Reinvention is one way to build a strong social media community: Suchita Salwan

Suchita Salwan of Little Black Book shares community building lessons for social media, from her business experience.

Social media for Little Black Book (LBB) has been a phenomenal way to not just grow, but to build a community of loyal followers. It has also been a great way to recruit people to share their recommendations, adding value to LBB’s core proposition.

Commenting on the role of social media, Suchita Salwan, Founder & CEO, LBB said, “Facebook was a very natural source of contributing towards traffic for our brand, because content on LBB is super shareable and relevant. So, or any city which we first launch in, we start a Facebook page and we activate the community which currently exists for a particular location. It has been an excellent method to launch in new markets and also to engage with people more locally. Finding bloggers and influencers on Facebook have also become easier.”

LBB started off as Salwan’s personal project, but, as the company grew, the focus gradually shifted towards what the customers want. Social media has thus, helped the brand to segment and understand their customers better.

Highlighting on one key lesson, which social media taught them, she added, “There is a need to work towards differentiating yourself. If you are not setting yourself a bar, it will be extremely difficult for you to create that momentum around your brand."

"The purpose of social media for us is not to be the end, but to be the medium to the end. The end being our web or the app platforms," Salwan explained. 

According to Salwan, reinvention is one way to build a strong social media community. The reason being, what has worked for you yesterday, may not work for you today. Therefore, the attempt should always be to give more and engage with the members of the community, and to give them enough reason to come back to your brand.

Salwan explains that, “A loyal community will always support your brand through thick and thin. Even the few haters that come on the way will be washed away. It is very tempting to give away free things, but loyalty and fan following can’t be bought. It is therefore; very important to not get swayed by the fickle numbers. What should matter is- are people spreading brand love through social media or are they coming to my brand?”

Suchita Salwan, Founder & CEO, Little Black Book shared her thoughts at #SMLive organised by Social Samosa.