Success on Social Media: An audience engagement interview with Best Fronds

articles    social media    audience engagement    brand identity    Friday, Apr 3, 2020

We love seeing our friends succeed. In recent years, one of our lifelong friends has launched a business doing something she loves. She has been incredibly successful with her audience engagement and social media narrative. Here, we bring you our full interview about social media success with Bianca of Best Fronds - who, in our opinion, is one of the people who does audience engagement best. We hope that Best Fronds’ magnificent Instagram feed and Facebook Page, together with Bianca’s answers to these interview questions, will inspire and help you devise a great social media engagement strategy for your own business.

We as people like to share. We like to tell others about our lives. That’s why social media is so successful. Everyone gets to tell their story and we as business owners should use that to our advantage.

Quick links:

• Who is Best Fronds?
• Different Social Media Platforms
• Ways to Engage Your Audience
• Visuals and Content
• Tools and Resources

First off, tell us a bit about your business, Best Fronds. What is your business about, and do you see yourself as a solopreneur?

Best Fronds is a project by a passionate local plant mom to bring exotic and uncommon plants to South Africans. I was inspired by my own love for plants – many of which are nearly impossible to source locally – to give locals access to the leafy treasures so often seen online. I personally spend a lot of time researching and tending to plants. My boyfriend says I eat, sleep and breathe plants but the truth is plants have always been a part of my life. My grandmother had a beautiful garden, my mother took me to nurseries as a child and it’s just always been a constant. I would therefore definitely say I consider myself to be solopreneur. My business is my baby. I spend a lot of time working on it but the most wonderful thing is it all seems so natural as plant care is something I incorporate into my everyday life anyway. Caring for the plants bring me great joy and now I get to make money doing something I love.

How has social media and audience engagement helped your business grow?

We live in a digital age where I think people spend more time on their phones then they spend doing anything else. Much of that time is spent on social media. It’s therefore important to make yourself visible on social media and put yourself right there where your audience can see you. This of course is easier said than done and organic growth does take a lot of time as well as trial and error but by creating content that allows your audience to engage with you, you will literally get your audience talking.

What are your favourite social media platforms for audience engagement and why?

I personally rely a great deal on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has wonderful e-commerce integration that can benefit you a lot if you sell any form of product. Instagram on the other hand is all about beautiful imagery. People spend a lot of time crafting beautiful color coded feeds to showcase their products, services or lifestyle. With there being a very big plant trend on social media right now I rely on both of these platforms to engage with my audience.

By giving your audience a chance to participate, it makes them feel important and involved.

Do you think the best platforms for audience engagement are different for different industries?

Absolutely! Although I rely on just Facebook and Instagram, we have seen a definite spike in video content and platforms like YouTube can also be very helpful to showcase your business.

Let’s say you’re a interior designer… YouTube would be the perfect platform on which to share house tours. Yes, you can share a beautifully styled shot of your perfect interior on Instagram - but imagine how much more you can captivate your audience if your beautiful interior also allows people to hear the crashing waves outside a bedroom window; or being able to see the panoramic views outside the door of a perfectly curated farmhouse-style lounge.

Furthermore, Instagram offers wonderful tools for audience engagement within your Instagram stories. Your stories are designed to be short little snippets about you, your business or your products. You might decide to share a few seconds long sneak-preview of that beautifully styled interior and then encourage people to watch the full video on your YouTube channel.

You might make use of the poll options on Instagram to ask your audience what their favorite color is and then somehow incorporate that into your next product launch. By giving your audience a chance to participate, it makes them feel important and involved. I have definitely personally felt that those tools should be utilized way more.

Please share your own opinion and strategy for audience engagement.

There is so much opportunity. Especially during this current weird time that we’re living in right now. People are all forced to stay at home and this has forced many businesses to rethink the way they do things. I have seen many gyms move all their classes online. You can now livestream and participate in a workout right in your lounge. Some restaurants have taken their specials menu and made it available for home delivery.

With all these changes comes a need to advertise and notify your audience. What better place to do that than your social media platforms? I have personally started using my various platforms during this time to offer added value. Although we can’t currently ship out product, which definitely impacts sales, I’m creating other plants-related content such as DIY’s or instructional videos - showing my audience how to repot that plant they bought from me a few months back. I therefore offer my audience a lot more than just a place to buy plants. They can also engage now by asking advice regarding care needs or propagation tips.

Does your strategy differ significantly from the norm and if so, how does it differ?

It might not necessarily differ that much, but I have had a few marketing companies say to me that I should always focus on my own product first. I disagree with that. I prefer to offer people added value.

Let’s say I sell furniture. I could choose to post about my products every single day. Look at this bed for sale. Look at this chair for sale. Need a new table? Pick me! …but that feels a lot like a “look at me!" type strategy and personally I’m not a big fan of that. Just imagine you are not in need of any furniture because you live in a fully furnished apartment. After a while you are probably going to become fed up with a company that keeps shoving their products in your face.

