Utilization of Social Media as a Business Opportunity for Youth

Cultural Group

Selwendri

, Onan Marakali Siregar

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sumatera Utara Jl. Dr. Sofyan No. 1

Medan 20155 Indonesia

Keyword: social media , business opportunity, entrepreneurship

Abstract. Training utilization of social media to get business opportunities carried out to youth groups youth in the

village of Pulo Brayan Bengkel Workshop Medan. The easier the internet access and the many social media

applications make it easier for young people to actively do business. The purpose of this service is training

young people who join the youth group to be able to see business opportunities through various social media

applications commonly used by youth groups. The method is carried out through interactive discussions,

training or counseling and doing simple practicum by inviting trainees directly to selling through social media.

The result of this service is to increase the interest of members in youth youth groups towards business and

the enthusiasm to start a business by utilizing social. Began to emerge active youth to pursue various business

opportunities through social media.

1 INTRODUCTION

The development of globalization that is happening at

this time, has led to the increasing advancement of

information and communication technology.

Information technology is a set of tools that help

people work with information and perform tasks

related to information processing. The advancement

of information and communication technology has

made people's lifestyles more consumptive and fast-

paced. Changes in a more consumptive lifestyle can

be seen from the tendency of the public to do

activities in cyberspace such as shopping online.

Increasingly sophisticated technology has led to

changes in the mindset of people who tend to be

traditionalistic to become modern. The rapid

development of information and communication

technology is marked by the widespread use of the

internet that can be accessed throughout the world.

The internet is one of the accesses that can be used

positively that can provide benefits or income to its

users and can open opportunities for businesses to

develop business activities through electronic media.

The internet provides an advantage for manufacturers

in introducing new products to prospective

customers, marketing their products quickly and

minimizing costs. As for consumers, the internet

makes it easier for consumers to get the desired

product quickly, can save time and effort and create

pleasure and comfort. Technology, the internet and

social media are interrelated or related and become

very important needs for the community currently.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in collaboration

with the Indonesian Internet Service Providers

Association (APJII) noted that the growth rate of

internet users in Indonesia by the end of 2016 was

132.7 million users or around 51.5% of the total

Indonesian population of 256.2 million. Most internet

users exist on the island of Java with a total user of

86,339,350 users or around 65% of the total use of the

Internet. When compared to Indonesian Internet users

in 2014 of 88.1 million users, there was an increase

of 44.6 million within 2 years (2014-2016).

The internet is an important need for society, because

almost half of Indonesia's population uses the internet

in their daily lives. The use of the internet encourages

a great potential for the creation of online shopping.

Based on the content most frequently visited, internet

users most frequently visit online web sites at 82.2

million or 62%. And the most visited social media

content is Facebook at 71.6 million users or 54% and

the second order is Instagram at 19.9 million users or

15%.

The opportunity to run an online business is more

open, not only for business people, all communities

Selwendri, . and Siregar, O.

Utilization of Social Media as a Business Opportunity for Youth Cultural Group.

DOI: 10.5220/0010104518611863

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1861-1863

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

1861

can take advantage of this opportunity. Online

shopping makes consumers more easily shop without

spending time and effort. Because of this

convenience, online shops are increasingly in

demand. Through online shop buyers can see various

products offered through the web that are promoted

by sellers. Online shopping allows both buyers and

sellers to not face to face directly, so this allows the

seller to have the opportunity to get buyers from

abroad. In the beginning of 2014, the trend of online

shop was increasing, because it was more practical

and more comfortable. Items purchased will be sent

via goods delivery service after making payment at

the online shop for goods ordered through the website

provided by the online shop merchants.

Online product marketing can be done through social

media. Social media is the right place to promote

products to consumers. Social media allows market

participants to communicate with each other,

customers, and prospective customers. Social media

gives the brand identity or brand that is marketed and

helps to spread the message in a relaxed and

communicative manner. Companies can use social

media as a medium to promote their products such as

displaying advertisements, direct marketing, promos,

and product information. The use of social media that

previously only wanted to communicate with friends

on social media became aware of information about

one of the products displayed on their social

networking accounts.

Communities can utilize social media in

entrepreneurial activities. Social media is a tool or

interactive marketing tool, service, building

communication with customers and prospective

customers, and as a tool to sell and buy products

online. Social media can be accessed by anyone, any

class of society, as long as they have a device that can

be used to access the social media. All levels of

society can entrepreneurship through social media, be

it men, women, old, young, workers, housewives,

school children and even unemployed. Social media

can be used as a business opportunity for those who

want to be entrepreneurs and earn income. Therefore,

counseling is conducted on the use of social media as

an entrepreneurial opportunity among secondary

schools which aims to provide additional information

to high school students about the positive value of

using social media.

