With the growing access to internet, social media has now become an indispensable medium for businesses and products to get launched and promoted. According to a recent online survey, 72% of all the internet users are using social networking sites and a latest MBA online report claims that 8 out of 10 social media users prefer connecting with a company via social media platforms than via the company’s corporate website. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. are household names now.
In this competitive business environment, no business can afford their absence on social media platforms. The term Social Media Marketing (SMM) is therefore becoming inevitable for businesses to develop a brand identity, to drive traffic and to make people aware of their brand.
According to a recent online survey, 72% of all the internet users are using social networking sites and a latest MBA online report claims that 8 out of 10 social media users prefer connecting with a company via social media platforms than via the company’s corporate website.
This is where two geeks with their knowledge and skills and experience and passion enter the scene. They name themselves GEEKY Social and start working to help brands to achieve great results by using social media spaces.
The Beginning
“Saimum and I participated in business competitions while we were still studying Finance at Dhaka University. We often had to prepare business plans. That’s how we learned about smallest bits of making a good business plan. Our first venture, GEEKY Ltd, was dedicated to do that. We provided startups with road maps for their business, to facilitate their funding and other operations. However, while working on business plans we often had to work on social media marketing strategy, develop social media content for our clients. That’s how we got the idea of starting a specialized social media marketing agency and thus GEEKY Social was born, ~Said Sagor, CEO & Co-founder of GEEKY Social.
But having an idea was not all of it. Sagor and Saimum had to manage one year amount of operating expense for themselves to keep things moving. “We had to invest from our own pockets at the beginning, said Sagor, but since we are in service business we did not require a big investment.”
As a startup, GEEKY Social aims to serve SMEs with limited marketing budget. It provides low budget services to its clients and creates opportunity for them to get exposure in bigger platforms. The dedicated team of GEEKY Social also serves its clients with high-end analysis and reports on the industry and their competitors.
The Bumpy Ride
Being young comes with a list of disadvantages. For Saimum and Sagor, the journey was no different. As fresh graduates, it was difficult for them to gain credibility in the market. "It was an extremely hard work to convince people to avail our services," said Sagor, "just because we are young and it took us nearly 4 months to get our first client."
Using social media platform as a means of communication and business is still an infant concept in Bangladesh. Making people understand how social media works is not a cup of tea. Since it is not something main stream, traditional brands seldom show interest in utilizing social media platforms to promote their brands.
However, the good news is: we are not stuck in a certain place, we are moving ahead.
Being young comes with a list of disadvantages. For Saimum and Sagor, the journey was no different. As fresh graduates, it was difficult for them to gain credibility in the market.
The GEEKY Approach
"At GEEKY our clients are always on the top of our priority," said Sagor, "we spend huge amount of time in understanding needs of our clients and designing service and strategy around their needs." Recently, GEEKY has completed its one year of being. Team GEEKY has now 16 people working for the company and growing fast.
Once asked what sets GEEKY apart from other social media marketing agency in the market, Sagor said- one of the differences is of course our focus: we don’t do anything but social media marketing which makes us specialized in the sector. At the same time we take distinctive approach to serve our clients. We make sure that our clients receive best of our service and we understand their needs better and deliver exactly what they need.
GEEKY so far lived on the passion of its founders and future becomes what you want to make out of it.
So far GEEKY Social served 13 clients and growing at a consistent rate. "We are happy with the growth," said Sagor, "but at the same time we don’t want to be complacent. We want to keep growing."
Business is all about people; both side of it. You make your employees happy, they will deliver their best; you make your customers happy, they will come back and will be your marketer. Most of all, it takes love and dedication to put the amount of hard work and patience it takes. GEEKY so far lived on the passion of its founders and future becomes what you want to make out of it.
Credits: Story by Fatema Mohammad for Future Startup and Edited by Ruhul Kader. Images by GEEKY