That’s why I think it’s best to share and promote other content that relates to your products or industry but offers added value. You could share some inspirational interiors from other clients who have styled their spaces with your furniture. Or how about a video on how to clean your sofa? Maybe try sharing some interesting articles about furniture throughout history. “Did you know that they use to stuff pillows with dried grass during the Victorian era?” This way you’re keeping your content relevant and interesting at the same time.

Remember that not every single post has to be soooo serious. Some images can be humorous or you can share something from another creator that somehow relates to what you do.

How important is the visual component of social media audience engagement?

We are very visual creatures. Research shows that most people tend to scroll past posts that have no images attached to them. I always try to focus on creating a visually appealing image to accompany every single post. Remember that not every single post has to be soooo serious. Some images can be humorous or you can share something from another creator that somehow relates to what you do. Just remember to always ask permission first and credit the original source. Collaborations are great for business and they can end up being very beneficial for both parties if approached in the right way.

How important is the content component of social media audience engagement?

There is a reason why the phrase ‘content is king’ exists. You need to give people something to look at, something to listen to or something to read about. That content doesn’t just fall from the sky. We as business owners need to create that content and a tip from me is to always brand your content. Add your logo to everything. Your beautiful image might end up going viral and without your logo, you will end up missing out on 100 000 people getting to know more about your business.

Collaborations are great for business and they can end up being very beneficial for both parties if approached in the right way.

What types of posts do you find are most popular?

Any post that ends in a question seems to do best for me. For example, “Happy Monday. We spent this weekend doing x, y and z. What did you get up to this weekend?”

We as people like to share. We like to tell others about our lives. That’s why social media is so successful. Everyone gets to tell their story and we as business owners should use that to our advantage.

You have a background in graphic design and digital marketing for a large media company. Are there things that you have learned throughout your career that you are still applying to your own brand and audience engagement today?

Consistency is key. Try to form an online personality and always stick to your own identity. Don’t try and copy other people. If you stick to what comes naturally to you, your content will always feel authentic. If your friends know you as someone with a humorous streak, use that to your advantage. Don’t try to always be too serious. People will be able to relate to you much easier if you’re just yourself.

If you were not a proficient designer, would you have found it helpful to enlist the help of professional designers to aid in crafting the visual component of your social media strategy?

Most likely yes. I feel it helps to have a solid foundation. Get a designer to help you create a strong corporate identity and then you can build on top of that.

Planning a rough content calendar is always a good idea.

Your business requires a lot of hands-on work to keep things going, and you don’t have endless hours to spend on your phone or computer. How do you manage your time with social media audience engagement? What does planning look like for you?

I sometimes feel like I need to enlist someone to help me plan. Running a business is a full-time job and at this stage I spend 80% of my day researching and creating. As a solopreneur, everything is dependent on me. I try to use a notebook and plan my week on a Monday. Instead of creating a social media post every day and doing invoices every day, the best advice someone gave me is to rather spend a whole day on invoices and get it done. You can then spend the following day on the week’s social media posts. Planning a rough content calendar is always a good idea.

Are you using any social media automation tools? Which tools are helpful to you?

I sometimes make use of Facebook’s built in scheduling ability to ensure consistency, especially if I’m going away for a few days. In my opinion it’s really important to try and post something every single day. If you want to schedule posts, I can also recommend Hootsuite as it allows you to schedule on multiple platforms from one central dashboard. I use an app to plan my Instagram feed as well. The best payed version in my opinion is Planoly. If you want to go the free route, I suggest Preview.

I use YouTube and Pinterest to browse for some small business marketing tips and I often use Pinterest to browse ideas for my content calendar. I do know that there are many incredible online courses by local businesses aimed at small business social media marketing.

I’ve seen such an improvement in my engagement and number of followers during this lockdown period because I have been extra consistent with my content.

Are there any ‘silver bullets’ for social media audience engagement?

Consistency! I’ve seen such an improvement in my engagement and number of followers during this lockdown period because I have been extra consistent with my content. I think another thing that helps people relate to your content is relevance. Make it relevant. Make it now. If something is happening in the world mention it and find a way to relate it to your business.

When you’re on social media in a non-business-related way, what catches your own eye? Which posts are you yourself most likely to engage with?

I have of course taken most of my own strategy from other small businesses and the methods they use. I personally like posts that ask questions or find a way to involve the reader somehow.

Lastly, is there anything else you’d like to add that we missed in our questions?

Keep it short and simple. We as people are really busy in our day to day lives and people tend to just skip over stuff if it’s too complicated. Instead of posting a thesis on your Facebook page, sum it up in a few sentences and post that information with a nice graphic. You can then include a link to the full paper for those wanting to read more. People are more likely to read a few sentences than an entire thesis! Who knows, those few sentences might just be what you need to captivate their attention. If there is a need for a complicated technical post then go ahead and do it, but vary your content. Also don’t forget about more humorous content too. People can always do with a pick-up during this current time.