Pulo Brayan Bengkel Village is located in the

District of Medan Timur, a distance of 12 km from

the University of North Sumatra, which can be

reached in 45 minutes.

The total population of Pulo Brayan Bengkel Village

until 2017 totaled 12,659 consisting of 6,362 male

population and 6,297 female population. Pulo Brayan

Bengkel Village consists of 11 (eleven)

neighborhoods.

The main livelihoods for people in Pulo Brayan

Bengkel Village are employees, laborers, traders,

civil servants, and TNI / POLRI. The number of

residents in the village that received raskin amounted

to 553 households, received healthy terrain cards

totaling 2,248 households, and received 639

households.

Based on observations made that many mothers from

poor family groups do not have jobs other than

housewives. Therefore the activities of this service

intend to carry out service by empowering

housewives of poor family groups to supplement their

income through training in making mini- cones. As

for what will be done is to conduct counseling and

training by giving demonstrations and direct practices

to make mini cones that will be useful to increase

income for housewives of poor family groups in Pulo

Brayan Bengkel Village, Medan Timur Subdistrict,

Medan City.Based on the description of the analysis

results above, it is known that partner problems

include: (1) Lack of youth interest in entrepreneurship

and (2) lack of information or knowledge about the

use of social media as a business opportunity.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

To get maximum results, a method of activities that

can support the achievement of activities is needed.

The methods used in carrying out this community

service include; (1) Training / counseling, (2)

Interactive Discussion and (3) Simple practical

application of entrepreneurship.

This activity is a form of community service which is

part of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education including

the University of North Sumatra to the community to

transfer knowledge, knowledge and insights that are

important and useful to the community. As a form of

concern for the community, this activity will have

links with the University of Sumatera Utara through

the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, the

community, especially the youth of Karang Taruna in

Pulo Brayan Bengkel Village Workshop.

The plan of activities to be carried out for problem

solving is the following stages:

 Counseling

Counseling is carried out to youth in

Karang Taruna Pulo Brayan Bengkel

Village Workshop. The socialization

material is about the development of the

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

1862

internet and social media, social media as

a media for product marketing, social

media as an entrepreneurial opportunity,

and about entrepreneurial benefits.

 Discussion

After the extension activity, the next

activity was a discussion with the youth of

Karang Taruna in Pulo Brayan Bengkel

Village Workshop. Youth Taruna Youth in

Pulo Brayan Village Medan Workshop on

how to use social media as an

entrepreneurial opportunity.

 Evaluation

Evaluation is carried out as long as the

service activities are carried out including

observing the devoted participants in their

activeness during the community service

activities which take place actively in

responding to each material presented,

active to ask questions and answer the

questions asked.

3 RESEARCH RESULTS

The results of community service in Pulo Brayan

Darat Village focused on the skills of empowering

participants to be proficient in creating online

business accounts through Facebook and Instragram

applications. This application was chosen because the

dedication team considered that this application was

the most widely used by the community .. On the

implementation of the service carried out by means of

counseling, the demonstration of making an online

business account application Facebook and Instagram

Preparation was carried out by the Dedication Team

together with partners. Preparation is carried out to

obtain agreement between the Service Team and

partners, including: schedule of activities and

activities. At the preparation stage it was agreed on

the time and place of the extension and the time and

place of the training in the Pulo Brayan village

workshop. This place was chosen based on a proposal

from Pulo Brayan Village Head, who wanted to

facilitate the implementation of this service well.

Community service implementation is carried out

through counseling, demonstrations starting from the

introduction of online business applications and

demonstrations on the creation of Facebook online

business applications and Instragram.

Extension Counseling aims to motivate partners to

have the spirit of entrepreneurship and have the skills

to create an online business application account for

Facebook and Instagram. Partners are also expected

to be able to maintain and manage and run online

business applications to start selling products online

through applications that are trained to

participants.The practice of making an online

application for the Community Service Team

consisting of lecturers and students explained the

steps taken in creating an online business application

account for Facebook and Instagram. The service

team is not difficult to practice because all

participants have gadgets that have Facebook and

Instagram applications. Some participants already

know the users of applications that are already very

well known in the community. Besides that, students

involved in community service are students who

already have direct experience in conducting business

through online applications. This provides motivation

for trainees.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of community service regarding

the empowerment of youth groups in the village of

Pulo Brayan Bengkel, it can be concluded:

The training participants have very high

enthusiasm to have skills in running an online

business through Facebook and Instagram social

media

Karang Taruna in Pulo Brayan Bengkel

Village can be used as a container positive for young

people in the village, especially in the X

environment

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https://apjii.or.id/. Diakses pada 11 Juli 2017

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