DigitalFilipino Talks on Social Media for SMEs

DigitalFilipino Talks

They say “content is king” online. Although the usual form of content is in text, it can also be in audio (podcast) or visual form such as images and videos. The latter is what DigitalFilipino Talks utilizes.

In a recent series of videos hosted by DigitalFilipino Talks, the episode on Social Media for SMEs caught my attention. Ms. Janette Toral interviewed Social Media Specialist Rosario Juan and they discussed different aspects of implementing social media projects from the perspective of a business and the SME.

One particular point I would like to highlight in the interview is what Ms. Juan mentioned about “getting closer with your customers.”

Indeed, this is one of the major objectives of businesses in tapping social media. With the ease and relatively cheaper rates of using the Internet, it has now become more accessible even to the common man. This accessibility has opened doors to more activities on the Net as well as social networking sites. In turn, different forms of engagement in social media has enabled brands and companies to interact directly with its customers.

And for the same reason, my newest client which is a known ice cream brand in the Philippines, has started to engage its customers in social media as well.

New vs. Traditional Means

In the aspect of comparing traditional and online marketing, Ms. Juan was careful not to say that new media will replace traditional media such as print but instead pointed out that  “online marketing will only really work if you combine it with traditional marketing.” She emphasized that it really has to be used together to achieve a more effective result.

For me, at the end of the day, the question is not if it was social or the traditional media which was able to give more results, but how the two complemented each other and delivered better results together.

Please watch the full video interview on Social Media for SMEs:

Further learnings from the talk about social media include the following:
- It helps optimize marketing budget
- It is not only about Facebook but a whole group of social media tools including Twitter and Multiply
- Social media marketing is not free but it can be cheaper than traditional means
- Objective is more about budget saving while not replacing  traditional marketing

Current focus is on brand awareness and customer relationship management (CRM), as pointed out by Ms. Rosario Juan. This include monitoring increased number of fans and feedback. But more than just simple figures, Ms. Juan encouraged the SME to be able to address the gathered customer concerns appropriately.

The Future

Ms. Juan foresees further developments in the industry of social media, at least here in the Philippines, to emphasize developing methodologies to measure actual effectiveness of the practice. Measurement means numbers and basis points where standards could be established upon.

I would like to personally thank Ms. Janette Toral and DigitalFilipino Talks for these informative and enlightening videos on different topics on the web. I certainly learned a lot as a social media practitioner myself.