07.06.2021 – 10:00
Yellow Pages Marketing GmbH
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Frankfurt am Main (ots)
Social media and other digital channels offer companies new opportunities to address customers. But many small and medium-sized companies shy away from it, as a study shows. Companies are wasting great potential in this way.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) run the risk of squandering opportunities by using social media and other digital channels. As a representative survey by the polling institute Forsa on behalf of the Yellow Pages shows, only one in three SMEs currently uses social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Twitter to advertise their own products and services or to get in touch with new and existing customers.
Consumers want a stronger SME presence on social media
In doing so, many companies are obviously ignoring the habits of consumers: 73 percent of those surveyed state that they use social media, and significantly more than half of customers (58 percent) also use it to find out about products and services. Accordingly, every second consumer would like companies to use channels like Facebook and Co. more intensively. This desire is particularly pronounced among the target group between 18 and 34 years of age and among those who are themselves active on these platforms.
Many companies recognize the potential of social networks
The knowledge that social media can provide valuable services in the competition for new and in the care of existing customers is also widespread in SMEs themselves. 55 percent of the companies surveyed state that customer acquisition and support via social media can work well. Even 58 percent are certain that these platforms can make a relevant contribution to business success if they are used. Particularly in the Corona crisis, where many companies had to forego direct contact with customers, platforms such as Instagram and YouTube are valued as strategic elements of communication: 58 percent of companies also say that social media is currently in the pandemic for they are important.
“The use of social media as an information channel has gained significantly in importance during the pandemic. This is an opportunity for SMEs in all industries. The survey results show that the digital dialogue with customers is rated very positively, even and especially under difficult conditions, and is positive can affect the course of business “, explains Dirk Schulte, Managing Director of the Yellow Pages Marketing Society.
No time, lack of knowledge: many reasons for abstinence from social media in SMEs
For the large group of companies that still do not use social platforms for themselves, there are many reasons for this decision. While 71 percent consciously position themselves against social media because other advertising formats are sufficient for them and 58 percent do not recognize the benefits, 41 percent of SMEs also complain about a lack of capacities and 29 percent about the knowledge required to present themselves there. 14 percent point to the costs, the issue of data protection only plays a role in the case of the ignorance of social media for five percent of companies.
Alarming is the realization that only 13 percent of those companies that are not yet active on social platforms intend to change this in the future – even though 26 percent think that they could achieve something with it.
“Against this background, social networks should be particularly attractive for small and medium-sized companies due to their viral power, in order to stand out from the competition with simple means.”
Consumers criticize craftsmen, doctors and hairdressers
How much potential there is still for companies to position themselves with consumers is shown by the answer to the question of how well companies use social media for themselves: 41 percent name the engagement on the platforms “less good”, six percent even describe it as “bad”. There is considerable potential for expansion in all sectors: while the catering sector rated at least 51 percent of those surveyed who rated the appearance on Facebook and Co as “very good” or “fairly good” and the food and textile / fashion trade rated this rating by 42 percent of customers receive, numerous industries are rated as “less good” or even as “bad” in this field. Above all, tradespeople (48 percent), doctors and physiotherapists (46 percent), hairdressers, and horticultural companies and gardeners (43 percent each) receive bad ratings from consumers.
Little willingness to innovate
Although almost half of the companies surveyed complained about significantly lower sales (21 percent) or slightly lower sales (28 percent) during the Corona crisis, many digital ways of getting in touch with customers were not used. Some companies state that they offered digital advice (14 percent), the “Click and Collect” system (10 percent) or customer chats (5 percent) during the pandemic. However, other digital tools were ignored: only three percent of the SMEs surveyed introduced tools for making appointments online, and only one percent installed a new web shop. In addition, almost every third company stated that they had no internet presence at all.
“Companies have to become more aware that digital channels are increasingly being used by customers in order to specifically search for the right services or products and also to purchase them online,” says Dirk Schulte. “It is all the more important for SMEs to recognize the signs of the times better today than tomorrow and to invest in these digital channels.”
The main purpose of social media is to acquire customers
The main purpose for companies to present themselves on Facebook or Instagram is, and by a large margin, marketing and customer acquisition. 90 percent of the respondents said these topics were their motivation, last year this value was only 73.8 percent. Employee recruitment (35 percent), customer care and complaints (33 percent) and internal communication (20 percent) are also mentioned.
“The survey results clearly show that the potential of social networks is not yet being used sufficiently,” says Dirk Schulte. “For a contemporary and target-oriented approach to existing and new customers, however, the professional integration of social channels into the corporate strategy is essential. Consumers also demand the presence of companies on Facebook and Co. In order to remain attractive, companies should recognize this relevance quickly and be ready be able to get uncomplicated, competent support by your side. ”
Via yellow pages
Yellow Pages is published jointly by DTM Deutsche Tele Medien and 15 Yellow Pages publishers. The editor-GbR guarantees that the diverse contents of the yellow pages as a specialist for business directory offers to the users as book, online and mobile over www.gelbeseiten.de as well as apps for smartphones and tablets are available and continuously developed. In 2020, the Yellow Pages products recorded around 705 million cross-media uses *. The term “Yellow Pages” is a protected word mark in Germany and is registered with “Yellow Pages”. There is also trademark protection for the Yellow Pages Zeichen-GbR for an abstract use of the color yellow.
* Source: GfK study on the use of directory media in 2020; representative survey of 15,974 people aged 16 and over, October 2020, commissioned by: Yellow Pages Marketing GmbH, Das Örtliche Service- und Marketing GmbH, Das Telefonbuch-Servicegesellschaft mbH.
Press contact:
Yellow Pages Marketing Gesellschaft mbH
Nina Mülhens
Tel.: 069 2731696 – 205 // 0151 400 27592
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.gelbeseiten.de
Original content by: Yellow Pages Marketing GmbH, transmitted by news aktuell
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