The recently-concluded Assembly elections in the State saw a surge in use of social media by political parties, candidates, and the electorate.
Almost all candidates, even those from smaller parties, had a Facebook account to reach out to voters; there were regular updates on Twitter on party announcements; mobile apps came handy for some candidates who wanted to interact with the residents of their Assembly segment; and there were digital advertisements.
From designing messages and developing content to e-marketing, political parties and candidates engaged volunteers and involved smaller IT firms. “Elections are not yet a major revenue generating time for those in the IT sector. Maybe in the next few years, it will be so. Even this year, Facebook and Google benefited as parties went in for paid advertisements,” says an IT entrepreneur in Coimbatore.
However, elections are a proof that social media and digital marketing lead to not just visibility but also positive response, the entrepreneur says.
The single most important message for the SMEs from the online campaigning is that digital tools can take regional players to the global map, says S. Prashanth of Quadra Systems.
For many businesses in Coimbatore, going online means have a website. But, it is more a digital brochure, a static tool. Businesses, even those in the small and medium-scale segment, should tap social media to reach out to customers. At a time when brands are using tools to analyse sentiments of consumers, SMEs need to have processes and teams to tap the positive response and counter the negative feedback when they go online. This also means business opportunities for firms in the digital marketing space.
“Elections are a wake-up call to SMEs to make use of social media more for business development,” he says.
(Reporting by
M. Soundariya Preetha)
