An interaction with Mr. Wahid who increased the following of his brand on Instagram to 100,000 in less than a year and launched a successful online store
Hello Mr. Wahid. I would like to start off by congratulating you on reaching 100K followers on instagram.
Thankyou very much!
100K followers on social media is a very coveted milestone by brands and influencers. Specially for a niche brand & business like yours, the success itself seems mind boggling. How does it feel?
Actually, this is the 2nd time we reached 100,000 followers. At the beginning of this year we had almost a 150,000 followers when our main Instagram page got shut down because of a cyber attack by a competitor. Thanks to the proactive actions taken by Cyber Cell and police, the people behind it were tracked and put behind bars. We lost our instagram account and our followers. That is an interesting story that taught me a lot of important lessons, but let's leave that for another day. Coming to your question, it feels good. Good to know that we have served so many people, and made them happy. This is what drives me to keep on doing more, and grow the brand and business. To serve more customers, and make more people happy.
Could you share with us some of what it took you to get the brand and its online presence here?
Oh that is a very interesting question and I can go on and on about it. I have been focussing on digital media and marketing since the very beginning and over the past few years, shifted all our marketing efforts from traditional media to digital media. I started off by outsourcing social media marketing and management to agencies. I ended up working with over 4 different agencies because of multiple issues. This helped me understand the “social game” a lot better, and try new things. At the end, I ended up hiring and setting up my own team of designers and strategists, and bringing the whole marketing in-house. This not only helped me fasten up my speed, but also try out more ideas more quickly. We are one of the very few businesses in India who used Snapchat’s Ad network in the country, probably the only one in Baroda. It has been a rewarding journey and a learning experience. And in today’s fast moving times, to stay on top you need to keep learning and keep trying new things.
Was it tough?
Definitely. Honestly though, it was tough because of the consistency it required. Social Media is a game which requires you to do a lot of things right at the same time to succeed. And consistency and good unique content, are 2 key pillars of it. And to both of them right, regularly is a tough job. Thankfully, we worked hard, and gave it our all, and are here now.
I want to go back to the beginning and understand what drew a 20 year world how and when you started your business?
The idea for the business came in my mind around 2012. I have always been a fan of, and fascinated with Apple products. Their amazing quality, and design are something which made not only me, but everyone a fan. The only problem which I, like most of my fellow people, had was the issue of availability and affordability. I decided to change that and opened up Marvans mobile’s first retail outlet in 2013, with the intention of making iPhones more available and affordable to all. Inshallah, 7 years later, we have 3 stores in the city, over 70,000 followers on our social media, and are everyone’s first stop for all things apple. One thing I think that has helped me a lot has been being open to new ideas, and understanding 2 key things: Impact of digital marketing and the importance of client servicing, and I have been focussed on these 2 factors since our beginning. And that is what has helped us grow this much.
Tell us about the online marvans store launched last month
We recently launched our online store and have had an amazing response without even doing a full fledged launch. We have been getting a lot of orders, and even more inquiries. Our focus now is to grow that channel, and deliver our services across the country.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this. It was a pleasure. Before leaving, so what is the next chapter in Marvans Mobile’s story?
Staying on top of the game requires constant effort and focus. So going forward our attention has been going to be on keeping our standards of service and experience top notch, as we scale, and deliver the same level of service to our ever growing customer base. I see huge potential in the ecommerce sector and want to focus on increasing our reach pan India, and delivering iPhones and premium accessories at an affordable price to everyone.
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