There is no denying that what is happening today is a true travesty and completely unexpected. COVID-19 is affecting so many people mentally, physically, and financially…especially small businesses. As of March 2020, there are 30.2 million small businesses in the United States. Small businesses comprise 99.9% of all United States businesses! This means that small businesses are the life blood of the United States economy and a huge amount of people’s livelihoods depend on small businesses.
A lot of small businesses rely on face to face contact and people coming into their store to check merchandise out or discuss a service. COVID-19 is putting a huge strain on small businesses and causing a lot of problems…. but fear not! We live in the technology age; you cannot go somewhere or use something without technology being involved. Our lives are dependent and intertwined with technology. Technology has produced cars, medicine, internet etc. but most importantly SOCIAL MEDIA.
As of 2018 72% of United States adults use social media. Pew Research wrote about social media usage and stated, “Today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with new content, share information and entertain themselves”. This is such valuable information for business owners to know and understand. Social media can positively impact a business. If a small business is not on social media, then that business is really missing out and hurting themselves.
This is where COVID-19 is an opportunity. Everyone is stuck at home with nothing to do but scroll on social media!!! A study was done in 2018 and it found that 58% of the participants bought a product or service because they came across it on social media. Small businesses have the time and so many resources at their fingertips to start using social media. It is crazy the opportunities that arise from being active on social media. There is not one target market that is not out on social media, small businesses can find exactly who they sell to online!
People love things that are visual and entertaining, and they all look to social media to find those things. There are so much small businesses can do during this pandemic to grow a following, because the sky is the limit when it comes to social media. What is even better is you can do it all from the safety of your home. People look to social media to find something to purchase and social media influences people to purchase.
Small businesses need to take the opportunity they have to get onto to social media today. Now is the time because millions upon millions are online and planning and waiting to spend their money. Small businesses that use social media to their advantage are going to generate more sales, more customers and more engagement which is essential to any business. All this can literally be done on a cell phone, it does not even cost a penny to create a profile on social media. The time is now when everyone has nothing but time to spare. Social media is the chance for small businesses to really grow. To really learn skills that will help them carrying on even after COVID-19 is done. Small businesses that start using social media are setting themselves up for success. COVID-19 is an opportunity that small businesses cannot afford to not take.
testacr22
This is so true. Its so cool to see how people can be innovative during such times of troubles, I think that its all apart of our God given instinct.
Creating a social media presence is one of the most cost-effective things companies can do nowadays. Most companies should have one at this point due to EVERYONE being on social media, especially nowadays.