During the first lockdown, we really pushed ourselves to grow even when we couldn’t work which for us meant really focusing on social media marketing. I know, nerve-wrecking. But you know what they say, you can’t grow in your comfort zone – right?  And we did it, we turned 7,000 followers into 23,000 followers! Eek. The excitement of a swipe up was so surreal.

Now we want to help local small businesses grow their business online and our first bit of advice is don’t give up. The last 11 months have been testing for everyone, it’s been difficult to manage our businesses in all the uncertainty and when you’re a small business it is hard to know how to navigate the ever-changing environment. But we always say, ‘The Comeback is better than the Setback’! So, here’s some social media marketing tips that we think will help you grow your social channels so you can get hyped and ready to come back strong!

1. Be unapologetically, authentically YOU.

Our key message is BE YOU – no smoke and mirrors, you run your business, you know your business, so YOU sell your business! Invest in your mindset, invest in your business, invest in you!

2. Go back to the business basics.

During lockdown 1.0 we went right back to basics and we think everyone should revisit this from time to time. Determine your customer, what do they want, and how can you deliver this to them. It’s business 101. But when you’re in the deep end you can overlook this, so use lockdown to your advantage, pull everything apart and look at it from a customer’s perspective, is there improvements that can be made? If there is, then implement them. Or if you don’t know, reach out and ask on your social channels.

3. Mistakes are normal!

Don’t worry about making mistakes, we are all human & it’s our mistakes that make us more relatable and personable so if a child poo’s in the shower midway through your story… improvise and go with the flow, your audience want to see you, as you!

4. Optimise your profiles!

Your Instagram bio is super dough-per important. We were once guilty of neglecting this, but we’ve found out some really interesting stuff. Your name is searchable so make sure it has some keywords in it as well as your brand name. You also need to let your customers know your personality, for us we’re girl bosses, working mama’s and cookie obsessed so we try to make sure that comes across.

5. Create visually compelling content & get a ‘look’.

Make sure you have a look. Pick your colours, fonts and designs so your grid looks fab and people can spot it’s you! This way you can style up your fav quotes and your grid will still look beaut.

Don’t forget the photography! You don’t need professional equipment (we definitely didn’t have it) but your photos and videos do need to be sharp, well-lit, and in focus, at a minimum. You should have seen us trying to get birds-eye pics of the cookies in the bakery. Standing on stool or on the middle of the kitchen island in our crocs, socks and hair nets. It was hilarious! But we move and we make it work.

6. Get stuck in and give it a go!

Try out all of the Instagram functions such as stories, IGTV’s and reels. We’ve just started dabbling in reels and they get amazing engagement. Not sure what to post? Here’s some ideas:

• Behind-the-scenes posts
• Quotes and text-based images
• Regrams from your customers or other boss babes
• Instructional posts

7. Make the most of Instagram Stories.

Ok so if you’re new, we love stories, but we weren’t always like this. If anything, the last lockdown forced us into going on our stories more and we think they’re getting great results. We can now share the raw realities of being working mums, business owners and besties. There are also loads of cool stickers on Instagram stories that allow you to interact with followers. Here’s some of our favs:

• Countdown for product launches. LOVE THIS! Creates excitement and allows us to get a gauge on demand.
• Ask us anything. You’d be surprised at what people want to know and it’s great to find people are interested.

Pro Tip: Use Story Highlights and covers to boost your bio and save some of your FAQ’s/best bits.

8. Engage.

Building relationships with your customers is a two-way street. Posting your content is great, but we still like to comment back to our Cookie Queens (and Kings) so that we can build good relationships with customers and other business owners. Yes, it can be time consuming so don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t get to everyone, but if you find time it is so worth it.

9. Enjoy it and don’t sweat the numbers!

Instagram creates a really fun community, and we love it! It allows you to be creative, promote your business, vent (when needed) and grow all at once. So just relax and have fun.

Don’t get hung up on numbers or whatever everyone else is doing, when you are in your lane there is no traffic. Our following grows and drops but it doesn’t stop us. Whether you have 200 or 20,000 followers it doesn’t matter. Keep the faith, you will get there, and we hope our social media marketing tips helped!

Remember the road to success is always under construction… #keeperlit

Lots of love, Team Cookie x