Location plays a big factor for businesses, and you’ve always wanted to have the best location for the best results when it comes to gaining customers. While it used to be only having to worry about an actual physical location for your business, today’s virtual world means you need to think about how you’re going to connect to your consumers from their screens.
We understand that it can get overwhelming to even know where to start, but there are a few key places we have to suggest for you to get your “virtual” foot in the door for promoting your screen printing business!
According to multiple Pew Surveys back in 2018, over two-thirds of Americans are on some form of social media. We can only imagine how this has grown since then. A survey from 2017 mentions that it was found that 90% of young adults aged 18 to 29 were on social media, while more than 75% of adults aged 30 and over regularly used it, and even 35% of seniors (65 and over) were regular users.
With that said, it is easy to see that social media is going to be the best way to get your business in front of your customers.
Now, if you’re a business owner who doesn’t like social media or you are having a hard time in seeing the value in it, it's important to see that these are the places you are going to find your customers daily. It is the largest source of exposing your business to potential consumers as well, and it can cost as much or as little as you are willing to spend towards it!
Having a business is focused on what your customers like, what they will buy and essentially finding the best way to appeal what you are offering to them. To build exposure, to build a following, and to have the abilities to engage with the consumer, social media is going to be the best and easiest way to do so.
There are a few tasks you can do today to get your social media started, and figure out where to go next. These are things you can take back to your business, try it out and decide for yourself how effective it might have been.
Tip #1 : Knowing where to find your audience
We know that everyone and their grandma (literally) are using social media actively, but that doesn’t mean everyone is using the same platforms. Which means that different platforms are going to have different types of audiences.
For screen printers like us, Facebook and Instagram are going to have the largest audiences that we want. This is based on the fact that these platforms (and Pinterest) are largely visual. It is suggested that first focus on one platform, and branch out to others at your own pace.
Tip #2 : Having a plan
For your business’s social media to be more successful, have a plan of action.
Plan out your posts 1-2 weeks ahead of time, make it relevant to events, trends, holidays or interesting jobs.
Find a handful of sources that you can use as references, make notes of these as you can use these regularly to ensure interesting content to share.
Plan on posting 2-5 times per week, and really think about how each post can be something different or unique compared to the one before.
Use a calendar to see what posts are going out, what is coming up and where other ideas could potentially fit in. Also make a note that you should be posting sporadically and not at the same time every time you go to post. By posting at different times, different people from your audience are going to come across your post and have the opportunity to engage in your creative content.
As hopeful as it may seem, you won’t see a ROI through social media for quite some time. The main goal when you are starting social media is to build a strong audience and following, get them engaged in your content and create a strong sense of brand-trust through posts and conversations.
Tip #3 : Mixing up the posts and building up engagement
A big obstacle is trying to keep people interested, so you want to have a variety to your content. Posting the same thing repeatedly can get tedious and doesn’t show your consumers your business’s full diverse involvement. It is going to be your job to keep it interesting and have your social threads interesting and engaging.
If you have a stagnant audience, we suggest 2-3 posts per week, and for a more active and engaging audience you want to do a max of 4-5 a week. You can always do more as long as they are interesting and engaging for your audience. A great strategy for building engagement is asking questions… only once in a while. If you were to do it consistently, then your audience can get burnt out quickly and your posts can get ignored.
Having a variety in mix through your posts can mean a number of things. Here are some ideas.
Interesting industry fact or tip
Something fun or interesting about your business
Something to link back to your website (blog posts, contact forms, etc.)
Feel good posts (national days, Happy Fridays, something with a human touch)
Questions or opinions that ask your audience to give their actual answers
You also want to make sure you have a good mix of text-only, images and videos. Do not post too much of one just because it can drop down your business’s engagement.
Remember to have fun! Follow the tips above, make a plan and stay consistent. Social media is going to get more exciting and more profitable the long you are staying active with it.
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 provide killer gear and a stress-free experience.
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