New Zealand has a lot of small businesses. According to the 2016 Small Business Factsheet in 2013 small businesses with 0-19 employees were responsible for 26% of New Zealand’s GDP. They fuel a lot of growth and employ a huge number of Kiwis and the hard part about the sheer number of SMBs is that they never have enough time in the day.
This means things like SEO, a website or even posting to Facebook can get lost in the avalanche of what it takes to keep their businesses running. Think about this in 2012 86% of the New Zealand population was online according to the Auckland University of Technology via Internet World Stats. That percentage will be even larger now as digital technology has become a normal part of our lives.
So if that many people are online, then how many of them are using social media? The last data from ComScore on January 7th, 2014 shows that 2.8 million people accessed a social media website in November 2013 which reached 94.6% of the total Kiwi internet audience. How are small businesses using online to help them be found?
PwC says that traditional media spending has flat lined rising a mere 0.13% year-on-year while digital content picked up the slack and is projected to increase 10% a year-on-year up to 2019. The juggernaut of social media is Facebook where ComScore says out of those 2.8 million people that accessed a social media site 1.95 million of them were to Facebook.
Google’s Consumer Barometer says that 40% use online only for finding local businesses, 52% use both offline and online and just 5% use offline online. 78% of them turn to search engines when looking for local businesses.
So this means that businesses will be more likely be found using search engaging those people after you find them through avenues like Facebook will help you build relationships and hopefully turn a one-time customer into a regular one and that is a process that takes time.
The growth in small and medium sized businesses is immense as New Zealand’s report on Small and Medium Businesses show that in the 3 years to 2015 there’s been a rise in SMBs going from 488,000 up from 462,000 just 3 years prior, which is a growth of 18,000. Consider in the same factsheet by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment shows that 30% of small businesses didn’t exist just 5 years ago and in that companies with 1-19 employees were responsible for 47% of all jobs created in 2014.
In a survey done by OMG Solutions that looked into the use of social media by businesses out of the 217 that participated 93.6% use it for new business, that 98% plan using social for business in the future and that 54% of them have used paid online advertising with 41% of them finding is beneficial. Of these businesses which represent a cross section New Zealand businesses 57% use Facebook and 28% use Google Adwords.
With so many small businesses starting up a lot of them will struggle with being found. That’s why the Digital Squad is here, Shane Chand has experienced the power of SEO himself when he started his own moving business. He had to learn the ins and outs of SEO himself and used that knowledge to supercharge his business.
Seeing how it empowered his former business was why he started the Digital Squad to start out with. Shane seeks to share his knowledge and skills with other entrepreneurs so they can focus on their businesses instead of worrying about their Google rankings, how to get to the first page or use Google Adwords.
Data Sources:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/sp/nz.htm
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Data-Mine/Who-uses-Social-Media-in-New-Zealand
http://www.pwc.co.nz/media-centre/news-releases/beyond-digital/
https://www.consumerbarometer.com/en/insights/?countryCode=NZ
http://www.omgsolutionsnz.co.nz/uploads/4/2/3/5/42351475/social_media_survey_report_2016.pdf
Recommended Reads:
7 Basic Digital Marketing Habits Your Business Needs to Adopt
How to Create Content for Each Step of the Sales Funnel
Effective Link Building Strategies for 2018
Helping Small Businesses Grow and Adapt with Marketing Automation
