SMM-tools in the Promotion of Small and Medium- Sized Business (In the Case of Nizhny Novgorod Market)

The authors of the report examine the promotion of small and medium-sized business with the help of SMM-tools. The subject seems of topical research interest because of digitalization of Russian economy. The main trend is the conversion of traditional business forms to the virtual space. Social networks become both a favourite leisure activity for people today and a place of competition between companies. The ability and skills to use effectively different SMM-tools are a competitive advantage of the company. In addition, to attracting people's attention to a product or service via the Internet is less expensive compared to traditional advertising.The aim of the presented study is to determine the place and role of SMM-tools in the promotion of small and medium-sized business. This aim includes the following objectives: analyze and make a segmentation of the regional market to examine the possibility of using SMM technologies; examine the process of community management and blogging in popular social networks; analyze the features of targeted advertising and work with analytics; describe the target audience; develop rules for designing a content-plan; determine the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of SMM. The empirical research is based on the promotion experience of Nizhny Novgorod companies. In theoretical part of the report the latest literature on Internet advertising and SMM is reviewed. As research methods both general scientific and special methods such as SWOT-analysis, sociological survey, observation are used. In the course of the study a local market segmentation was carried out, SMM promotion prospects were determined, a social portrait of the target audience was described, the main communication channels with the consumer in the Internet were analyzed, and the SMM-promotion algorithm was developed. Unlike other advertising tools, the Internet makes possible to attract real customers with a minimum or zero budget. Nowadays, when people in Russia spend 10 hours per week in the Internet, the prospects for SMM-technologies in our country are obvious. The results of the study show that SMM also solves an important problem of company's personalization. It makes them as close to the target audience as possible. Thanks to integration of information about themselves in the user's news feed, the business gets a high social approval and positive feedback from the client, which could guarantee the high rates of profit in the future.