Smart Ways to Promote Your Baking Business on Social Media
Social media has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes to reach their target audience, increase awareness, and provide better customer service. Not only does it help you stay top-of-mind with current customers, but also helps to attract new ones!
For baking entrepreneurs and bakery businesses, a little bit of Social Media Marketing can go a long way in today’s competitive market. But what are the actual benefits of social media? Social media is an excellent way to reach out and connect with customers. It can be used in many ways, such as advertising your business or just talking about what you do!
What’s the secret to social media for bakery businesses? Successful Social Media Marketing is a lot like baking! You just need to understand the fundamentals, have all your tools ready and know exactly what ingredients are needed for success. And the bonus part is, you can be just as creative as you are with your recipes!
Here are 9 Smart Ways to Promote your Baking Business on Social Media
1. Get Your Bakery Started on Facebook
Help customers find your business online and begin to build a community. Facebook is a great place to start!
Sign Up - Facebook makes it easy for you to create a page. You can pick the category of your business and then explain what that entails!
Upload a Profile Image and Cover Image - Take the time to customize both your cover photo and profile image. Make sure they represent your brand and use high-quality photos or artwork that will look great on any device.
Add Additional Business Details - “Edit Page Info” allows you to update information about your business for customers who want more info on-hand before they visit in person. You can also add other important details, including:
Your business phone number
Email address
Website URL
Create Your First Post - You can get creative with your content and make it as fun and engaging as you want. The top three formats for Facebook posts are videos, Q&A, or photos. Visually, try creating short videos like a dramatic chocolate drizzle or freshly-baked pastries coming out of the oven!
Build Your Community - Be sure to invite your family, friends, and customers to like you on Facebook. You should also promote the page in stores or online for increased visibility!
2. Creating Unique Location Pages
If people can find your business online through your website or social media, they are more likely to visit in person. 74% of US customers say they’ve tried a food establishment that they follow on social media.
To make the most of your website, it's important to create a main page that clearly shows the store address and the address of your other locations. But for franchised bakeries, it’s better to create separate web pages for each location, to make it easier for management! That way, people will be able to visit individual store pages to see contact info and product offerings, without confusing the different locations.
3. Advertising on Facebook
The best way to get customers into your store is by advertising on social media. Facebook has low-cost ads and ample capabilities that make it an excellent platform for business owners like you!
Maximize your ad targeting by ensuring that your ads are tailored to specific audiences. You can create three types of Audience: Core, Custom & Lookalike - all designed for different purposes. Be sure to test them all and not just focus on one type!
4. Get Your Bakery Started on Instagram
Instagram is a great place to post photos and videos of your business, as well as garner instant feedback with customer “Likes”. The only challenge with this platform is deciding exactly how you want to communicate your brand - there are so many visually engaging options! Once you get started and begin to interact with customers, you’ll have a better idea of what kind of posts your customers love and keep coming back for.
Create an Instagram Account - To get started with Instagram, head to www.instagram.com or download the app on your smartphone! If you’re new and not sure what account types are available - there's a lot more than just "basic" accounts that can be created in this social media platform which will help promote both business interests as well as personal ones.
Convert to a Professional Account - Now you can take your business's Instagram to the next level by converting it into a professional account. You'll get access to special analytical tools and insights that tell you who is viewing and interacting with your business.:
Build Your Community - Invite your family, friends, and customers to follow you on Instagram! You have the option to connect your Facebook and Instagram accounts so that everything is seamless. Certain elements of managing one will be identical to the other. You can save time just by consolidating the two accounts, and more importantly, creating cohesiveness in your branding and customer service.
5. Posting on Instagram
When posting photos to your feed, think about the overall aesthetic. Try to not only achieve consistency in design but also consider what tone and values you want people to associate with your business.
Include a call to action in your captions, such as asking whether people have tried the dessert you're posting about or inviting people who see the post to an event with free samples. Use hashtags so that users can easily search through posts on Instagram!
6. Advertising on Instagram
You can promote posts on Instagram by spending money, but the good news is you have some control over how much.
To get the most out of your ads, it is important to know your audience. Start small and test different audiences with various lengths for each promotion. That way, you can identify what performs best before spending too much time or money on advertising.
7. Increase Bakery Loyalty Through Social Media Engagement
It’s important to post consistently and often, but it's just as crucial for businesses to interact with customers in other ways. Make sure to respond quickly (within an hour or less) when customers message you privately on Facebook or Instagram. Private messages are the perfect opportunity to show your customers just how much you care and are willing to go the extra mile for them!
8. Check Social Media Analytics and Evolve Your Strategy
To make sure your business is achieving the best results on social media, you need to know how it’s performing and what areas could use some improvement. I've compiled this guide for reviewing key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help measure the success of your stories across Facebook & Instagram.
Do you want to make sure your bakery is always at the top of its game? Take a look into our free and low-cost social media scheduling tools for bakeries. You'll find that we have everything you need to get results from every post - all without breaking the budget!
9. Being Mindful on Social Media in Times of Uncertainty
The power and reach of social media are unmatched. Businesses have leveraged this new medium to connect across distances while physically being apart - giving their customers something they can smile about!
While it is important to stay ahead of the game and keep your audience engaged, you should also be mindful of how social media posts may coincide with what’s happening in other parts of our world. Take note of any social or political messaging that is trending on social media, and consider taking a short pause in your posts to avoid unwanted interactions.
Whisk It Here Is Here To Help You
To be successful, your bakery needs to stand out. That’s why it’s so important to share the best parts of what makes YOU (and your bakery) great on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook!
Whisk It Here wants you to turn your passion for baking into a fulfilling career. Visit our website and find out how! Whiskithere today.
