Using social media in marketing on a shoestring budget
How to make the most use of a limited marketing budget in social media? This and other questions will be answered in the EntreFox project’s workshops for entrepreneurs and self-employed people. These free of charge workshops will be organized in Helsinki city centre starting in March and April 2020, and they are open to all entrepreneurs age 55+. The workshops will be held in English and Finnish to enable the participation of foreign-born entrepreneurs.
The industry guru in our workshops is Johanna Mäkeläinen. Her mission is to help individuals and companies understand digitalization on a strategic level, yet break it down into easy to understand and execute tasks by intensive coaching. Mäkeläinen has worked in advertising since the beginning of this millennium so she has experienced the rise of social media and can help companies get to grips with the changing world around them.
The world of social media is interesting, and it is useful for any entrepreneur and professional to know how it works. Recent statistics about the usage of social media in Finland gives us some basic knowledge.
Finns are among the most eager internet users in Europe. 76 per cent of 16–74 year-olds are active internet users. Social media is used actively too, and there are significant differences in the ways people use social media. The internet is usually accessed with a smartphone or a laptop; Finns aren’t as keen to use tablets. The majority logs in to sort out practical things (e.g. banking) or read the news and search for information. For instance, the news websites of TV channels are amongst the websites which get the most readers.
Research data from 2017 tells us that WhatsApp and Facebook are the most popular forms of social media used in Finland. Facebook was used by half of Finns (55%) and every third person uses Instagram. Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest are used by one in ten people. The use of LinkedIn is most popular in the age group 25-44, of which one fourth use the service.
Most commonly Finns use two or three social media applications. Men are more interested in videos and podcasts. For women blogs and photos are the most interesting content. The millennials (born in the 1980s and beginning of 1990s) have been identified as the most eager to share all kinds of content in social media.
In the EntreFox project, we have found out that 55+ aged entrepreneurs have varying interests and skills in connection to social media. Some have enough customers and feel there is no need or possibility to update e.g. a Facebook profile. However, several participants have said that their business should have a better web presence and more activity in social media. The entrepreneurs have pondered the question of which social media channels to concentrate on. How often should one publish a post and what kind of content? How professional should photos be? Where does a small business find the time and other resources to be more visible in social media?
Especially with a limited marketing budget, it is good to know who you can reach in social media and how. Join our workshops and find out more!
About the workshops:
Marketing and social media workshops for entrepreneurs of age 55+
More info on the website of Statistics Finland:
Tytti Steel & Heli Ansio