Internet and entrepreneurship go hand in hand for these women from Chandigarh

When internet and entrepreneurship are two buzz words, staying connected becomes important in growing your business online. How to grow your business online? What should be the tags to use to attract more people to your business page on Facebook and other social media websites? To talk about all such questions and more SheThePeople in collaboration with Facebook organised an invigorating session of Boost Your Business in Chandigarh.

The Boost Your Business program is designed to arm Indian businesses with the knowledge, skills and technology that is required to stay innovative, connect with customers at home and increase market access across the globe for their products and services. This time we had Devina Malhotra, Blogger & Founder of Guilty Guides, Manjula Sularia, who is a Life Skills Coach, Sunali Aggarwal, co-founder of Mobikwik.com who has since exited the company, Meenu Kalra who is India head of theknowledgeacademy.com, Prarthana Beri, Owner of Laveena Hosiery at the panel talking about how digital has changed their way of looking at business.

“Content has to have concept and being everywhere even if it is a niche audience,” says Devina energetically about being a blogger, who 90,000 followers on instagram.

Devina enlisted three important elements of her business. Dedication, connectivity and interaction with your subscribers. "Apart from that, I started my blog on a free platform at first and then went on to buy a 1000 rupees URL and believe me that is all you need to start up. Investments come later as you grow."

Manjula, who has been recognised as the Active Women Entrepreneur of Chandigarh Region, opined, “Social media is not about breaking the barriers but penetrating the barriers. Through internet we’re able to the whole country while also reaching out to the armed forces and public administrators.”

While Devina agreed to Manjula’s point she said that having conversational and short blog helps in grabbing and keeping the attention of the reader intact. “For us swapping content like sending out five restaurants to visit in Ludhiana to Delhi viewers and readers and bringing content from Delhi to readers in Ludhiana, that’s what worked. So you have to create your own niche.”

Meenu had other challenges. She returned to fight stereotypes in Jalandhar and Ludhiana. People questioned her ability to understand the Indian scenario although she had worked most of her life in America. The solution to that she believes is  her family backing her dreams.

India is at the centre of using Facebook as it is only second to US with 148 million monthly active people on it from India. About 50 million Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) work from Facebook globally, so it becomes significant as to how one can get more clicks on the business page. Ritesh Mehta of Facebook answered this well. “Hashtagging is one way to increase views and better keywords that go well with the product a person is selling, also help. So product-related, theme-related and place-related hashtag work the best,” said the Head of Economic Initiatives at the social media giant in South Asia.

Facebook is one platform where businesses may start with little funds. A public page may be all that it takes? That tell us why small businesses in India are using Facebook actively. At last count over 2 millions SMEs were online on FB. So what are you waiting for?

SheThePeople and Facebook Conduct Boost Your Business In Different Cities In India - Keen to be part of these? Sign Up HERE.