A meeting was held to help Small Business Owners learn to promote their business on Tuesday April 25th. The meeting was held in the Economic Development Corp conference room on 3rd St. The meeting was led by Kamela Gomez, Program Associate – Economic Development Community, Professional and Economic Development in Little Rock. This is associated with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Research and Extension.
A key focus of the meeting was using social media to promote your business, whether it be Instagram, Facebook or Tube videos.
The owner was advised to build a seasonal and relevant strategy and make sure that the hours on the site were set as customers get frustrated when visiting and the business is closed. The participants were encouraged to try to post daily and if they are comfortable to post a photo of themselves.
The average time required on social media is 6 hours a week – as often as 1-3 times a day or as little as 3-5 times a week.
Local lore is useful as are customer appreciation posts. Trivia can be used. Paying attention to customer service was stressed. Business owners were told not to do too many promotions or talk politics.
Canva and Facebook business manager were mentioned as useful tools and can help to schedule content and prompt about the holidays.
The analogy was used that social media was like fishing and to redo posts if they weren’t doing so well.
The potential for grants for small businesses, such as from the USDA was mentioned as well.The organization that Gomez is with provides support for small businesses, such as confidential business planning, financial assistance and support business planning.
If the business grows big enough government contracts can be quite useful.
Much of the material was presented on a video with Amy Cole speaking.