When it comes to the promotion of advertising on social media, small brands (or at any rate those that have recently entered the market) are used to reacting in an unhinged manner, claiming that they do not have time for these modern devilries, that they have to concentrate on the day-to-day running of their business, often carried out in a shop or a small venue, and that in times of need they would already be ready to entrust the management of these new means of communication, especially social media, to the care of some young willing relative, in some cases even unemployed, thus placing on their shoulders the game of creating content for the new media and building an online reputation, which inevitably also passes through social media. On the one hand, the apprehensions of small companies are perfectly understandable. To decide out of the blue to devote part of one’s resources to managing one’s own information channels, without exactly understanding their purpose or usefulness, could frighten anyone, especially those entrepreneurs who for decades have been accustomed to scrupulously and carefully evaluating every single action, deciding to act only when they are sure they can make a good return. Under these conditions, it will be easy to understand how the greatest obstacle between companies and digitisation, once again, is of a purely cultural, even theoretical nature.
Cultural obstacles
What one should try to convey to small companies, or at least to those that have finally realised that they cannot avoid some kind of online communication, is that nowadays consumer perception plays a major role in the final choice of a product and that among the various ways of cultivating this perception are precisely the content published on social media such as YouTube, Instagram or Twitter, which could push a certain customer segment to choose one brand over another. In addition to the most popular social media, such as Instagram or Facebook, small companies should also learn to use LinkedIn, the social media for professionals, which is also used to lend an aura of professionalism and competence to their company by publishing quality content.
The power of LinkedIn
Through LinkedIn, a company can not only get in touch with professionals in its own sector, but can also participate in discussions on a specific work-related topic, thus demonstrating its competence in the eyes of those who read it (other professionals, stakeholders interested in talking about possible business or collaboration opportunities, and many others). LinkedIn is an ever-growing virtual platform, and its peculiar functionalities allow professionals and small companies to express themselves at their best, even through the sharing of written content centred on a certain practical issue in their work. The ideal, from this point of view, would be to create textual content to be published on the company website and then shared on LinkedIn, in the hope that the chosen theme (always related to one’s work) might arouse the interest of other professionals or stakeholders interested in doing business with the company. The game of professionalism, nowadays, is played above all on LinkedIn.
Establishing a professional air is of paramount importance, especially for companies that have only recently entered a certain market. Perception, from this point of view, has a twofold value: on the one hand, the public will begin to perceive the company as a true opinion leader in the sector, a point of reference also in terms of credibility, while other professionals will be led to see in the brand a potential partner for future business to be developed together. It is precisely for this reason that many brands have decided to base a good part of their offer on the work of qualified professionals, who are also required to create certain content to be published on online profiles or within the site. Some of the best betting sites in the Philippines, for example, have published reviews and helpful guides on the best sites to place their sports bets on their sites, and all of this content is created by a team of experts made up of professionals in the field. In this case, the expertise of the professionals (combined with the wide selection of sites offered by the portal) also serves to make life easier for players, who in this way will be able to enjoy a pleasant, safe, and fulfilling gaming experience, in every respect.
When your audience begins to consider you as a professional, then you will have truly become one.
