By Sia Ling Xin

COMPANIES here have jumped on the bandwagon to use social media to market themselves.

A survey of 100 businesses in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, done last month, found that more than three in four are using socialnetworking platforms.

For example, almost six in 10 are on Facebook, and more than a quarter are on Twitter.

But their efforts do not appear to have paid off yet.

Three in 10 said that they did not receive any sales enquiries through online channels, and almost 60 per cent said that less than half of their sales enquiries came via online channels.

This is because they are not using social media effectively, said the company behind the survey, Net- ProfitQuest, which conducts courses on using social media formarketing.

For social-media marketing to work, companies have to shed the traditional, one-sided advertising where they feed consumers with information, said Mr Willy Tan, Net- ProfitQuest's co-founder.

Instead, they have to become "party planners", and organise interesting, interactive activities to draw consumers, he said.

For example, a florist could set up a page to give gardening fans free tips. After a discussion gets going, he could offer them his products at a first-time discount, and gradually build relationships with them, he said.

Spa company eMediSpa set up a Facebook account two months ago, when they realised that many companies were using Facebook to market themselves.

"We're a small boutique spa and, previously, our only form of advertising was word of mouth.

"Now, we hope to be able to effectively use social-networking platforms to reach out to more people," said business development manager Ruth Saw.

But, so far, it has not had any success - no sales have been generated by their Facebook announcements.

Ms Saw said that she did not know how to generate interest.

So she signed up for a course by NetProfitQuest, in the hopes that it would help her better understand how to gain more leverage from social- networking platforms to expand the spa's clientele.

Winning over consumers such as Facebook user Celine Tan, 25, will pose a challenge to businesses. Ms Tan, a sales executive, said that she is sceptical about marketing gimmicks on the social-networking website. She does not trust anything she sees online, unless it is a brand name, she said.

lingxin@sph.com.sg

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