It’s almost hard to imagine a business that solely exists in the real world without any presence online. Nowadays, people’s habits when it comes to looking for certain products and services have completely changed because of the internet. Before, it was a simple matter of flipping to the Yellow Pages to look for a particular business. The trend now has moved away from physical copies and unto online searches. This is one main reason why many companies have migrated their marketing strategies online. Promotions, events, sales are first announced online before it shows up on the physical stores. The reason behind this trend is due to the fact that we are always connected to the internet via their phones, tablets, and computers.
For the home decor industry, the start of the internet presents a huge opportunity to showcase what they have to offer. The artists and creative minds behind the industry can now go all out and stretch their skills in a platform that is far-reaching with almost limitless possibilities. Through social media, announcements can be made quickly and efficiently, reaching more people than printed material can ever hope to reach. Contests and games can also be done which engages more people. The benefits of social media in the home decor space are only beginning to be revealed and if you want to find more success in this space, here are some tips you can follow.
1. Use interesting photos
As they say, a photo speaks a thousand words. It’s no wonder then that the internet is filled with millions upon millions of photos that people upload every day. They range from a mere selfie to pieces of artwork and beautiful sceneries. What also contributed to people’s fascination and interest in taking photos is the fact that almost everyone has access to a digital camera in the form of our smartphones. Various social media platforms give incentives if people post photos and videos. They get more likes, more comments, and are generally viewed by more people.
If you want your company to find success in the online world, particularly in social media, don’t underestimate the power of a good photo. The home decor business is especially reliant on images to showcase the various design pieces and products to possible buyers. Take the Instagram account @inspire_me_home_decor as an example. Their use of photos is especially compelling, being conscious of angles, composition, and complementary colors to showcase the artistry and style of a room.
2. Contests
Something that a lot of people can’t resist is a good contest. Many influencers and social media personalities engage with their audience this way. It encourages people to engage with you and offers a nice incentive that will only entice them to continue engaging with you in the future. And I’m sure you know contests are a great way to increase not only your followers, but it’s also a fun way to bridge the gap between your brand and your audience.
Being in the home decor business, you should consider offering rewards. It could be anything from a beautiful pillowcase to a gorgeous coffee table for your followers who win. It all depends on your resources. Remember to create a criterion for your contest. For example, in order to join the contest, people should be following your account, posting comments or photos using certain hashtags, and they should tag your account as well as others to join. The example above shows an Instagram contest with clear criteria for winning while also encouraging users to share and invite others to join in.
A contest is especially ideal during festive seasons like Christmas holidays, Thanksgiving, or Valentine’s Day. It capitalizes on the excitement and mood that people feel during these times. Winning a contest will also add a bit of flair in their homes during the festive season.
3. Follow a format
As a home decor content creator for social media, the format is everything if you want to create a branded content. The format might include the use of a specific font, border, logo, or a preferred color scheme. Think aesthetics and how it stands out amongst other brands. Consider every minute detail that might seem trivial but together they add up to create a memorable impression with your audiences. Each time you upload a photo or a post, it should easily be recognizable with your style of the brand even before they read your username or comments. You want to establish an unconscious connection with your audience with each of your posts.
Check out the username @designseeds. They follow a very striking format for each of their posts with the use of color palette paired with their photos. Home decor enthusiasts will have an easier time deconstructing a post’s color scheme.
When it comes to your home decor brand, there is an almost limitless opportunity in terms of formatting. You should be able to create a format unique to your own brand. This means researching other brands and noting how their format works for them. And because you deal with many products, you should have different formats when it comes to posts about a single product and products in a casual setting.
Look at Wayfair and how they have created a distinct aesthetic impression in each post. Following their lead will help you set your brand apart from the rest because audiences are able to see a product on its own and how it might fit in different home settings.
4. Be consistent
In order to find any sort of success using social media, one key aspect you have to remember is to be consistent with your posts and updates. This is done to keep your brand top of mind for your followers and audiences and to keep them interested in your brand. Being consistent doesn’t mean just posting pictures or updates or even promos. Doing this will eventually make people bored and uninterested in your account. What you want is to mix up your posts. By posting offers and new products together with beautiful interior photos, people are reminded that you are a business that offers products and services they can purchase for themselves.
Being consistent in social media before was easier said than done. You’ll have to be on your computer or phone at all times in order to consistently post updates, photos, or videos. But now, there are apps and extensions that can automatically post from your queue list. You can change the settings to posting once a day or every other day. For your part, all you have to do is create different content at once and queue it up for the posting and the extension will handle the rest.
On festive seasons, you can also change up your content to reflect the mood of your audience. You can create promos and posts new products that are well suited for the occasion. Home decor is especially drawn to such posts especially when it’s introduced as a new idea.
5.Blogs
And last on this list of how to find success for your home decor business through social media is by utilizing the power of blogs. Much like a delivery company employs the use of vehicle tracking devices in their delivery trucks, blogs work almost the same way for businesses. Blogs are a great way to engage with your audience without having to pander your products and services blatantly. You could say it’s a subtle way of marketing your services to potential customers. What’s great about blogs is there are no rules on the topic you can touch on, although it’s ideal that you somewhat stick primarily to one topic like home decor.
If you want to get an idea on how to create a captivating blog for your home decor business, look no further and check out Old Brand New, one of my go-to blogs when I’m feeling particularly uninspired. Not only are the posts witty and creativity, but it is also clear that the creator, Dabito, wanted to have a clear aesthetic and format when it comes to his site, something that helped pull in a lot of audiences.
Pretty much all businesses with blogs on their site are dedicating that space to the behind-the-scenes and personal opinions of certain staff or employees of the company. It’s a great way to show what’s going on behind the curtains that normally people wouldn’t get to see. And because the content is such a huge deal for e-commerce, it will do your home decor business some good in terms of search ranking if you have a lot of content up on your site.
Those are some of the social media marketing tips you can use to find success for your home decor business. There are certainly more tips you can find online and you are free to explore those and try yourself. But if you’re looking for the basic marketing strategy tools, then the five tips mentioned above are the ones you want to follow.
Author Bio:
Evelyn Paulson is an ardent blogger and frequent traveler who writes about home improvement, travel, and the latest trends in emerging technologies. She is currently working with EyeSpySupply, which offers a wide range of surveillance equipment and tracking device, including spy wireless camera, nanny cams, GPS trackers, and voice-activated audio recorders and more.
