The first thing to remember Is that just because Insta may work for your friend it may not work for you. Facebook, insta, tiKtok, and all the others platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses. It really does depend on what it is you want to showcase.

Here are a few quick tips regarding social media platforms.

Facebook is a brilliant platform for building a local online community of people who may live locally, and a great place for friends and family to share and support your journey. It quickly allows you to promote yourself through advertising which in return builds your brand to get you out there faster. The only downfall is that people may need to scroll down a long feed to see what it is you sell and do. People are lazy and need to know straight away.

Instagram is a brilliant platform to show a quick visual to potential followers.

This is where your colour scheme, ethos, bio, highlights, and more are noticed a remembered. This is most certainly the most used platform for small businesses and those who want to be seen by people from all over the world. But the trick here is to be consistent. Your tags, highlights, colour scheme, and reels all come into play here, so you need to be creative and plan ahead.

Pinterest is saturated with infographics, pictures, videos, and more but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider it when you start a small business. Many small businesses use the platform to showcase their products and services to a wider audience. It’s easy to upload images and then add links to your website or buying platform. In return making it a seamless process from start to finish for the potential customer.

Tiktok has fast become a popular platform for small businesses. Potential customers love to see behind the scenes, meet the maker and connect with your brand. It also has a much younger audience, so a great place to connect with curious young adults looking for inspiration and new ideas. It has more than one billion users every month and is still the most downloaded app of the year. You should utilise it to promote your small business and consider having a Tiktok shop too.

Twitter should never be underrated. The community is huge and worldwide. If you have a strong ethos, style or opinion on things then this would be ideal for you. It’s a great place to show your personality and connect with like-minded people. Not necessarily the best place to sell products however.

You need to research your competitors, you need to research everything about them. I can’t stress how important this is. This will give you inside information on what works in your niche and what doesn’t.

Choose five accounts you look up to, those who inspire you, then ask yourself these questions;

Why did you choose them - they should be your inspiration

How do they advertise - Etsy, Insta, Facebook, Tiktok

What’s their layout like - aesthetics, colour scheme, grid

What are their pictures like - digital, mock-ups, filtered

What’s their story - what makes others follow them, their personality

When was their turning point - most likes, large views on videos

Who is their audience - age group, public, friends, shops

What’s their unique selling point - their niche, their uniqueness, their ethos

Who follows them -are they your people

Who do they follow - these are their inspiration

What are their highlights - do they tell a story

Wow is the bio laid out - what do they say, remember the bio are all tags

Top Tips

- 80% of your feed should have good content.

- 20% should be selling a product or service

- Visuals leave a lasting impression, have good images

- Show your personality through reels, videos, and lives. People connect with people

- Connect with other local business

- Connect your brand with a topic

- Stay consistent

- Show behind the scenes

- Use relevant tags

- Connect with potential customers not family

- Make up to ten stories a day

- Post a reel each day

- Share challenges as well as successes

- Educate others

- Inspire others