Social media can be a huge tool to help you grow your business. Using sites like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook can allow you to engage with your customer base and add to your following. I personally use a few different platforms to engage with my fellow creators, show new products, announce product launches and sales, and to reach new customers. Let’s talk about the different platforms and some things to look out for.
Facebook: You have a few different options here as far as promoting your business. You can make a business page where you can create posts, stories and events for your business, this is the option I have chosen to go with as I can cross post from Instagram to save myself some time. I’ll admit I don’t spend that much time on Facebook, but I still make sure to post. Another option you can do is to create your own Facebook group. Here you can invite followers, friends, customers to see your new releases, sales (you can host live sales) and just have fun with it! These groups tend to take a lot of time and attention to be successful so if that’s not for you, I’d stick with just the page. Facebook also allows for you to sell direct to your customers via the Facebook marketplace. You can create and customize your Marketplace profile and promote your business this way also. Take a good look at your target audience to decide what option is best for you.
Instagram: I would say this is the platform that I spend the most time on. There are many ways to use this platform for growth and it is visual so perfect for artsy businesses and a great way to showcase your products. On Instagram you can create a business account, make posts, reels, stories and highlights as well as link your Facebook store to Instagram shopping. There is also the ability to post links to your website in your stories. Posts can be as simple as a photo with description, multiple photos or even a quick video. The more you post on Instagram and engage with your followers the better. Beware of accounts that try to sell you “followers and likes”, as these can negatively affect your reach and tank your engagement, lots of “followers” is not always a good thing. A quick way to spot accounts like this is if they have a large number of followers but their posts have little to no interaction. There are no quick and easy ways to get a large following it takes hard work and dedication to promote your brand on social media. Reels are big on Instagram and can draw attention to your brand quickly and effectively. Like TikTok, reels are short videos to create showcasing you and your brand. There are so many things you can do with them I think I’ll have to make a blog post just for this. Watch other creators and keep up on trends and you will do great.
TikTok: The newest social media platform that took off during the beginning of 2020, is a video platform where you create short videos (like Instagram reels) a behind the scenes look or new products even the creative process behind your business or about you. The possibilities are endless. You can set up a business account (it does limit your music choices due to copyright) and promote products, do giveaways, contests, and even go live. I’ll make a more in depth post about how I utilize both TikTok and reels for promoting my jewelry business.
I am in no way a social media expert and I’m sure I’ve left a few things out but these tips are based on my own personal experiences and I hope you have found them helpful. I know other people also use Pinterest to help with their business, but I have not found it as helpful as the other platforms. I will definitely be doing another post on this subject as we enter the holiday season.
Stay social!
Danielle
I'm all over social media, have a marketing background and several years experience, but it can be so exhausting and time consuming to try and post. If you select one platform and do it well, that's ok and is actually the preferred advice, however, if you are on the wrong platform away from your target audience...then you're hurting yourself. I've spread myself too thin in an attempt to cover all bases since I've got a wide variety of peeps that visit me and like my themed stuff. For 2022, I'm thinking of taking several offline. I only just began TikTok, so I'm still learning, but I have already seen a huge slump in the views as opposed to when I was new. So, I think the algorithm already slotted me as not as worthwhile for the FYP. Who knows. Anyway, I'm experimenting with it. I may drop Pinterest and Twitter because they are worse than crickets. lol. Well, best wishes to you, my sparkly friend!
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