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What do you usually post to social media to promote your business? Many creative businesses post about sales, new products, and events they’ll be appearing at, all of which are good pieces of information that your followers are probably interested in. But this kind of content isn’t going to build a solid relationship with your current followers or create a community to attract and earn new followers. On social media, your growth is dependent on how much people interact with the content you post – so you want to be sure to post social media content they want to share, comment on, and like.
While a sale may seem exciting to you, it might not be that exciting to your followers. So what do they want to see? Imagine what you would want to see from a favorite brand. Think of the kinds of posts that make you excited and that you share on social media. The kind of reactions you have to the posts from your favorite brands are the same kind of reactions you want from the customers of your handmade business. Here are some ideas for social media content you might not have thought about posting:
1. Behind-the-Scenes Information
Share images of the day-to-day running of your business. Consider showing your creative process, such as images of works in progress. Post photos of packed orders, supplies and raw materials waiting to be made into products, or even your messy desk. Images like these provide your followers and intimate, insider look into your business, creating a connection. Walnut Hollow does a great job of showing an insider look at their factory and American-made process in their behind-the-scenes photos on their Facebook account. Search #bts to see other companies’ behind-the scenes posts for more ideas.
2. “Reader” Features
Showcase your customers wearing the dress they bought from you or using the set of wood burned spoons they got at your last craft fair. Amarilo does a great job of this in sharing a famous model or celebrity’s use of their jewelry with their fans, like in this instagram post: Amarilo on Instagram
3. Share the Love
Share other people’s content within the same genre of your business or that compliments your products. If you sell wood turned bowls, showcase a fellow seller who sells handpainted plates or a local organic salad vendor. If you’re a blogger, share other blogger’s posts that would be relevant to your fans. Crafty Chica recently rounded up ornament tutorials from fellow bloggers and shared them on her blog – these posts could easily have been shared on social media as well as in a blog post. Crafts by Amanda does a great job of sharing other people’s content with her readers.
4. Ask Questions, Do Research
The conversation on social media is two-ways. Use this dynamic to your advantage by asking your followers questions and doing research that can help drive the direction of your business. Asking questions shows your followers that you are interested in their point of view. Depending on the voice of your brand, you might even consider asking your followers for advice in situations, such as when your work has been copied by another artist or crafter.
5. Watch the Influencers
Rather than reinvent the wheel, watch the what influencers and successful businesses in your industry are sharing on their social media accounts. Share similar content in your own way. You don’t want to imitate them – observe what they do and then seek content that will garner a similar reaction from your followers. For example, blogger Shanna Noel has an active Instagram account. Mimic the styling of her photos by taking overhead shots (super common on Instagram) but of your own work or vignettes in your own color palette (Shanna is using lots of pastels and gold right now).
6. Create Your Own Memes
Use an app like Canva, PicMonkey, or spoken.ly to create beautiful graphic quotes to share with your followers. Make sure to add your watermark or website address to the graphic so that as your followers share the graphic, people will know it came from your company. Use meme-creating apps on your smart phone to create industry specific memes or capitalize on pop culture phenom by creating memes you share on your company’s social media.
Try these next techniques over the next week on your social media accounts, in addition to your regular content strategy, and observe how your followers react and interact with the new content. Then adjust your strategy the following week to include the same types of content your followers responded to the best.
Do you have any unique social media strategies you’d like to share?
Jennifer Priest
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These were grey ideas. Thank you for sharing! Sometimes, we need a reminder just to get out of the social media monotony!!! 😉
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