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Social media marketing 101
Every time a âselfieâ is posted on her Twitter timeline or Instagram account, Kartika Trianindya lights up, especially if it comes from a follower wearing her design
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very time a 'selfie' is posted on her Twitter timeline or Instagram account, Kartika Trianindya lights up, especially if it comes from a follower wearing her design. 'It's such a pleasure seeing people out there mixing and matching their outfits with my shoes,' said the Milan-educated designer-cum-owner of local shoe brand Naima. 'It means the world.'
Despite having three outlets in Jakarta, up to 70 percent of Naima sales come from online sales, through Twitter and Instagram. Purchases are made through messaging and payment via bank transfer. The products can either be picked up at the store, or for buyers outside Jakarta, sent to them by courier. Although it's still months away before the company launches its own fully fledged website later this year, that hasn't deterred fans from scrambling for its products. In fact, the brand has seen staggering growth, with prices ranging from Rp 395,000 to Rp 595,000.
Thanks to social media, marketing has never been easier for small businesses like Naima. 'Social media plays such a crucial role in our marketing strategy, especially in delivering the latest information or updates. New arrivals, sale promotions and events, even to the point of direct interaction with our customers, we do it all through social media,' said Kartika.
Naima's success story is one that resonates the power of Internet marketing, and more specifically, the magic of social media.
'It depends on the products, services and target market, but social media, as well as websites, allow smaller business to compete with the bigger ones and levels the playing field,' said Enda Nasution, a blogger and writer. 'Nowadays, a budding Internet entrepreneur can always start with a single Twitter or Facebook account, but as business grows, it would be better to buy a domain name. Build presence with that domain name, sort of like a home, and let social media be an ambassador or megaphone that pulls people back to your home.'
That is exactly what fashion e-retailer berrybenka.com is doing. The key to building a presence in the online fashion retail industry, says company CEO Jason Lamuda, has to be having the right products.
'Content is the most important aspect in promoting your products or businesses in social media. Hard selling in these social media will not be as effective anymore as there are lots and lots of similar companies doing the same. Thus, being able to differentiate your content is the way to go,' said Jason. For the online fashion retailer, differentiating content means curating great fashion products at affordable prices.
Aside from rigorous marketing and promotion on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it is the company's website that generates the most sales. That explains his focus on a strong online presence. 'As Internet shopping is still at the early stage in Indonesia, a lot of shoppers are still new to the experience of online shopping, thus we need to build trust with customers.'
Crucial element
In both the real world and the Internet, establishing rapport is just as important. Online shoppers need to have as many questions answered as possible, before making a purchase. Somewhere between online merchants and their potential buyers are public forums that strive to bridge the two.
One such forum is provided by femaledaily.com, a local website that aims to help women make informed buying decisions on beauty products through reviews by editors and discussions in public forums. 'Women don't just go to the cosmetic counter and buy what's there or what's advertised by the beauty sales assistant. They have to read other women's reviews and experience the products first. That's where we serve the need,' said Hanifa Ambadar, CEO of the popular website.
Again, social media is a crucial element in promoting its content.
'Different social networks serve different purposes. For example, Facebook is very effective for our sister website Mommiesdaily.com, where the content is about parenting, family and kids. It's more viral and people are more willing to share the articles,' says Hanifa. 'Where it's more about pretty pictures and makeup tutorials, Instagram and YouTube are growing really fast. Twitter is good for quick information about sales, placing links to articles and also kultwit [local slang for a series of tweets on a specific issue].'
According to techinasia.com, in 2013, femaledaily.com received 73 million page views from 21.4 million visitors. Today, as the number of visitors, reviewers and registered members continues to grow, so too the profit from social media.
'Brands pay us to blast their promo or information in our social media accounts and also to have online digital engagements, such as quizzes or contests. Since a lot of our members have a huge number of followers in social media, brands like to engage them through us too. So that's another revenue-generating property,' said Hanifa.
As social media continues to offer prospective business opportunities, successful names in the field have a thing or two to say.
'The Internet is very dynamic so we need to stay on top of the latest development and adapt to new technology. We also need to be fast and can't wait until a product is perfect before we launch it. We launch and keep improving the product,' said Hanifa.
Jason agrees. 'It's all about testing and trying them out and scaling slowly,' he says.
If anything, blogger Enda said, there's nothing new under the sun. 'Focus on the product and the business, check out your competitors, have good and competitive prices, always deliver and keep your promises. Social media can only help you so much, but if you can't do the basic business procedures you will not get anywhere.' (Sondang Grace Sirait)
