Social media: Today’s key to business success

CEBU, Philippines - The idea that most people are going online should push businesses to invest in various social networking platforms to sell their products, creating lead generation, traffic and bigger sales, said Jonji Y. Gonzales, a social media enthusiast.

Gonzales is founder of the Cebu-based social news site, tenminutes.ph, which recently organized a seminar about building success online with speakers from Cebu and Manila. 

With millions of Filipinos spending more time on the web, the founder said it is now the right time for companies to embrace the online market to build brand reputation.

“In social media, it’s all about building community and relationship,” Gonzales said. “It’s engaging your audience.”

However, he warned social media can also destroy a name, thus he advised business owners to create engaging and solid contents that online consumers would be interested in.

“Let’s give people helpful insights about the products--it’s better than banner ad,” he added. “Consumers don’t want to be sold, they want to be told.”

Content publishers must produce stories that are engaging and relevant to the people and they would probably pass these around to social networks, thus building traffic, he further said.

Proof to this, he said, is the success of his founded website which recently won at the DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards in the New Media Emerging category.

“These people can become your brand ambassadors,” he said. “There is so much opportunity online.”

But sharing posts to other people does not always guarantee an increase in sales as not all of them would patronize the brand, said Janette C. Toral, the country’s known e-commerce advocate.

Toral shared the significant growth of e-commerce in the Philippines as the country now marks its 20th year since it first joined the global internet community.

She lauded Cebu for playing a big role in internet development in the country, which has also gave way to the evolution of e-commerce industry. 

With the many benefits the internet can give, Toral is convinced the business transactions can efficiently be done using the electronic medium, saying, “E-commerce is really becoming at the hands of us.”

She also believed entrepreneurs like her and company owners, among others can do their advertising and campaign selling online.

These people, she added, must go the extra mile and get out of being tied up in their office and instead assign their employees to do social media tasks to further the interest of establishing brand loyalty and improving their business.

The social media marketing specialist also emphasized brands can capture so many people to be readers, of course, understanding what these people really want and need. “The moment you know customers, you know already what to give them.”