How I built my business using Facebook

Facebook Business: After campus, most people embark straight away on looking for a job, and when it fails to come along, they become frustrated, some even lose hope completely. However, this is not the case for Ms Lillian Kithia who has defied all odds to pursue her dreams.

Ms Kithia, a graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communication and media studies failed to secure a job after campus. With only Ksh. 100,000, a gift from her husband, she plunged into business, thanks to Facebook which helped her a great deal in marketing her products.

She had acquired a laptop and a modem when she was in campus, so Kithia started using facebook to market her clothing, shoe and jewelry business going by the brand name-Juicy Couture.

With this facebook page, not only has she closed business deals with her customers, but she has also come to learn from customers what they want simply by gaining insights. She uploads photographs of her products on the page and waits for orders. She uses popular money transfer mobile platforms M-pesa and Airtel money services to conduct transactions between her clients. She also uses email based paypal for customers overseas.

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When a customer ordered a product from her, Ms Kithia sent photos of the items to the client to confirm all details before making her deliveries. She also sources her clothing and jewelry from London and France. Her customers liked her because her prices were fairly affordable, items ranged from Ksh300-Ksh1000 and were delivered almost immediately upon payment. For customers overseas, she used air shipment to deliver her products.

Kithia opened stores in countries such as Dubai and United Arab Emirates. She manages to make an average sales of Ksh. 420,000 a month. Her business has did so well that she started investing in another line of business: electronic products from Japan. She says that the value of her first order of electronic products, which was made in September was only Ksh. 250,000. She has, however attributed her success to Facebook marketing.