Social media tips for independent businesses to grow

Make social media matter

Sk8side Youth Centre in Ashford is a free service for young people. It provides them with an empowering and nurturing environment where they can develop as individuals and gain all the skills they need as they go into young adulthood. With lockdown putting a stop to many of their projects, they used social media and Zoom to stay in touch with their youths to look after their mental wellbeing.

They had to do virtual check ins. They got the youths they worked with involved in gaming online to ensure they had a safe space to go and got some of the youths involved in creating the graphics for their social media. This meant they had more engagement and investment in their social media activity because the kids would be proud and want to share it with their friends.

The team is part time and work long hours therefore managing social media can be difficult. They will be looking at how they can involve the youths more with Instagram takeovers and mini projects. There is nothing a teenager doesn’t know about social media and as they are targeting helping teenagers, who better to help manage the content but the teenagers themselves. 

Embrace discomfort and learn new skills

Nikki Anthony is the owner of Wardrobe, an independent boutique ladies' fashion store on Great Dunmow High Street in Essex. Nikki's self taught at social media but she's learning fast and seeing great results. Here she shares her top social media tips.

Nikki founded Wardrobe 15 years ago. But the pandemic has accelerated Nikki's need to take the store's offering social in order to stay connected to her London and city-living, core demographic.

Nikki has been learning how to do her own social media.  She's been creating videos and her own posts so that she can communicate effectively with her customers. She talks them through her products and latest rails and although she's still learning, her daughter is a tough critic and she's steadily improving and seeing the benefits. She also vets all posts before they go out to make sure they hit the mark.

Nikki says she is not a natural in front of the camera, though we beg to differ! But she knows it is the best way for people to still get as similar an experience as they would in the shop. Wardrobe is renowned for their service, so Nikki has grown in confidence by imagining she's talking directly to her customers in the shop.

The more she records and posts, the more comfortable Nikki becomes. Her customers enjoy seeing her and are giving her great feedback and social media engagement.