THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with Bayan Academy and Facebook, highlighted the importance of using social media in doing business through their seminar workshop, Go Global: A Digital Marketing Campaign for MSMEs, in Hotel Elizabeth on Archbishop Reyes Ave., Cebu City.
Marivic Aguilar, chief of the SME Development Division of DTI-Cebu, said this was the fifth run of the program, where DTI gives entrepreneurs insights on ways to be creative, use best practices, and apply tools to help in growing their business using Facebook and Instagram.
She added she was amazed by the enthusiasm of business owners in Cebu in responding to their invitation.
“This is the largest audience among all our runs. We were just expecting 100 participants, but now there are already 144, and there are still people who keep on coming,” Aguilar said.
DTI has conditions for the participants of the workshop: they must be willing to grow their business through digital marketing and they must be willing to create Facebook business profiles. They must also be able to complete the short survey posted online by DTI, and they must accomplish the online post training evaluation after the session.
The speakers of the seminar workshop were Carlo Sagun, who talked about online marketing and content rules, and Carol Arcaya, who tackled setting up a Facebook business page, and creative tools and services.
Participants also shared their stories of how their businesses started, their objectives, and who their target markets are.
Meljun Pador, an information technologist in Toyota Cebu Inc., found the workshop useful, especially for businesses that just recently began using social media.
“Dako jud ni ug matabang kay sa karon, bag-ohay lang mi nigamit sa Facebook, magamit namo among knowledge ani para ma-boom namo among page,” Pador said. (It’s a big help for us since we just started using Facebook. We can use what we’ve learned from this to boom our page.)
Ian Sanchez, owner of Biyahe Ta Bai Travel and Tours, said that through the seminar, he learned how to increase their market and maximize knowledge when it comes to online business.
Arnel Fernandez, an online marketing consultant, said he wanted to meet Cebuano entrepreneurs who are possible clients, and to expand his knowledge on digital marketing.
“Basically, everything can be found online,” Fernandez said.
Aguilar added that they want entrepreneurs to make the most out of social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, as a tool to interact with their target market. (Jerra Mae Librea, USJ-R Intern)