A social advantage

Sites too powerful to ignore

came complete with world maps highlighting the outage areas just to make sure we really understood the apparently profound impact of not being able to post a photo of this morning’s soy latte or favourite funny cat moment.

And all this because people were offline for about 60 minutes. Seriously.

Slightly bemused by the screaming headlines, it did cause me to reflect on the importance of social media for small businesses.

The truth is that in 2018 small businesses really can’t afford not to be present on social media. Well not if you want to get in front of the eyes and ears of potential clients and customers, given that there are 15 million Australians who are active on Facebook — that’s a massive 60 per cent of our population.

Add to that the stat that 50 per cent of the country apparently logs in at least once a day, and clearly there are myriad potential opportunities to sell your message. As an aside, apparently there are more than two billion active Facebook users around the globe, an increase of 500 million in the past two years.

So how well is our business community embracing the digital age?

Well, according to the Yel- low Social Media Report 2018, the number of Australian businesses with a social media presence has now reached record levels.

For big businesses, 85 per cent have a social media profile, 58 per cent of medium sized businesses are out there and yet only 51 per cent of small businesses have taken the leap.

Admittedly, in small business, there’s always the challenge of multi-tasking and prioritising, but if the overwhelming majority of big businesses see a benefit in social media, there is only one motivation that would be driving them and that’s profit.

So where are they getting their digital bang for buck?

Well it’s Facebook that continues to kick major goals as the preferred advertising channel for businesses of all sizes, with the Yellow Social Media Report 2018 citing nine out of 10 businesses having advertised on Facebook.

“The next most popular platform used for advertising has been Instagram — by 10 per cent of small businesses, 22 per cent of medium businesses and 30 per cent of large businesses. Most businesses believe their social media advertising has been effective across all platforms used,” says the report.

The effectiveness of social media for businesses also seems to be reflected in another report called State of Inbound 2017, which declared that “social media can generate almost 100 per cent more leads than other channels such as content marketing, telemarketing, referrals, outbound mailing or calling etc”.

And just to throw in one final compelling statistic — if you’re one of the reported 49 per cent of small businesses that don’t yet have a social media profile — apparently 64 per cent of consumers trust a brand with positive interactions on social media.

Consumer trust equals brand preference equals potential sales. Can your business afford not to be on social media?