ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN YOUTH

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
-TOOLS, BENIFITS AND DRAWBACKS

PREPARED BY – SREEKUTTAN.M.S

M.COM S2

DB COLLEGE SASTHAMCOTTAH

KOLLAM

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 CONTENTS

1. Abstract

2. Introduction

3. Social Media Pros and Cons For Business:

4. Types of Social Media

5. Five Social Media Tool for Youth Entrepreneurs

6. Advantages of Social Media For Young Entrepreneurs

7. Drawback of Social Media In Entrepreneurship

8. Conclusion
9. Reference

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  ABSTRACT

Youth is the Future of every nation & inheritors of the earth tomorrow. This
statement stands true in every sense. When a country has a healthy youth
population, you will find the country making headway in terms of overall
development and progress. A country with high aging population and lower youth
population has a lot of problems to content with that can slow its growth.
Youth entrepreneurship has an impact on social as well as cultural and economic
progress of the society. Building an environment that promotes creatively and
provides opportunities for entrepreneurship calls for multi pronged strategies
implementation and involvement at all levels including media (media + social
media and networks)
Entrepreneurship in any society is a sign of progress. The IT business in US has
been the bedrock for youth entrepreneurship and created stars and multi-
millionaires in Bill Gates, Steve Jobs to Google’s Sergy Brin and Larry Page and
many more. There are similar such stories in other countries too. However, the
need of the day is to create many more stars and make available the
opportunities for every youth to dream big and try their hands at
entrepreneurship.

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  INTRODUCTION

Youth entrepreneurship is a critical element in the development of

sustainable knowledge economies due to the creativity
and innovation of young people. It is appropriate for the current times as young
people are most severely affected by the
financial crisis as evidenced by the significant rise in youth unemployment. In this
context, we need to reflect upon the role of
public employment agencies, universities, incubators and business plan
programmes in promoting youth entrepreneurship.

The world today has transited into a ‘Technology Era’. Technology

has enabled progress in all fields and all societies. Technological revolution has
changed the face of lives of people bringing healthcare, information and
connectivity to even the most remote areas that were hereto isolated

Social media gives you an opportunity to connect in a very personal

and meaningful way with your customers. This allows you to respond quickly to
customer support issues, share and praise compliments about your company, and
provide offers to people who are going out of their way to show your company
support.

The overwhelming majority of people surveyed perceived social media to be

primarily useful within a business as a promotional tool (90%), for tasks such
as advertising and marketing, as well as an outreach tool (86%) to expand
their reach to a larger customer base.

 SOCIAL MEDIA PROS AND CONS FOR BUSINESS:

Although there is a lot of hype surrounding social media, utilizing it effectively

requires an objective consideration of the pros and cons it can present for
businesses and start-ups.
Generally, social media is argued to have several advantages for
business, including: breakingdown barriers between business and customers;
disrupting and bypassing traditionalhierarchical business models; allowing for

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more targeted marketing and outreach; andincreasing inter-agency collaboration
through internal social networking tools and mostimportantly, building on the
power of the direct and cost-effective social connections.
For tech startups, specifically, social media tools can create a new ‘lean start-up’
model,building no frills applications and distributing them quickly and widely with
minimal cost.On the other hand, disadvantages include the time and financial
resources needed to fosterrelationship with customers and social media, the fact
that, should increased engagementwith customers be attained, it does not
necessarily translate into increased sales, as well
as the reputational risk that usually accompanies the free flow of information
within the communities of clients and customers on social networks (Economist,
2011b, Needleman, 2010).
When it comes to using social media specifically for skill-building and
education, social media has repeatedly shown the advantage of creating a
collaborative and creative learning environment that is conducive to fostering
innovation and entrepreneurial skills. One drawback is the widely-held
assumption that young people are all ‘digital natives’ and are equally comfortable
using social media and other communication technologies, or have ready access
to it. This is not always the case, especially in developing economies, and can
require additional training, which should be taken into consideration in
educational reform, as well as the provision of hardware/infrastructure/web
services (Economist, 2010).

 TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

As you think through all of the options for for getting involved in social media they
are fall into six general bucks.

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1.Social Networks

Services that allow you to connect with other people of similar interest
and background usually they consist of a profile various ways to interact with
other users,ability to setup groups,etc.

Eg: Facebook , LinkedIn

2.Bookmarking Sites

Services that allow you to save,organize and manage linksto

various websites and resources around internet .Most allow you to tag your
links to make ease to search and share.

Eg: Delicious, StumbleUpon

3.Social News

Services that allow people to post various news items or links to outside
articles and then allows it’s users to “vote” on the items. The voting is core social
aspect as items that get the most votes are displayed the most prominently.The
community decides which item get seen by more

Eg: Digg, Reddit

4.Media Sharing

Services that allow you to upload and various media such as

pictures and videos. Most services have additional social features such as
profiles,commenting,etc.

