Introduction
Small businesses like yours shouldn’t be sleeping on social media. Especially right now. The Evolve Small Advisor Series returns with a session delving into organic social media for small businesses. This time, we’re joined by our wonderful Evolve Small Ambassador, Yvette Wedow, and our special guest Rachel Karten, a social media consultant who helps brands like CAVA and West Elm tell original and ownable stories across digital platforms.
Why Go Social?
Did you know that 76% of consumers have purchased a product they saw in a brand’s social media post? Clearly, social media has become the place people go to discover new products. Social media expert Rachel shares a little bit about her own habit of looking up beauty products on TikTok to see what others are buying. She says, “We’re seeing that a lot of brands who are on social media are really benefiting. It can change the trajectory of your business.” Think about it this way, not only are you able to build a following for your brand, but you also have the power to create meaningful connections and community.
There’s No Time Like Now
In the past year, there’s been a shift. People are craving more of-the-moment, less-curated social media content. Rachel reveals, “We're seeing so many more creators shooting on just an iPhone, being super relatable.” But it's not just about production. We’re seeing that storytelling is surpassing aesthetics. “I'd rather watch a video of somebody talking to their camera telling me a really good story than some, like beautifully shot, like video,” she says. We’re also seeing people prefer realness to curation. They want to see genuine personality shine through.
So, the good news is, as a small business owner, this shift is working in your favor. You don’t need to have the same budget as the bigger fish out there. We’re seeing larger brands like Nike shooting their campaigns on phones now and having people talk to camera in the same personal, relatable way small businesses would. You already have everything you need to make a winning social media strategy.
8 Tips for Nailing Organic Social Media
1. Choose a platform to invest in.
“When I talk to a lot of small business owners, there's a feeling of being overwhelmed by how many social media platforms are out there,” Rachel said. You can’t be everywhere at once—especially if you have limited resources for social media. She suggests choosing a platform you really want to invest time and strategy into and run with it. You can still post on other platforms, but most of your ideating and content creation should be for your primary channel. Think about where your audience is. If you’re a B2B company, maybe that’s LinkedIn. If you’re a beauty company, maybe that’s TikTok. The point is, choose a platform and invest in it. Because once you find the right platform, that’s when you’ll see the most growth.
2. Find your voice and tone.
Now that you have a platform, your next step is defining your brand’s voice and tone. Accounts where the captions and copy feel unique to the business tend to resonate more. To help uncover your voice, try answering these questions:
- What are five adjectives that describe your business?
- Thinking of your business's personality—if it was a celebrity or public figure, who would it be?
- What voice/tone resonates with me?
- Find three articles that encapsulate it.
3. Prioritize short-form video.
“Short-form video is probably one of the most effective ways to grow on social media right now, and it seems more intimidating than it is,” Rachel explains. Almost every platform is leaning in the direction of short-form video—Instagram and TikTok being the two largest. And keep in mind it doesn’t need to be complicated. “People want to feel connected to the brand,” she notes, sharing her go-to tools for creating this type of content:
- Scroll platforms thoughtfully and often to see what’s trending.
- Invest in a tripod to film content (they also sell horizontal tripods for overhead content!)
- Film in natural light.
- Make the first 3 seconds count.
- Don’t be afraid to lead with personality and show your face.
- So many shareable moments happen at a company—it’s more about remembering to capture them!
4. Lead with personality.
One of Rachel’s favorite tips is to start by looking inward. Many successful brands and small businesses online really lean into their founders for content. In fact, some of the most effective content are the posts where you’re turning the camera around on things you are already doing. For inspiration, Rachel brought up her friend Ellie who runs a floral company.
“She uses her own expertise as a florist to create content. She will post something like ‘Good morning. Today I'm going to show you how to reflex a rose.’ It's a really cool, fun, educational moment that even if I'm not in Miami and I can't order her flowers now, I'm learning how to reflex a rose just like she does it. Then she adds a question sticker for engagement. ‘What tutorials would you like to see next?”
When it comes to social, using your personality and leaning into your expertise are amazingly effective ways for you to get started on social media.
5. Create a recurring series.
As you’re thinking about all the different types of content you can make for social media, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. One strategy Rachel has for keeping things fun and organized is to create a recurring series. “Not only are you able to organize, you're also able to plan ahead. That means you’re not just building content, you’re being intentional in crafting the stories you want to tell.” This is the kind of content that gets your audience invested in your business and coming back for more.
6. Interact with your community.
“This one is obvious, but I think that there's some secret powers to it that not a lot of people understand,” Rachel advises. “Not only is it a nice thing to do, it's really good for the Instagram algorithm, for the TikTok algorithm, when you respond to DMs, when you repost photos that you're tagged in, when you comment back to people, it's a signal to the algorithm that this person wants to see your content again.”
So, our advice? Respond to DMs. Re-post photos you’re tagged in. Comment back. The Instagram algorithm uses this as a signal to decide if they will show your content in people’s feeds and IG Story lineups.
7. Consistency is key.
Even if you’re not able to post every day, it’s all about staying consistent as you can when it comes to social. Rachel recalls an example from Instagram that has really stuck with her. They told her that one blogger posted 3 times a week while the other posted every single day. And in the end, the one who posted every single day grew three times as fast as the other.
Remember, the content you post doesn’t need to be super polished. Just keep it more in-the-moment. Rachel recommends building out a calendar of content using tools like Later to keep you on track and help you schedule posts out.
8. Find your universal truth.
This final tip is a big one for Rachel—maybe even her favorite social media tip. If you want your small business to make content that people would want to send to a friend or add to their IG Stories, you need to tap into your product or brand’s universal truth.
She used YETI as an example, explaining that their universal truth is that the right gear can help you stay out longer, travel farther, and live harder. So, their social media content focuses on all the adventures that are possible when you're equipped with good gear.
Ask yourself: What broad, relatable truth does your brand speak to? How can you create social content that ladders up to it?
Key Takeaway
Social media should feel rewarding and fun, not overwhelming or like a chore. So why not get started now? If you follow these eight tips, you can feel more confident about upping your brand’s social media game.
Watch the live version of this recap here. Did you find this content useful? Catch previous Advisor sessions on-demand here!