In honor of The Focus Group’s Digital DIY program, I’m writing a three-part series on different aspects of social media use for small businesses.  This post will focus on why small businesses should use social media to grow their customer base.  Let’s get to it!

 

A Case Study: The Fancy Fox 

The Fancy Fox is a creative, independent business run by 23-year-old Kayla Gates (a graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi), and co-owner Haley Ford.  The small business sells handmade products for custom online orders, craft fairs and curtain installments in local stores.  Kayla uses social media for many aspects of her business, but today we’ll be looking into how The Fancy Fox uses social media to grow the businesses’s customer base, specifically Instagram.

Promotions

Promotions and give aways are a great way to use social media to expand your audience and customer base.  Everyone loves free stuff, so the trade off of tagging two or three friends in an Instagram photo for the chance to win prizes could double or triple your audience reach.  Simple yet effective! Here, Kayla and Haley have partnered with other small businesses to offer a mega-giveaway.

Engage with customers 

Social media gives small business owners a chance to have a dialogue with their customers.  Thanking a satisfied customer for his or her business takes no time and goes very far in regards to customer service.  This one-on-one dialogue could be the reason customers prefer to shop local, so it’s important for small businesses to be active on social media platforms.

Social media collaborations 

The Fancy Fox participates in local craft fairs. During this year’s Loblolly Festival, the host-city’s downtown association, Laurel Main Street, featured The Fancy Fox on one of their Instagram posts. This means Laurel Main Street’s 700 + Instagram followers saw The Fancy Fox’s products and could view their Instagram page as well. By utilizing each business’s social media sites, both businesses are able to reach a larger audience.  It’s a win-win!  And who doesn’t love those?

The Fancy Fox brand personality comes alive through their use of Instagram and its photo-share capabilities – all while engaging their current audience base and picking up new customers along the way. How else would you use a social media platform to grow a small business?

Stay tuned for next week’s post on why small businesses should use social media to sell a product.

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If you are a small business owner and member of Jackson County Chamber of Commerce or the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce – you may be a prime candidate for our Digital DIY program. For more information, read about the program here – or email Perry Brunson (pbrunson@focusgroupms.com) to enroll!