Social media marketing: The ultimate SME dream
E-Commerce is nothing new but social media, exclusively, is fast becoming a popular platform with small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), simply because there are no initial costs; creating a level-playing field for start-ups with little to no marketing budgets to begin with.
According to the Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP), 2.74 million SMEs account for 98.5 per cent of Thai businesses, generating more than 1.7 trillion baht to the economy per year. These are huge numbers and they are vital to the resurrection of the ailing Thai economy, especially when the state has pledged over 700 million baht to stimulate the sector.
I became deeply interested in this topic after having recently interviewed an expert on SMEs and how he told me about the sheer amount of money being made on social platforms since the dawn of this decade. I call this the 'Social Media Gold Rush'.
A good example to share is how an ex-model-turned-entrepreneur utilised Facebook, Line and YouTube channels to market her dietary supplements and ultimately grew her business from zero to 300 million baht in less than 3 years.
Having realised Thai women's perennial need to be slim and already with a significant fan-following, she used social channels exclusively to promote her brand.
I call this media strategy 'socially holistic' with each of the three platforms performing specific media tasks.
1. Action: Creating awareness through Facebook either through paid or earned strategies.
2. Create: Content production in the video format through YouTube, to educate and communicate your brand and products that only video clips can deliver.
3. Engage: Interacting with consumers instantaneously, answering questions and to receive feedback through LINE. It is the virtual call centre of the social networking world.
These are the three steps to be digitally successful and becoming a social media 'ACE', as the above acronym suggests.
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Social media marketing: The ultimate SME dream