Here’s a founder sharing his insights of growing a social media business fourfold

It’s been 4+ years since we started Gozoop. From a team of 6 in 2010 to over 150+ across 3 countries today, it’s been one of the most difficult yet enjoyable rides so far. I see many wannabe entrepreneurs wanting to join the social media bandwagon trying to make it big in the “social media / digital services business” (I call it people’s business). I’ve seen many of them fail and many of them just surviving in this already saturated market. This piece deals with how honesty and transparency with the people you deal with leads to enormous growth in this field.

I take great pride in what we’ve built at Gozoop. Great team, great people, great clients, great stories and tremendous growth. It didn’t take us much time to realize that the social media business is all about people

I’ve had various experiences in different areas of digital marketing – conceptualizing and executing social media campaigns, managing media spends for bigwigs across all platforms, executing CPL campaigns, website and mobile app projects, servicing SEO clients, establishing Gozoop and leading the business development in a Middle East (which has such a diverse culture) – all of this resulted in me having to deal with thousands of people of different nationalities, different temperament, different values over a period of time

I started jotting down these experiences and realised it could help those entering or already present in this industry. Here are some interesting insights (out of my personal experiences) that’ll help your social media business grow fourfold over a period of time

The right clients

These are the best clients that an agency can have. They’ll let us do what we want to do, they’ll cover up if we mess up, and they’ll defend us in their meetings with their superiors. You need to keep them happy come what way. Go all out, serve them well and you shall see the results. Most of the referral business comes from such clients. In fact, if your relationship is great, you can shamelessly ask for referrals time and again.

Client is NOT always right

You will definitely have clients who have no idea about digital or even online for that matter. I’ve dealt with dozens of the so called “marketing heads” who have no idea how to use Twitter or an Instagram but that does not mean their opinion doesn’t matter. It’s difficult to work with them and the only way you can have your way is by dealing with them with utmost humility and patience. Try and meet such clients on regular basis. Explain them in detail if anything can’t be done, why it can’t be done. Try and reason out and earn your client’s respect and trust. This will ensure the client sticks with you and the amount of references you get over a period of time would be something you will relish for years to come.

Letting a client go

Many a times, you have to deal with a client who is very demanding, and may not be worth the amount you’re being paid. Again, the best way to deal with such clients is to ensure you communicate the problems in the most humble way possible and let go off the association on a good note. They will still like you for your values / character and will never think twice before referring you to their contacts. On top of my head, I recollect 3 such clients in past 18 months whom I had to let go and have got references from them after the association ended. The referrals turned out to be huge spenders and have been with us since years.

Recognition for your point of contact

Always and I mean “Always” acknowledge your point of contact if a campaign goes viral. Your point of contact from the client’s side is your partner. You have to ensure his/her reputation within the organization is fantastic and they’ll ensure their company business is yours, Moreover, if they switch to another company, there are no points for guessing whom would they want to have on board as digital partners for their new workplace

Now here’s a little secret – The amount of business that I’ve got via referrals coming from the above mentioned clients have been much higher than what I personally got while approaching brands directly. I wouldn’t be wrong if I say that we’ve grown tremendously by keeping our clients and team happy and not just because we do good work.

None of the above points can be taken as absolutes. Different clients deal differently but dealing with each of them is an art. It’s an investment which will reap benefits in long term.

The author, Dushyant Bhatia is the co-founder and director at Gozoop.com.