Social Media Live Q&A

Taking the time to learn the ins and outs of social media can bring a lot of competitive edge to your company. Increasing your company's visibility, developing relationships with your followers, buyers, and clients, increasing traffic to your sales and website, and faster communication are just a few benefits of investing time in social media

Know Your Audience

When choosing which social media platform to use, it's essential to know the audience you're trying to reach. Facebook is a must for a few different reasons. Some companies use Facebook not only as a social media platform but also as a second website for their company. Instagram will be a more visual platform since it utilizes pictures to showcase your brand and is geared towards a younger audience. Once you're proficient at these, moving on to YouTube and TikTok can be other options.

Increasing Your Instagram Followers

One of the first ways to start gaining followers is to optimize your profile and make sure you're working through a business account. Be sure to include that you're an estate sale company in your bio, and have a handle (your username) that lets the reader know you're an estate sale company will lend a ton of legitimacy to your page. Think of it as an elevator pitch. You have a small window to let all visitors know who you are. Consistent posting, asking for followers on other platforms, and offering Instagram exclusive content are great ways to build a loyal following

What are Instagram Stories?

The little circles at the top of your Instagram page are stories. They're vertical photos or videos that are up to 15 seconds long and disappear 24 hours after being posted. If you want to create buzz around a sale, you're working on, posting an Instagram story featuring some items from the sale can help with that. We are seeing more and more companies using their Instagram stories to sell items. Do you have a table of smalls leftover after your sale? Create a story around them and see if you can sell them that way.

Using Social Media as a Resume

Having an effective social media presence can be like having an incredible resume. Potential clients and shoppers want to see the kinds of sales you conduct, what items you have to offer, and any additional services. Creating stunning social media posts and stories will put you much further ahead of the curve.

Social Media Content: Quality Over Quantity

Just because you can post to Facebook or Instagram doesn't mean you always should. Ensuring that the content you're putting out there is the best it can be is paramount. Don't have anything good to post today? Instead of forcing content, you could use that time to respond to comments and messages and engage with your audience. If someone takes the time to reach out to you directly, you should consider dedicating some time to respond and let them know you're listening. The more comments a post has lets these platforms know that you're legit and that your content should be put in front of more people. Once your audience grows, it might become more challenging to keep up with everything, so having someone on your staff who can be your company's voice can help you a ton.

What Type of Content Should You Post?

Every piece of content you choose should add value to your social media presence, but there are a few things you might consider focusing more on. Complete home walkthroughs, highlighting popular items like Pyrex or Mid-Century Modern and vintage toys, or concentrating on the best items in the sale are great ways to create a buzz and anticipation for your sale.

Other Marketing Tools You Can Use

Outside of the leading social media platforms, we use a few tools there that could make your life a lot easier. If you're not a seasoned graphic designer, using a tool like Canva can have you making great graphics in no time. Canva has an extensive library of design elements and a background remover tool that helps you make graphics like a pro. If you’ve noticed that there isn’t a share button on our site for Instagram, that’s because you can’t click on a link on reels or feed posts. Using services like Link in Bio or Linktree are a great way to keep all of your links organized. These link sharing platforms allow you to put all of your links in one place right from your Instagram bio. One of the main goals of using social media is pushing people to your sale advertisements and your website. Having all of your info in one place will help facilitate that.

How Often Should You Post to Social Media?

When coming up with a content schedule, there are a few things to consider—quality over quantity and not stressing about the algorithms. Posting in your feed once a week is a goal to shoot for, but more than once a week is good if you have great content. One way to create a backlog of content is to always keep an eye out for things you can take pictures and videos to use for future posts.

Things to Avoid With Your Social Media Campaign

We've discussed what you should post but what are some things you should stay away from? Collage or unstyled photos, anything political (save it for your personal page, if you must), an inconsistent brand image, and oversharing are a few pitfalls some people fall into when adopting a social media campaign for their company. Collage photos are tough to view. You want your audience to focus on one thing at a time, and if you hit them with several collage photos, it becomes a little overwhelming, and most will just scroll right past them. Don't share a picture of a box full of random stuff, instead, highlight the best items in the sale and let your shoppers dig through the boxes when they get to the sale. Again, what you post on social media will be your resume because, in most cases, this will be the first impression for many potential customers and clients.