Bego Hernández: I know people who are trying to set up small offline projects using the online environment, with little knowledge of social media and a very low budget. What do we do with entrepreneurs who embark on this adventure without a cushion? What would you recommend to give their idea a first push? Where can they start to make themselves known? Do you think a considerable outlay of money is necessary?
Bruno : Well, with entrepreneurship we have several current problems, we could say serious ones, because there are many people who are starting out of pure necessity, because they have been told by the media, colleagues or from other sources that entrepreneurship is the best solution to unemployment and they are starting out of absolute necessity, often without a cushion. I think it is the worst way to start a business that exists. We have to start a business because we have an idea, because we like what we are going to do, because we are capable of putting in a lot of work, those would be good reasons to start a business and not out of pure necessity. Now, for people who are doing it and do not have much knowledge of the online world, I would recommend that they get training, and if they cannot or do not have the availability of time and budget, that they read a lot. Today on the Internet we have a lot of information to learn about everything, online initiatives, which we can develop for different brands, whether they are personal brands or a small entrepreneurial project.
Where to start if we have little knowledge? Well, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which at first seem like the ideal ones to start looking at, are easy to get confused because we can see many other companies that are simply publishing every day and that are doing things without a strategy, so if we do not read and inform ourselves a little about the strategies to develop beforehand, it may be that simply by looking at what others are doing, we might make a mistake. Instagram can also be mobile directory one of the easiest social networks to use at the beginning if you do not have that knowledge. And what I would say about social networks is that, instead of using social networks as a loudspeaker where we think that by publishing we are going to reach many people, we should try to get those first clients, those first people who know the company, who know you, who empathize with you and would make them participate in social networks. Use them at the beginning as a loyalty channel. And when you have those first customers loyal to you on social media, that's when you'll get recommendations and when they'll go viral to their friends and other users. Don't use social media as a loudspeaker at first.
Is it necessary to invest a considerable amount of money to work on online marketing? At first, no, if we dedicate a lot of time to it, but time is money in business. And what you do have to be realistic is to think that if your competition or the companies that offer the same services as you are investing money, they have an advantage over you. It is very difficult for you to win against other companies that are investing a lot without investing anything. So it is not a time for miracles in social networks and online marketing, and obviously companies that bet and spend a lot of money have an advantage in social networks and online marketing.
Small online businesses31. Successful small online businesses
Bego Hernández: Have you ever come across online campaigns from companies that apparently did not fit into this field but that have managed to give a new twist to a successful and original idea? If so, can you give an example?
Bruno : Above all, the best campaigns that we always use as an example in Aula CM, that we discuss with our students and that we try to imitate in some way, are those in which they have counted on their clients, they have asked their clients to send photos, to send phrases, to build them themselves, they have built great content collaboratively, counting on other blogs and other references. So today we have reached the world of collaborative content, of content that really thinks about the client, when we say that the client is the one who generates the content, the content generated by the user. In the end, with a very small budget you can come up with very original ideas, where clients feel satisfied to participate and to be part of the brand. Everything we do in which clients stop being clients and become brand ambassadors, everything that is aimed at generating that type of content, are phenomenal examples.
Sometimes we talk about success, not success. Sometimes it seems that the numbers alone are what tell us success, but sometimes they don't. For example, a rural house that has 40 fans on Facebook, we might think that it hasn't achieved success on social networks because it only has 40 fans. On the contrary, there is a rural house that we use as an example in our courses that with only 40 fans is full all year round and is booked all year round. So sometimes it is not necessary to reach large numbers and reach millions of people, sometimes you have to reach the most appropriate people, who are interested in our business, who are interested in our product and who are capable of recommending us to other people. These are the good examples on social networks.