Struggling to make your custom merchandise fly off the shelves? It’s time to amp up your social media presence to drive engagement and boost sales. With more and more customers making purchasing decisions on their phones, it’s important that you establish and maintain a strong following on social media platforms. Easier said than done, right? It doesn’t have to be if you follow these simple but effective tips for promoting your print on demand products on social media!
Seven Tips For Social Media Success
So you’ve created your own merchandise, now what? When it comes to social media strategy, it’s important to understand your core customer. This helps you focus on the appropriate promotional channel and create the most engaging content.
Identify & Sell to Your Target Audience
Different social media platforms appeal to different demographics and come with particular content guidelines. Instagram and Pinterest are visual platforms that give you the opportunity to showcase your products. Facebook allows you to share your story and ask for feedback. Twitter is great for re-posting content and staying on top of trends. The first step is to determine which platforms are popular with your consumer base. Then you can decide how you can best use these platforms to promote your business.
Once you’ve identified your target audience and preferred platforms, make sure you’re curating the right content. Check out the competition for inspiration and ask your customers what they want to see from you! Social media is a learning process, so engage in conversations that help you evolve as a brand. It’s not enough to pinpoint your audience, you have to truly get to know your target customer to know what kind of promotional content to create.
Build Your Network
Social media is all about following. Whether you’ve just started to create and promote your own merchandise or you’re trying to reach a larger audience, here are a few strategies that you can use to build your network:
- Get to know your industry and connect with fellow independent creators.
- Join Facebook Groups and engage in meaningful conversations to build connections and expand your customer base.
- Try to gain exposure from more prominent creators by re-tweeting and re-posting their content and tagging them.
- Produce quality content on your social media pages that can easily be shared and circulated.
There are many ways that you can build a following, but all of them take time. Don’t expect to become an overnight celebrity; put in the necessary hours to meet new people, engage your customers, and get your name out there!
Do Your #Research
Hashtags are a great way to circulate your content and capitalize on trending moments. Research hashtags on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to see what people are searching and talking about. Focus on local, trending and holiday-related hashtags. These tend to attract the most visitors to your posts.
There are several ways to conduct hashtag research. Tools like Google+/Explore and Hashtagify are great for finding out which hashtags are trending right now. Try to use trending hashtags so that you can take advantage of the moment in real-time. If you’re just looking for an all-around popular hashtag, you can always type your keywords into the search bar on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to see search volume and get ideas. By using popular hashtags, you can make it on the Trending Pages, which will attract new customers to your page.
Decide on a Theme
There’s nothing more unappealing than a social media feed that is chaotic and confused! Take a cue from social media master Kim Kardashian and curate your content to fit a theme. Whether that means picking a color scheme, using a template, or simply choosing a consistent filter, it’s important that your feed is cohesive. You want the merchandise you’ve created to beat out the competition, so your page should be memorable and worth following. Having a consistent brand and theme will help you stand out and keep your customers engaged.
Structure & Schedule Posts Ahead of Time
Don’t scramble to create posts at the last minute! Social media content calendars are great for scheduling posts in advance. This can help ensure you’re delivering quality content. Do all of your research ahead of time so that you can put together a strategy and capitalize on trending moments. Your audience will know when your social media efforts are haphazard, and you could end up looking like an amateur.
Reach Out to Influencers
In the world of social media, influencers hold the power to make or break businesses. Connect with local influencers and send them some of your merch. They may be interested in promoting your product for free if they like it! If you have the budget for it, use some funds to pay influencers for featured posts on their pages. If you pick the right influencer for your core customer base, your investment will be well worth it in terms of expanded visibility and engagement.
Engage in Contests and Promotions
What better way to promote your brand than with promotions! Create sales and giveaways on your page and attract new customers by giving away free merchandise to the winners. As long as the math adds up, you should be able to hold a couple contests and promotions every quarter to boost your following. Be sure that the profit you gain from promoting yourself on social media is greater than the cost of the products that you are giving away.
Social media is a potential goldmine for your business if you know how to use it. Once you have created your own merchandise and are ready to market, follow these tips to engage your target audience online. It’s important to keep in mind that your social media strategy will continue to evolve and improve as you familiarize yourself with your core customer and become more comfortable with content creation. The end goal is to attract and build a community that will help shape your brand.
Join The Club
Become an independent creator and begin promoting your business on social media with Kin Custom! Create an account and start designing the perfect print on demand merchandise.