Social Media, where would we be without it?
It has become a necessary Marketing tool for businesses to grow their online presence and more importantly online sales. But with a large number of garment decorators neglecting it, they can only wonder - are they missing out?
Social Media is considered by many business owners (especially in our industry) a bottom of the list priority, something for a Friday afternoon or a quiet day. But if done correctly and more importantly consistently the effects Social Media can have on small businesses lead generation and sales prove the difference between doing OK online and doing very well online.
Social Media does not have to be complicated, a bottom of the pile Friday afternoon job. We will hopefully give you an insight and convince you that it can work for you & your business.
There are lots of Social Media sites out there but stick to the main few to start Facebook, Twitter and maybe LinkedIn and as you become more competent and comfortable branch out experiment with the likes of Vine, Pinterest, Instagram or whatever tickles your fancy.
Pick the platform that best fit your businesses objectives. Ask yourself what do you want to achieve from going online – developing an online brand, growing an online presence, improving your sales or whatever it may be just pick the right platform to achieve social success.

Facebook: Ideal for B2C Facebook is commonly accepted as a tricky one for customers to get right. But with advertising tools Facebook gives your business the chance to not just grow a following/community but to generate new customers through advertising campaigns that target potential customers for a small cost.
Twitter: The popular tool of choice for small businesses - we come across far more garment decoration, print, embroidery businesses here than anywhere else. Twitter allows you to focus on both B2B and B2C customers. 140 Characters does not sound like enough to sell your business but with a good following and product your business can reap the rewards!
LinkedIn: B2B orientated platform for the business more focused on its trade customers. Connecting and referring on here gives your business the chance to meet customers you may never come across normally ‘Online Networking’. Arguably the most credible for garment decorators looking to obtain working relationships & contracts with large trade customers.
Other Ideas: The garment decoration industry relies heavily on visual content so you would thing Instagram and Pinterest are ideal for garment decorators. These two sites give businesses the chance to meet like-minded people who have a similar interest in clothing and act as more of a brand grower than a sales tool in itself but we would definitely recommend you give it a go!
Just to wrap things up in a nice little bow here are a few little tips to make Social Media success easy for the everyday small business:
- Create a realistic action plan: Define what you want to achieve using Social Media
- Grow Your Following: Grow a following of who you think may be interested in your business/what you do
- Create engaging content: Nobody will read sales post after sales post, go for visuals, Blogs, and latest news – anything that catches your audience’s attention. The sales come afterwards!
- Pick the right platform: As discussed pick what you think would work best for your business and its brand.
- Creating Content: Realistically you won't have someone sat at a PC posting on your sites all day every day. Use planning tools such as Hootsuite to schedule a week’s worth of content in half hour.
- Lastly, just be sociable and have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously spamming sales posts all over Social Media. Being liked and social will sell more than you ever imagined.
We hope we have won you around garment decorators with our guide to making Social Media a success for your business. Remember, if done right ‘Social Sales’ are what separate you from the rest of the crowd and take your online business to the next level!
For more information on how we can help your online business get in touch simply drop us an email us on info@etraderwebsites.co.uk or call 029 2075 5733 today!