Cypriot firms, social media & user-generated content platforms

This work investigates the extent to which Cypriot companies use the User-Generated-Content (UGC) created on their eBusiness platforms. Data are collected from local brands in order to apprehend the current situation of the local market regarding UGC. Our study reveals that Cypriot Brands prefer Social Media, as the means to create UGC, instead of having a regular .com or .com.cy website as an online e-representation of the company. Social Media are cost-effective; no expert knowledge is required; they have exponential growth in popularity and they are searchable in regular search engines as well as in SM´s own internal search engines. It was found that Cypriot firms, participating in this study, use regularly marketing tools. All firms use Facebook Insights as a standard tool; Google Analytics is used by 57% of the participating companies; Hashtag trackers 43% and Hootsuite 29%. Cypriot firms should think of their customers´ unmet needs for interaction and content sharing and design strategies to increase the amount and usage of User Generated Content.