Social networking sites are one of the fastest and least expensive ways to find your audience and help your business grow. In Singapore, there are 70% of social media penetration which more than double the global average of 26%; ranking the top in Asia. Social media users in Singapore spent an average of 2.1 hours per day on all social media platforms. (Statista, 2015). Often times, Social Media does more harm than good in term of branding and communication for SMEs clothing retail business in Singapore.

Social media also affects the way many retail businesses in Singapore communicate with their customers. Instead of traditional way of calling the store, writing a letter or sending an email, many customers now prefer to communicate with a business using its social media platforms. Customers may send private messages to the business, or they may post information publicly. Customers can also provide both positive and negative feedback about products or customer service using the various social media platforms. If a customer posts this information online, it can affect the opinions of other consumers who are the followers of that business.

Therefore, it is important for the business owners of clothing retail businesses in Singapore to be aware of reviews or feedbacks given their customers constantly. The negative feedbacks or ratings in the social media platforms will eventually harm their business reputation.

In addition, SMEs clothing retail business in Singapore mostly only uses Facebook as it social media platform. With Facebook’s recent changes affecting the organic reach of posts, companies definitely need to consider other options. It is a common mistake make by small clothing retail businesses. It does harm the businesses, when huge amount of marketing budget are spent in Facebook’s advertisements. Yet, the amount of return is not up to expectation. Ultimately, a company should tap the various social media channels used by their target market of potential customers.

 Next, SMEs clothing retail businesses in Singapore should not only uses Facebook as their only social media platform. They should use a mixture of various social media platforms that are suitable for their businesses which will able to reach out to their target market more effectively.

 

                                                         Chart 1 (Sources: NUS Database, 2015)

Based on the interviews with people from the fashion-related industry that uses social media to market their products by NUS students who took ES2002 in Semester 2, 2014/2015.

Chart 1 depicts the frequency rating of various social media platforms. A lower rating reflects a higher usage frequency. Other than Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have the next two lowest frequency ratings which are 1.21 and 2.15 respectively. This clearly shows that Instagram and Twitter are the social media platforms to be used in fashion-related industry frequently. This implies that Instagram and Twitter are the two social media marketing tools that business can use to reach out to their target audience effectively and to generate more sales.

In addition, according to Statista (2014), Instagram and Twitter are one of the most popular social media platform with 1.35 million and 1.2 million registered users in Singapore. Thus, SMEs clothing retail businesses in Singapore should not miss out any users from either of these social media platforms which may turn out to be their potential buyers.

However, there are certain limitations. By using mixture of various social media platforms, it will also suggests that a greater amount of time and attention are required. The usage of social media may in turn damage the company’s reputation if they do not interact and response to its customer’s enquiries promptly. Furthermore, the cost of advertising in social media platforms will be high if they are extensively used to reach out to large coverage of their target audience.

Often times, Social Media does more harm than good in term of branding and communication for SMEs clothing retail business in Singapore. The infrequent update of posts, the negative feedbacks or ratings by their customer in the social media platforms will eventually harm their business reputation. In addition, SMEs clothing retail business in Singapore mostly only uses Facebook as it social media platform.

Thus, it is strongly recommended for SMEs clothing retail business in Singapore to train a specialized team of staffs to be able to use the unique features of various social media platforms effectively. This specialized team only focus on communicating with its customers online using social media. They should also use a mixture of various social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter that are suitable for their businesses which will able to reach out to their target market more effectively.

References

Carter, B. (2012, January 18). Facebook Pages Only Reach 17% Of Fans. Retrieved March 9, 2015, from http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/facebook-page-17/377172

McMullen, A. (n.d.). How Does Social Media Affect Retail Businesses? Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/social-media-affect-retail-businesses-39275.html

Relander, B. (2014, May 10). 4 Mistakes That Can Harm a Company's Social Media Campaign. Retrieved March 5, 2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233824

Statista (2014) Penetration of leading social networks in Singapore as of 4th quarter 2014 [Graph]. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from: http://www.statista.com/statistics/284466/singapore-social-network-penetration/