This semester, I am going to help a good friend of mine with her small sewing business. My friend and I took Business Law (BUS370) together. She is a mom of four kids with a 12-credit course load. Having this workload caused her to fall behind on her social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. I volunteered to show her how to prioritize it and to maximize its effect.
Her small business, Jenny Lou Sews, is based in a small Oregon town. She has been sewing her entire life, but turned it into a means of income just a few years ago. She likes being small and personal with her clients. Her projects are customized for whatever her client needs and they are high-quality projects. Honoring her request to stay small (her husband has a lucrative construction management position), we set out together to tackle social media awareness and brand development.
I first had to understand the target audience. I did this by viewing Google Maps and calling her and coming to an understanding of what the people were like. After this, we posted her projects that she completed during the course of the semester, as well as make people aware of a class that she was offering.
It was not easy to start, since she didn’t really know how to use social media in the first place. New words were mentioned, like impressions, conversions, and target audience. We had a long conversation about what people were looking for. I had her do a social media surf and take note of what people’s posts looked like, what hashtags they were using, and what kinds of posts got the most likes. Ultimately, what got the most attention were images of her smiling or something baby-oriented (baby blankets, bibs, etc.) and inviting people to share it.
Lastly, we put together two rounds of Facebook ads. Each round was five days. The ad was making people aware of a class that she was offering for kids. The class was an hour-long course for a week. The first round was a learning experience for the both of us. Following the first round, a second round took place. We tried to reach more people and make the “funnel” wider, but we got similar results.
Taking on the role of social media consultant/creator was absolutely rewarding!
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