Managing a Small Business on Social Media

The rapid growth of the digital landscape has completely changed our way of life. It’s easier to connect with people, to shop, and to discover new hobbies and events to get lost in. More people have embraced non-traditional work environments, and some have even been encouraged to take the leap of faith and start businesses of their own. On social media, you will come across scores of independent online businesses. If that’s overwhelming just from the customer side, imagine how daunting the competitive market can be for someone trying to build their livelihood off their newly created business.

First and foremost, it must be said that one of the best things to do at this stage is to have patience. While it can be tempting to brute force your way to success, it can have long-lasting negative consequences on yourself and your business. Social media has given the illusion that success can come overnight. While that can be true, it’s only true for a very small percentage of people. Don’t put all your effort into finding overnight fame.

Creators go through a lot of trial and error behind the scenes; they research and experiment on their own before producing the final results. Burnout is the biggest factor of stress in young creators and entrepreneurs. Be patient with yourself. Use this time to observe your current space, learn what your target audience already likes, and to build the proper techniques to keep yourself safe and productive.  

So, what more can you do? There’s only so much that patience can do, and you have a product or service you want to share with the world! Finding success won’t come immediately, but here are some things you can do to make the process easier on yourself.

Find your audience.

You’ll never believe this, but 4.6 billion people use this across the world. Billion! That means that more than half the world is currently using social media. It makes sense in the abstract considering how connected most people are to the Internet these days, but trying to conceptualize that large of a number is unfathomable. On the plus side, it means that your audience is out there.

Do you make candles based on popular fandoms? People are going to want that. Do you specialize in leatherworking and custom goods? Someone’s looking for your products. Are you more skilled at helping people fix up their homes and giving them advice? There’s a new homeowner who would love your help. Spend some time researching your field of interest and see what people are buying or are interested in. You might even find some helpful advice from other sellers about things they wish they knew before starting their own business and save yourself a lot of frustration in the end.

Create your storefront.

There are dozens of online marketplaces all vying for your attention. Some are small and profitable, but the people you know aren’t using them. Going with more well-known platforms is the safest bet, but these marketplaces can cut heavily into your profits, and that can be annoying, at best, for popular sellers. For small businesses just getting their start? Constantly breaking even can be a big deal breaker. Be sure to read the fees when you sign up and weigh them against how much you’re currently spending on your business.

Some marketplaces also allow you to customize the way your store looks. This can be an exciting feature (and it is!), but remember that function trumps fashion. Having a beautiful looking store will only sour the experience if your store is difficult to navigate and nothing works.

Put yourself out there.

This is where the hard part comes in. It can feel shameless to constantly throw yourself in front of people hawking your wares, but if you don’t take the chance, your voice will go lost in the vast social media sea. Thankfully, you don’t have to do it every single day if you don’t want to. Once you have your store and once you have your products online, you can take on your marketing attempts in a more methodical way.

Talk about your business to your friends; reach out to your small group of associates to get some feedback. From there, you can build a slower but consistent plan of attack. Create a promotional template that’s easy to share and easy to post on a daily or weekly basis. If there are any hashtags pertinent to your field, make sure to use them as well. If you don’t post often, at least make sure that you’re consistent and that you’re interacting with the community that builds around you. Leave thank you notes when you ship off your product. Publicly thank customers who engage with your business. Show people that there’s a human behind your business, and they’ll be more willing to interact with you.

ringID helps small businesses succeed.

One thing that hurts creators of all sizes is the big, bad algorithm. You might have heard the term thrown around before. Large platforms have gained people’s ire because of how they punish creators for not constantly creating content, or in some cases, promoting their services or using web links in their posts. The rising antagonism against platforms and their user bases is just yet another hurdle that prevents small businesses from achieving shining success.

However, ringID stands above its contemporaries. In addition to the fact that it doesn’t punish you for creating, there are numerous ways for you to showcase your products and services. With Interactive Live, you can show off new products and speak in real time with your followers. Virtual Storefront allows you to create a store from which users can browse and shop without having to leave the platform. Access your custom friends list and send your close contacts links to your new products.

If your business model angles more towards helping people directly, you can still find success as ringID users can purchase advice and services directly from you. It’s easy to purchase, earn, and save using ringID’s built-in digital wallet.

ringID offers voice and video calls, chat and secret chat, friends list, newsfeed, live broadcasting, marketplace, and more. The world of social commerce can be incredibly competitive, but success is waiting for you. Join the one million users actively earning a steady income on ringID to reduce some of the stress in your business owning experience.