Don’t just sell products on social media; communicate with customers - MTN Digital Consultant

Digital Consultant for MTN, Dario Bianchi has urged young entrepreneurs to refrain from the habitual postings of their products and services on social media and adopt the nature of communicating with customers to become advocates of their products and services.

He stated that, “for customers to become advocates, you must be engaged with social media, you must create a relationship with the customer through posting new articles, responding to their concern and critics on how your product performed”.

According to him, “around half a global startups fail because they don’t have a product-market fit”.

He added that, though digital marketing is a cheap way to promote one’s business online, it is important to communicate with customers for an effective running of businesses online.

Mr Bianchi said if young entrepreneurs just post their products online, they are at a risk of losing both retained and new customers within this free marketing space.

He said entrepreneurs must dedicate more of their time on social media to research on the needs and wants of customers and tailor messages to solve their problems.

The Digital Consultant for MTN made these statements at this year’s Y’ello Care Digital Summit, an annual employee volunteer programme held every June.

Making reference to statistics, he mentioned that, in Ghana, about 10 million customers surf the internet with WhatsApp and Facebook being the most utilized social media, hence, it is critical for entrepreneurs to channel their messages more through such apps for broader reach.

He added that it is necessary for young Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to first write articles about their products for customers to be abreast with what their page and product is about, and receive feedbacks before posting products online.

Mr Bianchi advised all young CEOs to work within their budgets and also know their target audience.