Social Media and Cypriot Businesses

According to the Cyprus Statistical Service in 2015 the percentage of Cypriot enterprises using social media climbed to 59.8% and expected to increase even further in the coming years. Although the data are quite encouraging at the same time we see that 4 out of 10 companies in Cyprus have not yet realized the power of social media and how it can help them to promote their products and services. The decision whether the business will be promoted on social media or not is usually a manager’s decision. If the managers of the companies aren’t social media users themselves they usually have a negative attitude towards the use of social media for promoting their company. They fall victims of their own outdated marketing concepts.

Today, marketing managers want to know that every euro spent on marketing activities will have a positive return on investment. Social media can help companies bring in new customers since you can define your target market and specify the gender, age and interests. So the question is not about using or not social media but rather how to use them effectively. The proper use of social media requires knowledge, skills and experience. One of the common mistakes we noticed as Social Media Management Consultants is that Business Facebook pages have many promotional posts that simply promote their products / services. This discourages people to follow a promotional Facebook page since that the only thing is about promoting products. We must not forget that social media is first of all social and then media. By this we mean that through social media companies should have a dialogue with existing and potential customers. You have to ask the opinion of your followers, what they think about your services, you need to discuss with them, answer their questions, educate them and generally be social with them. This social aspect of marketing can be cultivated only through social media.

Another great advantage of social media is that you can promote your product and services worldwide. This low cost advertising can help small Cypriot companies to present their products to larger markets where there are more potential customers. The problem though in these markets is that there is fierce competition, high quality products, advance pricing strategies and competitors with global brand awareness. Therefore, you should be more specific when setting the ads for global exposure so you don’t waste your advertising budget.

Lastly, one of the questions that I get during my social media seminars is which social media is my favourite. The answer is simple; the one that brings in the most sales. So it’s not about having a favourite social media but is about keeping a track of the cost and the sales that a social media can generate. We should always keep a record of the cost of each campaign and compare it to the income that brought. If the revenue is more than the cost then just keep on advertising on that social media. If the proceeds are less than the cost of advertising then make changes but in case you don’t succeed to reverse the data then simply discontinue advertising in that specific media. So remember the best way to judge a social media is based on the sales that it can generate.