Social media, websites necessary for local entreps

PANGLAO, Philippines — Aside from having social media accounts, local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should have legitimate websites in preparation for a digital future.

Benedict Patrick Alcoseba, head of the PLDT Disruptive Business Group, noted that the challenge for SMEs with legitimate websites would be how to drive traffic into it.

"Websites should be seen as part of the ecosystem of your social media accounts," Alcoseba said at the "Preparing for the Digital Future" session of the Ocean Summit in Panglao, Bohol last week.

The next step after gaining followers in social media accounts such as Facebook and Instagram, is using websites for scaling up in the digital age.

However, SMEs are having a hard time translating the use of technology from personal to business, Alcoseba said.

"The first step is to use an Instagram account, Facebook account and use it in the same way you would use it for your personal use," Alcoseba said.

Many SMEs are on social media but only 1 percent of them have legitimate websites, the PLDT official said.

"You shouldn't stop on websites because in order for a website to really contribute to your business it has to be transactional. It can be a catalog website to remain as is," Alcoseba said.

Shifting to mobile would be the next step after running a website. Alcoseba noted that the term "ex-commerce" is now used instead of "e-commerce."

"We call it ex-commerce because one portion of it is a web aspect but the bigger portion of it is mobile," Alcoseba said.

Alcoseba cited a study which showed that Filipinos look at their phones at an average of 150 times per day.

"Yes, websites are a good start to legitimize and professionalize the business but in the end, we have to look at how our consumers will consume our services and that's really through the mobile phone," the PLDT official said.

The Ocean Summit is a bi-annual gathering of the World Economic Forum community in the Philippines, where leaders across sectors connect and discover new ideas.