http://businessculture.org/ - Introduction to Social Media use in Business and illustration of a case study of a Bicycle Rental business in Thessaloniki, Greece. Presentation used during a workshop on 4th October 2012 as part of the Passport to Trade 2.0 Project meeting. This highlights the two main uses of social media for business purposes - efficiencies and effectiveness.

1. Use of Social Media to grow your business
Workshop with businesses in Thessaloniki, Greece
Dr Aleksej Heinze
Salford Business School
businessculture.org
facebook.com/passporttotrade2
Twitter - #P2T2
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

2. Overview
 What does social media mean for your business?
 Four main strategies for social media for business growth
 Case study of Bicycle rental in Thessaloniki
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

3. What is social media?
 Is it about Facebook?
 Is it about Twitter?
 It is a way of thinking about
communication:
 From one way communication to a dialogue
 From individuals to groups
Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aslanmedia_official/
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

4. Social media in business?
 Growth through “Efficiencies” – improved speed
and less effort:
 Internal operations e.g.: Knowledge Management –
company intranet for all internal communications
 External operations e.g.: Customer support – forums for
question and answer / feedback from your customers
 Faster response times
 Cheaper
Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aslanmedia_official/
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

5. Social media in business?
 Growth through “Effectiveness” – improved value
and impact:
 Marketing development e.g.: source of communications
and engagement with customers about new products and
services development
 Sales leads generation e.g.: engagement of happy vocal
customers to help with your sales
 Creating better value for the customers
 Making wider impact compared to conventional methods of
communications
Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aslanmedia_official/
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

6. Social Networks Market in Greece
Overall population ca.11.3m and Internet population ca 5m
Total Users: Penetration of Penetration of online
population: population:
LinkedIn 435 061 4.05% 8.75%
Facebook 3 850 640 35.82% 77.47%
Source:
socialbakers.com/countries/continent-detail/europe/ on 30th September 2012
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

7. Top websites in Greece
website social network -
Y/N
1 facebook.com Yes
2 google.gr No / Yes (Google +)
3 google.com No / Yes (Google +)
4 youtube.com Yes
5 blogspot.gr Yes
5 (3) out of 5 top websites in Greece are social networks!
Source:
Alexa.com on 30th September 2012
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

8. Europe Facebook Statistics
Source:
socialbakers.com/countries/continent-
detail/europe/ on 30th September 2012

9. Case study – bicycle hire
A number of purchases start through online research.
Customer is not aware of your business – importance of being on
first page of a popular search engine in Greece:
Social network
Social network
Social network
Social network

10. Case study – bicycle hire
Customer is aware of your business – now details of the hire are
needed -
Location:
Telephone

11. Case study – bicycle hire
Basic opening times and business description available through Facebook

12. Case study – bicycle hire
For details I am able to contact the company directly whilst logged in my
Facebook account so no need to fill in long forms just email

13. Case study – bicycle hire
Follow up links to main website of the business:
Oh NO!
Back to
search
again

14. Key lessons
 Social media can help in your business growth or survival but it has
to have a link to a business objectives
 Social media can have four main strategic uses – operations,
support, marketing and sales
 Social media on its own cannot sustain a business – you need a
robust business model to start with
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.

15. What can you do next?
 Visit facebook.com/passporttotrade2 to share your stories on the
use of social media in your business.
 Read www.businessculture.org and future updates which will help to
focus your ideas on the use of social media for growth
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.