Photo Credit: Andrew Wagner
At only 18 years old, Duffy Leidner wouldn’t seem to be someone with much business experience. But by taking advantage of his resources, Leidner has proven to be a motivated and successful individual.
His company, called Stilted, is a skateboard and snowboard inspired clothing company he recently started with a few close friends. Everything is done out of his house (where he lives with his mother, Robin, and sister, Brooke) from design, inventory, etc.
Already, Stilted has amassed considerable popularity through Leidner’s simple business tactic: social networking.
“Facebook, MySpace and all are where the people are,” he says. “We come to them where they feel comfortable.”
With so many people on social networks, it’s become easy for small or new companies to communicate with consumers and attract new ones. Leidner says that aside from his initial word-of-mouth methods, social media has been his primary, and most successful, form of marketing. For someone still in the first years of college, in a time where money is tight for business, Leidner knows the importance of using his free resources,
It began with a MySpace account, and has since spread to Facebook, YouTube and blogs. Leidner believes that aside from the lack of cost and ease of access, these networks are beneficial by creating a more personable relationship between business and consumer.
“Something about the internet makes people more open,” he says. “People aren’t scared to voice their opinions online. We get a lot of feedback, both positive and negative about stuff, and they tell us how they feel about the products.”
Leidner tries to update his sites often, but admits that it can become inconsistent. The fluctuation of activity from his consumers influences how often he updates each site. For the most part, Facebook stays the most active as it is the most used form of social media among his targeted market.
But Leidner has his fingers crossed that it’s not just a passing trend.
“A lot of younger people are on Facebook, and that’s basically who we’re going after; people around my own age. I just hope it keeps staying as popular as it is. That, and that I won’t ever have to pay for it.”
Check out Stilted:
I liked this post because it proves how social media and networking youself is important to do when trying to get a business started. The business Leidner is working onis pretty trendy and hip (more for a younger crowd) so networking with MySpace and Facebook is great for capturing the right audience. Leidner’s thoughts on how to use the internet and what it means to use social media were very insightful.
God, I feel like social networking is being drilled into our brains. That’s all you ever hear about is how important it is. But I think that it’s the truth, Leidner is just proof about how some people aren’t exactly the best at it, but you learn because you have to. Quite inspiring because I don’t find myself at the forefront of social networking, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.
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