Eg:Youtube , Flickr

5.Micro Blogging

Services that focus on short updates that are pushed out to anyone
subscribed to receive the updates.

Eg:Twitter

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6.Blog Comments And Forums

Online forums allow members to hold conversations by posting

messages.Blog comments are similar except they are attached to blog and usually
the discussions centers around the topic of the blog post.

 FIVE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOL FOR YOUTH

ENTREPRENURS
Social media platforms provide entrepreneurs with a number of key tools for
branding and marketing. These tools can measure results, generate leads,
increase conversion and awareness rates and improve the overall return on
investment (ROI)

So why do so many small business owners adopt a 'spray and pray' mentality, or
worse employ a no-show attitude, when it comes to social media campaigns?Â
There are no easy answers to these questions, but what is certain is that the days
of setting up a static outpost on Facebook, LinkedIn or any other platform are
long gone.

Today, the best and most effective efforts not only engage a wide
audience , but are also managed, monitored and continually tweaked based on
the feedback and actions (or non-actions) of your target audience. Take Jet Blue
for example. They launched an innovative campaign offering discounted tickets
through its online Twitter stream that increased ticket sales at a time when the
rest of the airline industry was flailing.

If you don't think social media is for you, consider this: According to recent study
from the Center for Media Research, 21.3 million people in 2011 discovered a

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new brand or company through social media, and another 22.5 million say they
use platforms to learn more about brands and products.

The benefits to a business' bottom line can be tremendous when social media is
done right, however a proper campaign chews up a good deal of time and
requires a concentrated, coordinated effort.

Don't despair. There are several tools to help lighten your load and increase the
probably of your message being heard out there in the wild. Try these five
solutions to help better manage and monitor your social media efforts.

1.HootSuite

HootSuite helps manage your different social networks by enabling you to track
conversations and measure campaign results; manage and update your Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Ping.Fm, WordPress and Foursquare; and simultaneously post
information across all networks. Having all your social content available on a
single dashboard is a major advantage when trying to navigate the entire
landscape.

Bottom li:- HootSuite has a great system for analytics, tracking brand mentions,
analyzing social media traffic, scheduling and distribution. This all will save you
time.

Cost: Free for up to five networks. Pro version is $5.99 per month.

2. Main Street Hub

Making new friends can be hard for anyone especially when you are trying to do it
online. Main Street Hub provides a service that lets you circumvent part of that
cumbersome process by helping build, manage and monitor your profiles on
Facebook, Twitter, Google Places, Yahoo Local and Yelp. This includes growing
your fan base, posting status updates, responding to messages and comments

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from customers. : Building a big network is the most time consuming aspect of
social networking. Main Street Hub gives you a big head start.

Cost: $199 to $299 per month, depending on the plan you select.

3. CrowdBooster

When trying to win new friends and influence people it's important to know what
is working. CrowdBooster is the kind of social media barometer that can help you
effectively grow and manage an effective presence online. The tool provides
graphics that show which posts or tweets receive the highest number of retweets
or Likes, and measures the largest impact based on number of impressions. Let's
say you've been actively promoting a product but have received scant feedback
from any of the many social media platforms you use. You start to wonder if
anyone is listening. Well, CrowdBooster's social media dashboard will report who
is receiving your message and who is not, and will even notify you when
influential (based on Klout score) users are available. CrowdBooster also
recommends which course of action to take in order to best reach this desired
audience

Bonus:- Analytics and recommendations show businesses how to more effectively

reach important influencers, create relevant content that resonates with your
audience, and send content at the most effective times.

Cost: Free

4. Klout

In today's fast paced Web environment, measuring success in real-time is

imperative. If you spend too much time barking up the wrong tree, you'll end up
chasing your own tail. Social media analytics provider Klout measures influence
online using data from your social networks.

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How it works: An algorithm measures several factors including amount of posts,
the number people sharing these posts and the overall number of followers. It
then calculates your Klout score to help users understand their influence and
determine the source. Armed with this knowledge you'll be better equipped to
improve and extend your reach. For example, if you're in the ice business you
likely wouldn't expend much effort trying to sell to people living in igloos.

Measuring influence based on the ability to drive action in social networks leads
to more targeted audience.

Costs: Free

5. Social Mention

Sometimes separating the medium from the message is a tough task, especially
when it comes to social media.

However, if your goal is social awareness — eavesdropping in on what people are

saying about your product, service, business and competitors – Social Mention
can help. The platform allows you to program alerts based on chosen keywords
and pulls content from more than 80 online spaces including blogs, Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, etc. "more than 80 in all.

