
Many small businesses are missing out on connecting with young potential customers who are actively seeking to connect with brands, peers and organisations online through social networking websites. Social networking websites are becoming the meeting place of our era.
A study conducted by Rapleaf in 2008 on 49.3 million people showed that “Women and 14-24 year old demographic are more likely to use Myspace or Facebook than other demographics”. The study also showed that despite the rise in popularity of social networks online, younger people still dominate the use of social media.
A report released only yesterday January 20th by the Kaiser Family Foundation Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, showed that “In a typical day, 40% of young people will go to a social networking site, and those who do visit these sites will spend an average of almost an hour a day there”. Many of the main social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter provide ample opportunities to small businesses to reach out to an internet savvy youth audience. This target audience is known to have a high disposable income to spend on brands they connect with and they are extremely dynamic in their source for interaction and activity online.
Facebook is extremely open in encouraging small businesses to utilise their free applications, but if your not quite up to scratch on the differences between your twitters, posts, fan pages and tags, then help is readily available. BOSSco has seen an emergence in new and small businesses looking for help and advice on Social Networking as a business and so has started to provide training sessions and even packages where your business can be set up on social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace for you.
Steve Allen, expert online marketer and co author of The Virtual Handshake says “people tend to forget about Myspace, but if you are selling a product or service to anyone young or in the entertainment industry you’ve got to be there”.
The internet has a breadth of opportunity for both large and small businesses to connect and reach out to eager young customers. If you want help getting your business connected and in front of a youth market through the world of social networking, then give the team at BOSSco a call and we can discuss the most positive and relevant way forward for your business online.