WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: Don’t miss a booming online market

Sensis released a survey this week, the annual e-Business Report, which found that while businesses are continuing to implement social media practices, they’re still a fair way behind when it comes to being perfect online.

Unfortunately, the survey found that SMEs aren’t properly targeting those users in their 30s, 40s and 50s – the baby boomers – despite the growing number of studies that suggest these people are in fact using sites such as Facebook in a big way.

While there are plenty of young people on social media, there is also a growing number of middle-aged people, and they deserve attention.

The report is a good lesson for SMEs that you shouldn’t just target a specific demographic when you’re using social media. Instead, it should be a whole representation of your business as you would market offline.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking social media is a young person’s game. The evidence shows more older people are using it, and you could be doing yourself a disservice if you ignore the platform altogether.

An online publishing lesson 

This week, the Queensland Supreme Court ordered Google to provide infromation about the creators of a website that allegedly defamed a n entrepreneur from the Gold Coast. James McIntyre, chief executive of 21st Century Education, wanted Google to release the details of the author behind the website, due to the advertising relationship between the two entities.

There is no doubt this is an unusual ruling, considering many entrepreneurs would have opted to take on the specific internet service provider rather than Google itself, but no doubt the entire incident serves as a lesson for SMEs they can be targeted through a variety of different channels.

You need to be careful with what you put on your website, because not only can people go through your ISP, but Google can target you as well. If you have something defamatory on your website and you end up being stripped from the Google index, it can do untold damage to your business. This can also happen if you’re engaging in banned tactics such as black hat SEO.

Be careful about what you publish – you don’t want to be on the wrong side of Google.

Get on Facebook. Immediately.

This week Facebook released its iPad app after several months of anticipation – a wait made more gruelling by the fact the app was actually finished earlier in the year and has been awaiting release for some time.

The social network also released a new mobile platform, which will work to more closely tie in the Facebook ecosystem with existing apps, specifically iOS apps that are present on a user’s iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

While these changes aren’t massive, and certainly aren’t the biggest Facebook has ever made, they definitely represent the fact Facebook is working hard to make sure users can access the network easier on whatever device they’re using. As a result, businesses should be paying attention.

The time has passed now for businesses to merely think about Facebook. Now, they need to be doing. SMEs should be developing Facebook pages, and updating them regularly with a coherent strategy to ensure they get the most out of it.

Facebook is continuing to update and upgrade its ecosystem, and it isn’t going to stop. Businesses should make sure they are on the cusp of these changes, and ensure they aren’t being left behind.

Don’t neglect your customers online

Roll with the times

eBay has taken another step towards becoming a dedicated retail destination, after it announced the launch of Fashion Gallery, a division of the site where it has partnered with various retailers to offer apparel online.

eBay has been heading this way for awhile, and the Fashion Gallery is only the latest attempt in the company’s strategy to become more of a traditional retail destination online.

Whether eBay will be successful or not remains to be seen, but it represents a good learning point for SMEs to expand into new business models when they feel they are ready.

eBay has been watching the eCommerce market change for a long time now, and it realises that auctions, while popular in the past, are falling away in favour of dedicated purchases. As a result, it is responding to the times by implementing a new, dedicated strategy.

SMEs don’t need to change overnight, but they need to recognise where the market is heading and then create a strategy to respond. If bigger companies like eBay can do this, there is no reason why SMEs can’t either.

Take some of Steve Jobs’ best business advice

The death of Steve Jobs has resulted in a wave of tributes and comments on various tech sites and social media, with customers, analysts and employees expressing their sympathies for the co-founder’s passing.

Jobs’ death has also resulted in a significant amount of analysis of the man himself, and the decisions he took in order to create Apple to make it the company it is today.

Perhaps there is no better lesson than the one he delivered to Stanford students in 2005, during his commencement address that has now become one of his most famous speeches. In the speech he urged each student to not only chase what they are passionate about, but also to “stay hungry, stay foolish”.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

“They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”