SMEs Tell Us Makings of a Hit Digital Dukaan

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Prithvi Durai, Apoorva Bajj

Dec 4, 2023 — 4 min read

SMEs Tell Us Makings of a Hit Digital Dukaan

India is growing, one reel at a time, on social media. At present, India holds the second spot in the world for active social media users–a staggering 755.47 million users! If small businesses don’t wake up to this stat soon, they might lose many prospective serviceable customers. At present, India is at the top of the table—in fact, even above the world average—when it comes to social media hours. Indians spend 2.8 hours on social media each day. A survey by the government's citizen initiative platform, MyGovIndia, shows the number of digital transactions jumped to 89.5 million in 2022. India's booming internet economy is only expected to grow further to $1 trillion by 2030, according to a joint survey by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.

With millions of eyeballs vying for content, online existence is not an option anymore for small and medium enterprises. Instead, the more pertinent question is about gaining visibility and leveraging the high internet usage in the country. According to the Global Social Media Trends Report 2023 by Hubspot, 90% of digital marketers surveyed said building an active online community is “critical” to success in 2023.

StartupTalky spoke to a few small business owners who seemed to have cracked the code on using social media effectively for business. Read on to get their inside bait.

Fork Genuine Connections
Be Consistent
Get Innovative
Be Authentic

Fork Genuine Connections

Social media is a great way to add to some branding real estate for your business. But using your social media handles to genuinely connect with people and share your insights on your business can do a lot more than you can imagine. “LinkedIn is a platform where you have to be present as a founder. Have a good LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a profession-to-professional connection. It is about telling people what you are doing or what your thoughts are about the ecosystem. A lot of my businesses happen on LinkedIn. I got listed on Blinkit through LinkedIn. Harvinder (Singh, previously manager at Bkinkit) put up a post. I commented on the post and my comment got about 80 likes. So I grabbed his attention and sent him an email,” said Sairaj Dhond, founder of Wakao Foods, who is well known for his appearance on Shark Tank.

Global Social Media Users Over the Years

Be Consistent

Simply posting content about your business regularly can help you reach your potential customers. “Businesses should at least post one reel every day. Content is king, and therefore we try to put educational reels that viewers can relate to. They should try to make it as simple and as easily understandable for the viewer as possible,” said Sumeet Salve, Chief Marketing Officer at ithrive, a health consultation platform.

Get Innovative

You know your product or service the best. Trying to add a dash of novelty to your subject matter or product can catch your attention and also reach out to your audience. Take, for instance, designer Jasleen Kaur from Design Machines, who went viral for her ‘Just Looking Like a Wow’ reel. Her nomenclatures for names of dress colors be it ladoo peela, baingani purple, or mouse brown, have taken the internet by storm. Kaur has not only made an appearance on the hit reality TV show Bigg Boss but has also reportedly admitted that her business opportunities have taken off.

Be Authentic

Staged performances are best left for the movies. For an entrepreneur, being real can help connect with your audience.

For me, it’s always been about relativity. If I like some trending audio, I just pick it up and then make a reel. No one’s life is as fancy as they show on Instagram. I don’t have a big warehouse; I work from home and I am the only person who works. I wanted to debunk the myth that you are a successful business only if you have employed 100 people, said Shraddha Mishra from Letters by Shraddha.

Shraddha started her first Instagram post during the pandemic and has amassed over 15,000 followers on Instagram in just three years since she began her social media page. She has even given a TEDx talk on her entrepreneurial journey.

Conclusion

Social media is the new mall, and it is here to stay. If you are not on this digital dukaan, then it could very well sound like the death knell. Donning the hat of your customer can sometimes give perspective on what a customer is thinking and what he or she would like more of from your brand, leading to more viral ideas and trending reels. Lastly, having fun and being authentic could go a long way toward connecting with the ecosystem as a whole.