Social media tactics from The Curiosity Shop, Dunmow

Every week we bring you social media tactics and the top social media tips to drive your social media strategy forwards. We introduce you to real life businesses in multiple sectors who are growing their business using social media so you can learn from their success and do more of the same.

Meet Yogeeta and Lee, who run The Curiosity Shop - a quirky treasure trove based in Great Dunmow, Uttlesford. Here they share how they’ve been using social media and Maybe* to stay connected and keep the local community in gorgeous gifts and holistic healing from their store.

The Curiosity Shop shares their social media tactics with us

Q. When did the business get started on social media and who’s running it?

Lee and his wife have been running the shop for five years after the previous owner decided to sell up and they jumped at the opportunity as Yogeeta had been working in the shop and knew it inside out. You can find out more about the shop with Local Rewards.

Lee has been active on social media for some time, but since the pandemic has focused on implementing social media tactics learned from attending Maybe*s free #WednesdayWebinars.

 

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Q. What is the biggest benefit you see from your social media presence?

The Curiosity Shop went online at the start of the pandemic. However it is social media which has driven the most interest for them and a more effective sales channel. Social media has allowed The Curiosity Shop to showcase new products from their ranges and reach people who are the most interested. The shop has continually improved its use of social media with a little help from Maybe*.

“Since using Maybe* we've been able to look at other people's successes and look at the top 20 people.  We’ve learned from webinars, we’ve been sharing other people's posts and as a whole we are now really good,” says Lee.

Q. How do you measure your social media success?

Facebook is the big one for The Curiosity Shop, it is the platform that they started with. The shop increased its social media activity and became more consistent which has paid off in the engagement front. Customers are engaging and commenting more often and like posts more frequently

Q. What has been your social media highlight?

Curiosity Shop has been operating a click and collect system and going as far as allowing people to DM them on Facebook Messenger for a product and the team going down to the shop to take photos of the various options and allow the customer to choose then order.

“We know we cannot do that forever but if someone is struggling for that perfect gift or finding it difficult to choose between two options, we would rather go that extra mile and help them,” says Lee.

"Although very excited about having people back in the shop soon, they love that we can use social media just to check in with customers and other local businesses in the same way they would having a conversation in the shop. Sometimes a simple ‘how are you?’ is all anyone needs to lift their spirits," added Lee.

Q. What would you most like to improve about your social media and what do you think your biggest challenges are?

The Curiosity Shop started using Facebook ads over Christmas and are still learning. Lee adds that they want to continuously improve on social media. They always try to keep things varied and light hearted and they love bringing creativity to posting on social rather than keeping all the posts looking the same though they find keeping content formats fresh challenging from time to time.

Key takeaway

The Curiosity Shop has been successful because they want to constantly learn and improve. They are curious by name and by nature when it comes to spotting new social media tactics they can use and experiment with to keep growing their business.