Organizational Mechanism for Systematically Attracting New Clients to IT Company Through Social Networks

The article analyzes and systematizes the possibilities of searching for and attracting new clients for IT companies through social networks. The methodological basis of the study is classical approaches and techniques used in marketing theory. In particular, using the AIDA model, marketing tasks and methods are identified for each stage of the process of attracting new clients. Based on the concept of the sales funnel for social networks, it is proposed to supplement the consideration of the process of attracting new clients with additional stages: loyalty and recommendations. Content analysis of literary sources made it possible to systematize the specific characteristics of the IT sphere that influence the processes of searching for, attracting and working with clients, as well as to identify the key positioning criteria that IT companies use in their marketing strategies. To study the “life cycle” of clients and identify the main driving factors, the possibilities of the “Customer journey” analysis technique are considered. The research results are summarized in the form of a concept of an organizational mechanism that allows a systematic approach to attracting new clients through work in social networks. The input data of the mechanism are the type of company, the type of a client, the algorithm of a social network. The mechanism covers the stages of work presented in the AIDA and “Customer journey” models and the use of SMM methods that are implemented at each of the identified stages. A template for events to attract new clients in social networks for IT companies has been developed.