Socialising on Social Media

Here we are a few weeks on from the website launch, we had a soft approach to start with as we were waiting for the last few products to arrive before we began the big push. We’ve had sales which we’re thrilled with and have been learning new skills along the way.

The biggest learning curve has been the whole social media side of the business. I used to complain at how long our girls would spend on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook etc and wonder what an earth they could be looking at for hours on end!

I would scoff at how long it took them to get the “perfect” picture, laugh at someone saying a picture was “instagrammable”, cringe if a comment was passed about it not having the “right” lighting (it’s an apple or whatever for goodness sake!). I would gaily scroll through my own social media feeds and quickly glance at business and friends posts without a care in the world - well let me tell you, that I no longer do this, I have become obsessed!

Having spent the last few weeks setting up our own accounts, taking pictures (good & bad), battled with the weather, props, products and wording, I fully appreciate posts so much more as I understand the time and effort that has gone into them.

I can literally spend hours in this new found world, the screen time on my phone would rival that of any teenager!

I scrutinise others posts (in a good way) looking for ideas, congratulating people on the styling used, how a picture was taken, reviewing wordings, clicking on websites and profiles to find out more, commenting on posts, (something I rarely did before) and see how many “likes” have been achieved to give me an idea of what followers enjoy looking at.

I then start looking at our own feed and accounts. Who has interacted with us, how many likes a post received, what the feedback has been, when people are online and who else they follow? Within this world and as a business, you have to carefully consider what you would like to say, the wording you will use, the message you want to get across and the number of hashtags you can squeeze in without it all being too much.

But actually, really, it’s all about the picture. The old saying a picture can tell a thousand words is very true and taking the right picture is a trial all of its own.

Yes, the setting has to be good, yes, the lighting needs to be right, yes, the product needs to be shown in a good way, should I use a filter or not? Should the product be on its own or what else can I cram into it without making it look cluttered?

I now have hundreds of similar pictures on my camera roll and when I show Kevin, he says they all look the same. But they don’t, I know they don’t. One has a fly in the corner, the sun isn’t shining in one, another is blurry. But then there’s the one, the one that I’m happy with, which if I don’t mark it, I forget which it is!

I am definitely no expert and I know there’s plenty of room for improvement but we have to start somewhere. I was chuffed when we got to 100 followers, I can’t imagine how I will feel if we get to 1000! Like I said it’s a massive learning curve, there is so much to think about when promoting your business, trying to get your products, brand and message across. Social media is a huge part of the world we live in and an amazing platform.

So, remember when you see a post from a business, it hasn’t quickly been cobbled together and posted. Hours have probably gone into getting the perfect picture, writing the caption, deciding on the hash tags and the optimum time to post. Next time you scroll through your social media remember to give that small business post a like, maybe a quick comment, a share and follow their page -believe me you will make someone’s day.

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