Building your small business with social media

 

The St. Clair College Genesis Entrepreneurship Centre offers a variety of free monthly workshops to students and alumni at the main campus and the downtown Student Success Centre.

One example is the Build Your Small Business with Social Media workshop where instructors give advice on marketing strategies using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Sierra Scott, maketing cordinator at the Genesis Centre said students who are thinking of starting their own small business are encouraged to post as frequently and consistently as possible within their own industry.

“You are keeping up to date on your posts but the real value is people commenting on your posts,” said Sierra Scott. “They will check out your page and look at your content.”

Scott added, you must ask yourself this question: what social media platforms are your customers and clients using and what social platforms are you using?

She said Facebook is the largest and most popular platform and the demographic is for people over 30 years old. You can personalize your Facebook page by describing the business services you are providing as if you are telling a story. Facebook is ideal for educating your customers and clients.

Scott said Facebook is a really good tool if you do not have a website. Scott is also president of the St. Clair College branch of Enactus, a global entrepreneurial action organization intending to improve the standard of living for people in the community and around the world.

Scott said Twitter is the platform that allows you to portray your personality. People who use Twitter tend to be younger and on the go.

“With Facebook, people may not see your posts,” said Trevor Ramieri, the project manager of ReVert, a student-driven environmental initiative (within Enactus) aimed at reimagining current recycling practices. “But with Twitter, your posts run chronologically.”

Ramieri said for an even younger crowd, people in their teens tend to use Instagram where they post photos, videos,short messages and creative comments to tell a story about their business in order to associate with clients. Being able to engage through relevant tags is crucial because the reviews can be circulated to potential customers.

“Your best sales person is a happy customer,” said Ramieri, a horticulture student and management student in the culinary program at St. Clair College. “Other people talking about your services is what gets you customers.”