[SBDC] Are you making the most of online technology in your business?

Any small business not using social media as an online marketing tool is missing valuable opportunities to engage with new and existing customers.

According to our 2014 State of Small Business survey, only one in three small businesses in WA have a social media presence, and two in three have a corporate website. This backs up the findings of the recent Yellow^TM Social Media Report, which found only 36 per cent of SME’s have a social media presence, compared to large businesses with 77 per cent. It also found fewer than half of all SMEs use social media to its full extent, with only 45 per cent carrying out two-way communication with consumers online.

In Australia, Facebook is the most popular and easy-to-use social media for small business operators. According to the Yellow^TM Social Media Report, where social media was once the domain of young people, it is now being driven by older demographic groups, with both well represented in this space. Our own Facebook page reflects this, with an audience mainly in the 24-44 age categories.

It’s essential to make your website informative and enjoyable to visit and to update it regularly to attract repeat visits. It’s also important to understand that visitors will not automatically visit your website. You need to drive them to the site by including your web address on all your marketing collateral, using social media and actively managing the search engine optimisation (SEO) of your website.

Make your website easy to navigate, easy to read, friendly and relevant. Using blogs will help keep your content conversational and current. Link with as many other relevant sites as possible.

If you’d like to increase the effectiveness of your website or improve your online communication with customers, book now into one of our March workshops for Online Marketing – doing it yourself or Website Basics.