Small businesses might struggle to make sales through social media platforms if they do not know how to market their products and services successfully.
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) recently held a webinar to address this challenge.
The theme for the webinar was ‘Mastering Social Media Marketing’.
Lizzy van Niekerk, who was one of the speakers during the event and the owner of an online marketing agency, Little Rabbit Digital, said small-business owners can make a success through marketing on social media by learning from free internet services.
“I taught myself everything that I know today. I learnt graphic design, how to create a website, marketing and many other things for free on YouTube,” says van Niekerk.
The 4R method
Van Niekerk believes in using the 4R method that she invented, in order for a business to make its mark on social media. She explains the four Rs as follows:
- Relevant: the business has to do research about its products and know current trends on social media and has to be creative and actively participate in popular trends.
- Reliable: it is important for businesses to show that they are loyal and can be trusted. This can be done by showcasing the work that the business has done, how it started and sharing good stories about the business.
- Relatable: understand the struggles and problems of your customers.
- Real: it is important to reveal people who work behind the brand, this creates a sense of trustworthiness.
“When you show the people that work behind the scenes of your brand to your target audience, you always get better results than when you dont because people buy from people," says van Niekerk.
Free internet services to download
1. YouTube has been a great source of information for Van Niekerk.
2. Canva app for multimedia products such as posters and graphic design.
3. CapCut for video editing.
4. WordPress for creating a website.
For more information about Seda visit
www.seda.org.za
or call
0860 663 7867
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