There have been stories of information bombardment due to internet and associated services. Our generation is the one which has seen the internet grow from the concept to where it is today. The advent of internet brought lots of changes in the daily life. The concept of internet social media which was in its infancy some 20 years back is fully matured today. There have been new developments like digital marketing and social media marketing, which were never heard before.

In today’s context, I remember an old proverb of my mother tongue which says, “if you wish to be successful, be adventurous and go to places and regions where no-one has gone; and, you will be successful”. Today, social media can bind us to places which we never thought of reaching physically. That is the beauty…Are we ready to use it to our advantage??

The next question is how we can benefit from these new waves? I have been working on this subject for some time and have lots of ideas to discuss. But, I shall try to limit myself to the topic by being specific on how female entrepreneurs can benefit themselves by using social media.

When talking of social media, I specifically mean Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Linkedin and Pinterest to name a few. Startup entrepreneurs can use these for the following:

1. Brain storming
2. Marketing
3. Community development
4. Brand awareness and management
5. Identifying sales channels

Brain Storming

Budding entrepreneurs can use the social media platform as a brain storming tools for idea generation. New ideas may be generated in a number of ways, for example by identifying subject matter experts and taking their opinion, or creating a discussion board and asking others to share their experiences and opinions. Try to study with an analogy concept, where you can apply a working idea of another field in your field, and study the implications.

Marketing

Marketing is a very broad term to be used. But still I don’t hesitate to use it in the internet perspective. Social media may be used anywhere in the business lifecycle. Social media can be a tool for showcasing any entrepreneur’s product or services virtually. The beauty of this media is that you can reach a vast audience without the limits of geographical boundaries.

Community Development

Entrepreneurs can learn from Bloggers in creating a community. You can create a group on the social media sites and be an influencer to them to endorse your product or services. If you are successful in creating your community, you can introduce your product or services. I will try to endorse my statement by giving an example. One of my friends is a blogger and has 10,000 subscribers to his newsletter. He is in contact with them by weekly mailers. On an average, 10-15% subscribers access his newsletter (say 1000 subscribers). Out of this 10-15%, he has an average of 3- 5% buying his e-books (30-50). He sells his book at approximately USD50. He has a regular income of 2000-2500 USD selling his e-books every month. This is the beauty of creating your own community.

I will suggest Future Females Entrepreneurs create their own page on the media of their choice; track the people who visit the page and try to create a community by remaining in touch.

Sales Channel Identification

I see almost daily people requesting for jobs and business on the social media. We as entrepreneurs can showcase our services and look for sales channels in untapped and unreached geographical regions. This is an advantage for new age businesses to expand.

Brand Awareness and Management

Social media can be very well used to sell a concept or an ideology. I have used it to create brand awareness for my ideology, product or service during my long career. Social media can be used beyond geographical and cultural boundaries to connect to people across the globe. It is one of the cheapest ways, I identified for myself, to reach the segment I wanted.

With globalisation and severe competition, an entrepreneur has to continuously look for new markets. Social media is the place without any boundaries to showcase your product.

Successful entrepreneurs across the globe, from developed to developing to undeveloped economies, have been successfully using social media to enhance their business reach. Recently, I had a chance to discuss social media in a YMCA seminar; I reiterate here again, let’s consider social media as a raw canvas, and then try to paint it as per our requirement. The result of using social media may be implicit and effective after a period of time. But, for sure, it will have a lasting impact on your business activities.