Eazzy Social, a startup that trains organisations on utilising social media for growth, has unveiled its latest service called Express Social which is targeted at small businesses to help them increase their value and boost sales with strategic social media tools.

Speaking at the launch in Accra, Gad Ocran, CEO of Eazzy Social, said small and medium sized businesses in the world of fashion, finance, technology and others require social media to reach their clients, who are mostly millennials.

“Express Social is a product that has been designed to help small businesses operating in the vocational sector primarily fashion design, hair and makeup, photography and others. They learn how to use social media strategically to improve their business performance,” he said.

He noted that with SMEs contributing about 70percent to Ghana’s GDP and accounting for 92percent of businesses, more and more individuals are looking for opportunities in the sector for survival.

He added that through the small business social media marketing programme, Express Social empowers small businesses to take full advantage of social media to grow.

“Small business owners have become aware of social media and they use it but they still lack the technical knowhow in using social media to spearhead their businesses. If you are targeting millennials, which these small businesses are doing, you will sell less and you cannot grow without social media,” he said.

He added that one can achieve a 100percent growth in the business if social media is strategically used. “Without social media, small businesses targeting millennials cannot make sales,” he added.

Mr. Ocran noted that Eazzy Social will conduct the first training session in the first week of November in Accra and then hold subsequent sessions in Kumasi, Tema and Takoradi. Each session, which last for two days, cost only GH¢250 per person and the maximum number of each class is 30 participants.

He added that Eazzy Social now has a Small Business Support Centre in Accra which offers continuous support for participants in addition to the content strategy workbook participants will receive at every training session.

Beyond the training, Eazzy Social offers agency support services to a lot of organisations in the public and private sector. “We help them to champion proper social media business transformation.”

Mr. Ocran added that the young start up is also into empowerment of the youth and has so far provided free basic social media skills to over 100 tertiary students at the Koforidua Technical University in the Eastern Region.

Derrydean Dadzie, a technology expert and advisor to Eazzy Social, who served as the guest of honour, noted that there is a huge gap between the social media platforms available and the capabilities required to make the most efficient and optimal use of these platforms.

He noted that with the gap more pronounced among small businesses, a service like Express Social will help these small businesses to go beyond their immediate environment, have real-time feedback from clients and reach millions without moving from one location to another.

“Social media offers the platform for businesses to tell their stories in real time, in a personal way and people can interact with you. That is why I find Express Social as a good proposition and useful tool for businesses. It is about time every business adapt their processes and goals to align with social media,” he said.

Despite the numerous advantages of social media, Mr. Dadzie urged small business owners to be weary of fraudsters on social media.

“People have to be critical about the interactions they have on social media. It is not every click that is valuable and so one needs to be put in place measures to safeguard your business against poisonous clicks.

Social media has storage that can extend years and so you must ensure that whatever you put on social media should stand the test of time and cannot be used against you in the future. Businesses need to educate team members on the use of social media professionally and even personally and everyone must be on the lookout for fake accounts,” he pointed out.