Smart Steps
Women business leaders and entrepreneurs from various industries share their tips and advice in a "quick read format" on a variety topics.
Topic: Promoting Your Business on Social Media
August 2024
Sydney Hirsh
Photo Courtesy: Sydney Hirsh |
Sydney Hirsh is an experienced creative leader in the food and sports industries who excels at running an organized team with an intentional creative strategy. Having worked for major brands like the the New York Mets, Chip City Cookies, Bareburger, and, currently, the New York Jets, she has developed intentional strategies that set brands up for success, while developing new innovative ways to stretch the limits of creativity.
As the founder and art director of First Bite Creative, Sydney works with mostly food and sports brands to develop a cohesive look and feel across digital, print, and social platforms. As a foodie and spectator sports fan herself, she is able to connect with the fan base and dive into finding the perfect creative strategy for each brand. First Bite Creative is a full-service branding and design agency that works with companies to develop their logos and advertising to create a cohesive brand look. She works with small brands that are looking for a more professional rebrand and with large, established brands that need a consistent source to pump out brand content. Additional brands Sydney has worked with: Sweet Lichs, Southie Cookie, Downtown Yogurt, Holy Crab, Zen Hippo, P. Knuckle Jones Books, and others. "Social media is full of fake accounts, so always show your face on stories and posts to keep it real." ~ Sydney Hirsh |
Many people get intimidated when it comes to using social media as a networking and growth platform and often don’t know where to begin. While it is just a piece of the puzzle when it comes to finding new clients, it is a great way to highlight your services and products and to share your work with the world and potential new clients. Social media has become the digital word of mouth and connects us with brands across the world.
The following are my suggestions to help business owners navigate social media successfully and consistently:
Do’s
Don'ts
The following are my suggestions to help business owners navigate social media successfully and consistently:
Do’s
- Send Cold DMs - While this may seem ineffective, I’ve gotten many clients this way. Tell them who you are, what you offer, and how you can help their brand.
- Be Patient - DMing clients you want to work with is a way of getting your name out there. However, 90% of the clients I have reached out to took about six months to respond and reach out for creative help.
- Ask to be Tagged - I once had a client say they saw the Sweet Lich’s Cookie Caravan in the back parking lot of their restaurant, and found my company through the Sweet Lich’s Instagram page. You never know where connections will come from, so always get credit for your work!
- Use Social Media as if it were Google - Instagram and Tiktok are excellent ways to discover brands you’re not familiar with — especially smaller brands. Find their contact information through social media and email or DM them to connect!
- Utilize Stories – “Stories” are a great way to engage with your audience in a more friendly way without over spamming. Ask your audience what they want to see and tell them what you offer.
- Keep it Personal - Social media is full of fake accounts, so always show your face on stories and posts to keep it real. Humans like to connect with humans, so share your personal story and not just your work.
- Provide a Call to Action - Always tell people how to reach you! Lead them to your DMs, website, email, etc. People aren’t going to go out of their way to find you. Make it easy for them!
Don'ts
- Avoid Repetitive Queries - Don’t follow up with brands over and over after their first reply to you. Give them time to digest what you have to offer and to come back on their own terms.
- Refrain from Posting Excessively - Post once a day and never more. While posting is beneficial for getting your work out there, if you post too often, your posts might not show up on your followers’ feeds because of the platform's algorithms.
- Don’t Comment and Follow for Volume Alone - You could get restricted by Instagram for being a bot. So, don’t go crazy with commenting on every single post that is related to your brand.
- Don’t Obsess About Numbers - While followers and views never hurt, you can succeed in gaining clients without an excessive following.
- Avoid Audience Confusion - If you’re anything like me, you have many passions that fuel your work, but some of these passions might not be relevant. Try to separate your accounts so they only focus on one thing to better target your audience. For example, you can find my bachelorette and wedding design content under @penguinpartycollective, my food and sports graphic design work under @firstbite.creative, and my gluten-free recipe development under @_syd.creates. Having many passions is great - but if you post them all in one place it becomes confusing at first glance.
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