Small business retail advice: help! No one engaged with my social media posts

If people don’t engage with your social media posts it is probably because your posts suck.

People use social media for entertainment. You need to share more entertaining content.

Think about the how of what you sell: How do I use it? How do I care for it? How do I maintain it? Show your products in use; show the outcome, as that sets aspirations that can drive sales.

Show fun ways people can engage with what you sell, especially if these fun ways make fun of you. Having fun in social media content entertains and people use social to be entertained.

Practical social media advice:

• Be yourself.
• Be grateful.
• Have fun.
• Make fun of yourself every so often.
• Never post a photo showing too many products. People won’t spend the time zooming in. Stick to one product per photo, and make it good, with the product the hero.
• Don’t pity post—you know, the oh-poor-me type posts where you can come across as a complainer.
• Don’t tell people to come buy something. Instead, share people why you love something, how it makes you feel, and what it means to you.
• Don’t write too much.
• Ignore advice from social media experts about what to write and when to post.
• Write from your heart, and post any time.
• Support your local community in your posts, and support other locally owned businesses near you.
• Don’t use AI, we can tell.

If a particular type of post doesn’t work, don’t repeat that topic and/or style. Do something different.

Eventually, you will see what works best, and once you do, do more of that.

For ideas, look at social media pages for businesses near you. Look particularly at those with many more followers and more post engagement. Learn from their examples.

Don’t expect to be a social media expert right away, Take your time. Learn. Fall. Pick yourself up. Learn.

The world is full of those who claim to be expert at social media. It’s likely these people are not experts despite a certificate. Anyone can print a certificate. Success is shows in actions, and not words.

We are not social media gurus or experts. we know what works for us in our software company and for the various shops and online businesses we run. The advice we have shared here is advice that has worked for us.