If someone posts a negative comment about your business on Facebook, The

Social Mention platform alerts you immediately. This allows you to engage with
your customers in a real and meaningful manner.

Bonus :- Understanding the conversation is one of the most important ingredients

to social media success. If you know what they are saying, you can act
accordingly.

Costs: Free with charges based on higher levels of use.

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  ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUNG
ENTREPRENURS
Social media has become one of the biggest forces on the internet today. Millions
of people visit social networking sites to watch videos, play games, post updates
about their lives and communicate with friends, but did you know that it can also
benefit your business? The following are the important benefit of social media
towords young entrepreneurs

1.Increase exposure
Exposure has always been important to businesses. It makes the company more
visible and if done right, it can differentiate the firm from its competitors. And
since hundreds of millions of people are now online and are taking to social
networking sites, companies can leverage this to increase their exposure.

Consider that each friend, follower, "Like", "+1" or retweet is a way to reach even
more users, so when added up, the online exposure can be exponential in terms
of the number of eyeballs looking at your latest post. If your business used to limit
its niche to a certain location, rest assured that your stage has now gone global.

2.Improve Your Website's Traffic

If your company has a website of its own and you want to further grow its traffic,
then social media should be an excellent way to do so. Each of you firm's social
media profiles can direct your friends and followers to your website.

Through social media, you can also link to your press releases and other online
marketing materials, which can use your targeted keywords that improve your
website's search engine optimisation. In turn, improved traffic will lead to
increased exposure for your company.

3.Provide Insight On Your Market

Want to know more about your specific market first-hand without having to
spend on expensive reports? Then get busy with your company's social media
presence. This would provide you a better understanding of your target market.
To know what your community is thinking, all you have to do is ask a question and

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see how they respond. You can also look at what people say about your company
and read their feedback about your products and services.

4.Generate Sales Leads

Social media is a great way to generate new sales leads for your company. It lets
you reach out to your audience and build relationships, which is necessary for
selling since people buy only from those they know, like and trust.

As mentioned earlier, each friend, follower, "Like", "+1" or retweet is a way to

reach more users (i.e. Leads), but to do so, you can't just shamelessly promote
your company. To gain people's trust and grow your reach, you have to promote
others' content, but it has to be good content that others can share.

5.Develop Loyal Fans

Since you can use social media as a means to reach out to fans and directly
address their concerns, your efforts will gain you loyalty. Take note, however, that
this can be tricky. Since social media is public, people see complaints. How your
company responds to these grievances is crucial because it would directly affect
the person complaining and your audience will see this. But if you do it right,
you'll gain a loyal fan base.

6.Lower Marketing Costs

Advertising, promos, production costs, salaries of marketing staff and sales
commissions can be costly but with social media, you can reduce your marketing
expenses. Aside from your firm's internet connection, salaries for social
networking employees and consultants, and production of marketing material,
marketing costs in using social media would be minimal. If you funnel your
marketing efforts towards social media, your marketing costs could go down.

7.Increase Sales
Since social media gives your company a larger reach, develops your fan base,
provides more customers and generates sales leads, it also increases your sales.
Take note, however, that social media indirectly increases your company's sales

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by generating brand awareness, building trust and engaging with your customers,
so you shouldn't use your social media as a direct sales channel.

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  DRAWBACK OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN
ENTREPRENURSHIP
The top drawbacks to using social media in business were seen as lack of
clarity in government regulations and the legal infrastructure related to
the social media industry... Interestingly, social media’s perceived potential
for wasting time and productivity, an excuse commonly used by companies
and employers to block social media websites, is seen as the lowest-ranking
drawback’

Social media was perceived to have a negative impact on the flow of

information, whether because of censorship and monitoring issues or the
lack of an appropriate regulatory infrastructure to protect privacy, copyright
and intellectual property

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  CONCLUSION
Social media gives THE YOUTH ENTREPRENURS an opportunity to connect in a
very personal and meaningful way with THEIR customers. This allows you to
respond quickly to customer support issues, share and praise compliments about
your company, and provide offers to people who are going out of their way to
show your company support.

From the above discussion it is concluded that the social medias in various forms
provide the young entrepreneurs have a great support and platform to establish
their self with low cost and minimum effort.

“The future for social media is unpredictable,” . “I think that as long as a business
owner can keep up with the new social mediums, they will continue to grow.

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  REFERENCES
1. Shooting For The Moon:
Good Practices In Local Youth Entrepreneurship Support –OCED Local Economic
And Employement Development Working Papers 2010/11

2.”Social Media Employment And Entrepreneurship -Survey”

-Dubai School Of Government
3. WORLD BANK & IFC (2011) Doing Business 2011: Making A Difference For
Entrepreneurs. Washington,
DC, World Bank.
4.UNDESA (2011) United Nations World Youth Report. United Nations.

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