Social media is a critical part of your business and it starts with understanding the platforms and which ones are best for engaging with your customer base, says Dana Rozansky, a social media marketer and food blogger.
“Figure out what your brand is, find your voice and lean into it,“ said Rozansky, during a presentation with Gio Gutierrez, also a marketer and influencer in the food & beverage space.
Some of the tips they shared with small businesses include:
- For whichever platforms you use, make it yours. Own the platform with your brand’s aesthetic and your voice. Everything you post should be about building your brand, they said.
- These marketers highly recommend Instagram, especially for food businesses. For social media editing, they recommend snapseed. Experiment with settings and point of views with your photography to make it eye catching and engaging, especially on Instagram.
- Make social media a priority by learning more about it and dedicating a block of time each day – perhaps an hour — to updating the site but also engaging with your followers and responding to questions and comments..If you don’t have time or you are not good at it, outsource it to a social media pro. You don’t have to wear the social media hat, but someone has to wear it.
- Even crises like the pandemic became opportunities for social media. One entrepreneur held a drive up bake sale every week that featured various local food entrepreneurs. Social media brought the line of cars. The hospitality industry used What’sApp to form a massive industry group where they could share best practices, resources, and tips for getting through the crisis.
- Triple check everything before you post, and let someone else look it over before you post if possible. If in doubt, don’t put it up. Typically you should respond promptly as positively as you can to most negative comments or reviews — don’t ignore them.
- For food businesses, find out all the bloggers in your area and invite them to visit. Do this to get the buzz going before inviting out of town bloggers and writer in for press trips.
- If you are considering hiring an Influencer, make sure they are gennuinely love your product.
For more social media tips and advice, listen to theire webinar here.
The webinar is part of a series of helpful webinars aimed at the F&B industry and produced by Florida SBDC at FIU, the small business development center with FIU’s College of Business, along with StartUP FIU Food, which offers an accelerator, training and other resources for food entrepreneurs. .
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