Finding your customers sounds easy and then you begin to realize that it gets a little tricky pretty quick. We know they’re out there, and we know that there is always an event going on and the demand for custom made items.
The good news about all of this however is it has gotten easier to get people to notice your shop!
Social media has brought small business owners a platform to excel on making connections with the local community faster than ever. It acts as an aid to marketing your shop. The best way to have this help your business however is by following a few basic tips and tricks that all successful social media accounts use. Once you have these locked down, then you can really focus on making your social media unique to your preferences!
This page you are creating is the virtual representation of your business. It needs to be rich in content, relevant in your creations, and accurate to what you are producing in house. Essentially, your goal is finding a way to directly connect your posts with your audience’s needs.
Social media is meant to be interactive with your consumers, so it really needs maintenance that will help it keep it relevant like a normal conversation. Focus on developing your voice, by first defining that voice and presence you hope to achieve online.
1. What is your role in the marketplace?
As you build your brand on social media, think about the role you play. Are you a leader, lone wolf, creative thinker? It could be a number of things, but whatever you decide as your role, your posts need to reflect upon that. If your business claims the role of “best artistic talent” then you should not be posting memes regularly. It develops a disconnect between the brand identity and brand perception.
2. What are your selling points?
How do you casually describe your shop to your friends? Do you bring up speed? Special programs or equipment? What about the services you offer? These are all the points you find most important when getting potential customers in the door, so why wouldn’t you share these points on your social media platforms? Take everything you are proud of with your business and list these as your benefits or advantages. The best part, it will help you generate ideas for your content!
3. Who is your target audience?
How do your customers see you? Are you a supplier, commodity, business partner? The way to answer this is by thinking about how your customers would define the relationship between the two.
4. Where can you find your customers?
This research is going to be the most important because it is going to help drive business to your location. By looking at what platforms your potential customers are on, how they interact with companies and what kind of content those companies post will help you determine what your next steps are with social media.
Since you’ve gotten as far as defining your “voice,” we want you to decide on what your goal is.
Brand awareness
Is your goal to have the consumer acknowledge your presence without trying to sell them your product?
Essentially here we are saying that you might be shooting for “top of mind” awareness with your targeted audience.When you keep posting about what your business does and how you do it, the consumer already has an idea of this and naturally want to reach out to your business for their business. To do this you want to be as transparent as possible with your customers.
Make it visual, show what you do in house to answer their questions
Customer questions give a great opportunity for social media Q & A’s
Keep content relevant to the industry
Showing off your skills
Maybe you want to show your customers that your business has the means to make creations that other businesses can’t. This is your chance to highlight the real products that your business produces.
Social media gives you the opportunity to create content that shows your customers that you are an expert. People are going to want to feel as if they can trust you to create their products, and to build that trust you must showcase the times you are in action.
By using instagram, you are building your portfolio for your business. Take advantage of this opportunity and drive engagement to make your pictures more “searchable.” Infographics are helpful as well depending on your demographic.
Website
Is your goal to drive more people to your website? We understand that “more eyes = more business” and by having an audience be encapsulated by your website may be enough to convince them to do business with you.
Your website is the online storefront to express your brand identity. Decide on how you want to use your website to best suit your goals, and always make sure it is mobile user friendly. Keep it simple, aesthetically appealing and organized based on your business’s priorities towards the consumer.
Once you have these questions answered and your voice defined, it will help you to build content for your social media calendar. Your goal is to think about what you are wanting to achieve and how the best way to do so will be.
Remember, as a business you want to focus on selling your shop’s strengths. Show how you solve problems and keep your customer in mind to make their experience the best one yet. By doing this you will keep your business personable, and your potential consumers will feel that much more comfortable choosing you for their next screen printing project!
Here at BOLT Screen Printing we pride ourselves in creating quality custom apparel that brings your vision to life. We have assembled a team of professionals, who strive to understand your goals and assist you with out of the box advertising and Branding techniques. We combine our knowledge of all things apparel with your project goals in order to prove killer gear and a stress-free experience.
With an ambition to create premium quality vintage threads, Bolt was born. From our passion of creating the best clothing for our clothing store Opolis and our customers expressing the desire to see their designs on our high-quality apparel we knew the next step would be to open Bolt. After being in the industry for over 13 years, we've perfected the process of turning amazing ideas into even better results. Contact us today by emailing us at boltscreenprinting@gmail.com, or giving us a call at 405-493-9557!