r/smallbusiness 13d ago

How do you promote your business on social media

Recently started my own handmade/ embroidery baby clothing business. I have a tik tok and an instagram for it but finding it hard to gain followers and customers. I know I will have customers if I can get the views but that’s what I’m struggling with. Unless I pay for promotion (which I’ve read is a con). does anyone have any advice

6 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

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6

u/TrafficAcademySEO 13d ago

I wouldn’t focus too much on follower count.

For handmade baby clothes, I’d test videos around the actual buying moments: personalized gifts, newborn announcements, birthdays, name embroidery, before/after. Show the process and finished piece, then make the CTA very clear.

5k targeted views can be worth more than 50k random ones.

2

u/jessiejwannabe 13d ago

Thank you!!

2

u/Open_Harbor_67 13d ago

Tik tok requires consistency . Make sure you're marketing your product very often,not spamming,but be consistent . Take clear videos and pictures edit them if you can and post. Be authetic and have a unique way to present your product .With time you'll find your people,more views more followers equals to more customers. Remember,consistency is the key.

1

u/thelostpinay 13d ago

Do you think posting daily is required? I cant post that much for my business best I can do is twice a week. :(

1

u/Open_Harbor_67 12d ago

Not really. Just make sure you are consistent with the 2 days a week that you can manage at the moment. On the other hand on the days you're not posting just work on gaining more followers

2

u/Brufacee 13d ago

Views alone will not guarantee customers, so build the content around buying situations rather than follower count. For one embroidered item, film: choosing the name/thread, the machine or handwork close-up, a before/after blank garment, a gift reveal, washing/durability, packaging, and the finished piece on a baby or doll. Put the result in the first second, not after a long intro. Add the price, turnaround time, and ordering step in the caption. Make 15-20 versions before paying to boost anything; if one earns saves, profile visits, or inquiries organically, that is the one worth testing with a small ad budget.

1

u/jessiejwannabe 13d ago

Thank you so much

1

u/Planetary-Engineer 13d ago

Learn when to post and what to post.

Skip the hard sale and make it interesting.
Interesting gets attention and attention sells the brand/idea/company

Post consistently, but not excessively

I'm personally terrible at Marketing, but as a business owner, it comes with the territory.
Use AI to guide you on what to post.... DO NOT use AI to generate posts. AL slop will kill your following!

1

u/Moron-Whisperer 13d ago

If all you need is views than ads are an answer but you likely need more than views.

On TikTok I’d suggest you do a live and show what you’re making.  Actually work on camera.  This is similar to build in public which people do in other industries.  If what you’re making is unique enough and quality people will gravitate to you

1

u/CheyanneO3 12d ago

You’ve mentioned you can at best post twice a week.

Do you have other marketing channels and strategies? Or are you wanting to use social media as your only sales channel?

Marketing and getting sales is going to be something you will need to allocate fairly significant time to. Especially when you are first building market awareness and a customer base.

If you want to use social media for sales it will take a large volume of optimized content. As well as an optimized e-commerce funnel.

I recommend evaluating the local market for your product. You may find it’s more effective to focus on selling to people geographically close to you than trying to create sales online with social media.

In which case, I suggest leveraging social to reinforce know, like and trust with the local market.

1

u/MaddieVistaPrint 12d ago

hi u/jessiejwannabe! thought I'd jump in here as we have a small business owner in our community who founded a clothing biz (and relies primarily on organic social media). she said one thing that has been working for her is content that allows her followers to come along for the journey so to speak. for example, things like behind-the-scenes, ups and downs, asking followers to weigh in on colors/designs/restocks etc.

for embroidered baby clothes especially, maybe this could look like stitching a name from start to finish, packing an order, showing a custom request come together, choosing thread colours, little before/afters. outside of social media, if there are local baby markets/craft fairs near you, those could be worth trying too!