent the cheapest advertising means for small and mid-sized companies, which don’t have huge budgets for traditional media platforms. Traditional media platforms such as radio, television, print and billboards mainly seek more to sell a particular product than engaging the customer.