Let’s Take Care of the Social Media Pages for Your Coffee Business
You’re too busy to take care of social media yourself? You might also know that there’s at least some time investment necessary to take care of your pages and accounts on social media. But you’re still struggling, if you should be hiring someone external, maybe even a social media expert, for supporting you with social media?
Why social media?
Unfortunately not enough coffee professionals are aware what social media can do for their businesses, yet. Setting up a fan page on Facebook or an account on Instagram is fairly easy and every coffee business seems to have one – many don’t even set up an own website, but a page on Facebook or an account on Instagram instead. Being present on either of those platforms is only part of the deal, though.
A Facebook fan page or an Instagram account is a powerful marketing tool for your coffee business, if used the right way. There’s more to a Facebook fan page than posting photos and videos and linking to specials and discounts on your website or your online shop. With all the new features that Facebook and Instagram have to offer nowadays, be it Facebook or Instagram Live, be it Messenger Bots and Instagram Stories etc. etc.
Social Media is a tool to build a community of like-minded fans around your coffee brand. It’s THE tool to get recommendations! And, over time, to turn those fans into potential customers and guests of your coffee business. So, before deciding to get support from outside, think about, what you and your coffee business want to use this wonderful tool for and how it can be of help for your business!
Help from within?
If you’re having a team around you, baristas, service staff, etc. it might be an option, to get that support for your social media pages from within your own business! So, first, check, if some of your employees are interested and keen to work a couple hours per week of their shift for taking care of your social media pages. Reward them extra for doing that, though! You’d want a motivated staff member taking care of it.
If you’re not having someone on board taking care of it just, yet. See, if you can find someone, your next barista or other staff member, that brings in those additional skills with social media as well! That’s a great add on for your whole business! Same goes for other important parts of a coffee business, such as Human Resources or Accounting.
Looking for someone outside of your business
At some point, you have to decide, if taking care of your social media pages/accounts can be done by yourself/your team or, if you need to look for some professional outside of your business.
Ask yourself a couple questions beforehand:
1. Very important question in the beginning: How many social media skills do you and/or your team bring into your business? Do you mostly wing your social media exploits? Do you only post randomly, and are not really sure, what, how much/how often to post? Or even why you should be doing social media for your coffee business at all? Then it might be time for some external support!
2. How much time investment is needed for taking care of your social media pages? Is it only one page/account, e.g. on Facebook or multiple accounts? How often should an outside support post on your page(s)? What kind of content should be posted? If neither you or your staff members are able to carve out time for taking care of social media, it might be a good thing to start working with someone from outside of your coffee business.
3. Another important question: Can you spend parts of your budget on a social media professional?You’d want your social media pages be taken care of the right way, with the right content, the right approach (according to your business goals), talking to the right people – your audience/your fans. Don’t save money where money is actually needed.
Your business is making some money already and it’s about the time to start thinking more longterm, also Marketing and Social Media wise? Then it might be also time to start getting that external support! There’s not THE ultimate tip, when to get that outside support for your social media pages.
Always ask yourself, can you and/or your staff take care of your social media pages, be it time-wise or skills-wise, first, before deciding for outside support. Making your decision for someone external upon the number of people in your coffee business, is not the right approach here! It doesn’t depend on how many people work for you, but on your time, your budget and your skill set.
What to do, if you’re a one-man/woman coffee business
If your coffee shop or roastery is only a one-man or one-woman show as of right now, it might be a tricky decision, though. I get that. Budget is tight in the beginning and so is your time. Start slow with social media then. Choose only one platform in the beginning and post 2-3 times per week to get you started.
Simel.Coffee stands for the merging of specialty coffee and Marketing. The person behind Simel.Coffee is Melanie Boehme, Coffee Marketing Consultant and branding expert for specialty coffee shop businesses.
Melanie Boehme supports busy coffee shop owners and managers with her inspiring Marketing strategies (offline & online) on their way to a successful & thriving coffee business that customers just love going to.
