Small to medium scale enterprises owned by young people are breaking away from conventional marketing strategies and turning to social media in a shift facilitated by the increasing level of internet connectivity.
According to an informal survey carried out at Daystar University, students engaging in one form of business or the other have a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter with the sole intention of promoting their business. The survey placed these entrepreneurs as well as their target customers, in the age bracket 18-30 years and described them as being technology savvy and spending considerable amounts of time online.
Nina Kabbia founder of Sheci Denims, an outfit that deals in jewelry, ladies’ handbags and accessories made from bits and pieces of old denim says she needed to take her products to her clients. “Majority of my clients are students who spend a lot of time on Facebook so I created a profile there where I display my products and invite users to view and make orders.”
The Sheci Denims profile currently has 195 fans who through photos, regular updates about fashion and entrepreneurship tips are made aware of new products and price slashes, says Kabbia.
The informal survey also indicates that entrepreneurs preferring social media as marketing tools for their businesses feel peer reviews work better at attracting new customers.
Princely Glorious, founder of Sienna Afrika Designs, a fashion house dealing in jewelry, neo-african décor and digital graphics, says his customers are mainly students who tend to trust peers more. “Young people tend to consult with their friends before they purchase. An item is in fashion and is cool if everybody else has it and they therefore would want to buy it. Sienna Afrika page on Facebook is full of friends who have been referred there by other friends,” says Glorious.
The Sienna Afrika Designs Facebook currently has 182 fans who Glorious says have helped create awareness about his business through making positive comments, reviews and recommendations on the page.
While social media and generally the internet has been used for positive gains it is not always that the return on such an investment (ROI) is positive. ROI in this case is the efficiency of the use of social media as a marketing tool as compared to other forms of advertising. The Kenya government experienced hackers into the Kenya Police website in February this year, an incidence that was highly criticized by IT experts. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, Bitange Ndemo, in an interview with the Business Daily said the government had plans to consolidate all government servers as opposed to having them situated at different locations. This, he said, would allow easier and cost effective monitoring of all information from this central location.
While the government has the capacity to safeguard its web presence most SMEs still struggle with the risks of hackers as protection levels are below proper standards. Training of SMEs on proper usage of internet is paramount as the country moves rapidly towards a hundred percent internet connectivity.
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