There were days when Small and Medium Enterprises were by and large restricted to local regions for their customers. Primary reason behind this was their inability to spend huge amounts on marketing and advertising – a move which could connect them to wider and more diverse client base, and across geographies. This was a major point of differentiation between such small enterprises and the large companies. However, the meteoric rise of social media has changed this trend.

Today, a small company sitting in some corner of Vietnam can think of connecting directly with prospective clients in far flung places like the US, through social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. These platforms have helped companies target the right set of clients and maintain long-lasting relationship with them. Social media also helps these companies to keep the existing and prospective clients updated about product changes, new product launches and other communication. It is indeed agreed that social media networks are the game changers of business in this century. According to Dr. Tom Wielicki, Professor of Business at the Craig School of Business, and Dr. L. Arendt, social media technologies offer greater potential for effective use of IT, which has been identified as a key driver for increasing productivity gains in SMEs.   

Social Media Networks are basically applications that are completely based on user generated content and the action of users play a substantial role in increasing the value of the application or service. Blogging, social tagging, pod casting, social networking, media sharing, social gaming are some of the popular applications used by companies. Corina Pascu of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, European Commission, opines that these concepts have the potential to facilitate new heights of user interaction, collaboration and sharing and hence result in the realization of business value that can be derived from social media applications.

Nevertheless companies should always keep in mind that social networking sites are a powerful tool and that they should be utilized for benefit of the company. If the tool is not correctly used it can also lead to boomerang effect and drive consumers away. In this article we have tried to list the top three do's and don'ts, while using social media network by the SMEs.

What the SMEs should do?

1) Determine the level of engagement required: Be very clear on the primary objective of making use of a social media platform, and then stick to that reason. For example, if you are a water meter manufacturing company and wish to connect to a larger audience then you may decide upfront to keep readers posted on issues of water management and wastage minimization through your platform. This while increasing your follower base will also add credibility to your company's image.

2) Practice and show patience: It is not easy to have millions of people follow your company page and some sincere time and effort are required here. Perseverance is the key and it pays in the long-term. You may also decide to outsource such non-core activities to specialized content generation & social media management companies who can further bring a professional attitude.

3) Keep employees in the loop: It is always better if the employees speak great about the company's products or services. You may try to keep employees connected to the social media mouthpiece to achieve this. Also communications such as, offsites, team parties etc. can be announced through this media, thus bringing more fun quotient to the overall audience following the media.

What the SMEs should not do?

1) Be careful of the words you are using: Using the right language is extremely important, as it may happen that the audience takes offence to something you have posted, and which turns off future clients. For instance, when Siamak Taghaddos, co-founder of Chargify, called customers “freeloaders” on his Twitter account, there was a complete backfire from his followers and which eventually led to 35 consumers leaving the company.

2) Be honest in your communication: Don't lie and never overestimate. This is because people will eventually find out and then they will not be sympathetic in criticizing your brand / company. Remember that bad news always spread faster as compared to good news. According to a recent study by LoyaltyOne, in the US more than 26% of consumers say that they are more likely to tell family, friend and co-workers about a bad experience with a product or service, than a good one.

3) Be prompt in your responses and updates: Keep your Facebook page updated in real time to ensure that the information is not obsolete. It can be damaging for the company image and create negative publicity amongst buyers as well as prospective customers. Another instance could be where a person posts some query and which remains unanswered for days together – creating a weak image of the company. 

These were some of the tips that one needs to be aware of. The key is however to try and attempt to make maximum benefit of this wonderful tool, which is a great booster for SMEs.