5 Case Studies on How Facebook was used to Drive Business Results for Small Businesses

Facebook is a platform that connects people beyond geographies and age. It is the same for everyone but works in unique ways for different people. Today, Facebook is not just a medium to connect with people, but it also mobilizes thoughts and ideas and makes the world more open and connected. Anyone who has a brilliant idea doesn't need to wait for finances; all you need is connecting with the right set of audience and share your ideas. You get scale, feedback and connections, all real-time.

Facebook shared 5 such stories with us that tell us how Facebook can be used in different creative ways:

1. Our World, Our Initiative

• About Business: This is a platform on Facebook which allows people to get together and donate in kind or cash, for those who are in a need for shelter and financial support.

• About the Founder: Sufia Khatoon is a writer who loved writing about people. One of her posts about an old woman selling food on the roadside got her the idea of building a community to help put the poor and the under privileged.

• Location: Kolkata

• Date of Inception: 1-Apr-12

• Why Facebook: Sufia loved to write about people and often posted notes on her Facebook profile. One such post which talked about an old woman in need of financial support gathered a huge response from her friends, who were ready to help out the old woman. With the help and support of several such like-minded people, she now has a full-fledged business and is independent. Over the past one year, Sufia has had responses from almost all the states in India and other countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, London and Bangladesh. According to her, the Facebook page is not just a Page but a very effective forum, which is allowing her and thousands of others to work towards a good cause.

2. Trendy babe

• About Business: Sakshi imports high end fashion apparel for women, from other countries and sells them to people in India.

• About the Founder: Sakshi was a student when she started her own business after getting inspired from other businesses that she came across on Facebook.

• Location: Delhi

• Date of Inception: 14-Nov-12

• Why Facebook: A student of corporate communications in Delhi University was inspired by other businesses running on Facebook and decided to start one of her own. The first 2-3 months were tough, as gaining momentum in the beginning took time for her business page, she often thought she should get back to studying but then she came across Facebook Advertising and made use of it which immediately showed her results. Ever since, her business is going strong. She imports clothes from China, Vietnam, the U.S and London, and sells them here in India. One of her initial customers was from the North East, who had placed an order for a product, but with time she became a regular customer and this is how Sakshi’s success story began.

3. Pigtails and Ponys

• About the Business: Sell hand-made Hair accessories

• About the Founders: Nikita and Nivedha, both are students of Accessory Designing.

• Location: Bangalore
  

• Date of Inception: 14-Sep-2011

• Why Facebook: Nikita and Nivedha, two college friends had a hobby of creating head bands out of bits of fabric that they would find at the local markets. They continued to take their hobby at a different level and today, they operate a business –which is purely virtual. After they posted pictures of headbands that they had created, on their Facebook page, they got a tremendous response from their Facebook friends, which motivated them to start creating something new. And this is how Pigtails and Ponys came into being. From just head bands they now have a variety of hair accessories. A hobby was eventually converted into a business, all because these two young entrepreneurs wanted to do something meaningful and big. Today approximately 70% of their sales can be directly attributed to Facebook.

4. The Filmy Owl

• About Business: Angel showcases her art work- the ‘Pen Series’ as she likes to call it, on Facebook.

• About the Founder: She is a freelance artist, has been a NIFT student in the past, loves designing and creating art work.

• Location: New Delhi

• Why Facebook: Facebook is a platform where she loves showcasing her work as their responses on Facebook that she got for her work actually inspired her to continue making art work. For her, this is a great way to build on her audience.

5. "Remembering"- Mayank Sharma

• About: Mayank Sharma

• Location: New Delhi

• Why Facebook: Mayank Sharma , a 29 year old man lost his memory after he was affected by Tubercular Meningitis. He used Facebook’s ‘People You May Know’ feature to get his life back on track as it helped him get in touch with all those people whom he had completely forgotten about. The interactions and messages he exchanged with them helped him get a sense of the kind of life he had lead before he was struck by meningitis. Although his memory hasn’t completely returned, but these interactions and connections with people over Facebook have helped him a great deal.