Four Weeks of Growing My Business Through Instagram and TikTok — Prelaunch

I ordered the first batch of inventory for my small business today, but I started the social media accounts for my business four weeks ago. A launch is more than launch day — my goal with starting social media early was to grow a larger audience that might purchase products on launch day. I also want to start telling my brand story, since one of my main channels will be wholesale, and I want retailers to be able to look up my brand on social media to learn more.

For content, my business, Sidetracks, will launch with two products — a party card game for friends, and a party card game for families. The content on my brand social media accounts are about how to play the game, but also about the struggles and successes with starting a business.

For the past month, I’ve posted one reel or carousel every day, plus stories occasionally. I’ve posted a variety of different content — talking head, trending audios, product highlights, posts that barely mentioned the product.

Here’s my stats:

Instagram:

• Followers: 56
• Most Watched Reel: 2,145 views
• Accounts Reached: 3,920

TikTok:

• Followers: 12
• Most Watched Reel: 265 views
• Accounts Reached: 1,902

This might seem low, and it objectively is, but it’s also something I’m happy with — those are thousands of people who wouldn’t have found my business otherwise (minus 20 friends I told through word of mouth).

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Cross-promotion gets higher views. My second and third most watched reels were posted on the first day I cross-posted the reel on my personal Instagram story. As the company grows, this number of views will be less significant, but by that point, I’ll hopefully be collaborating with larger creators.
2. Better lighting, especially filmed outside with more in the background, gets higher views. With the expectation of my earlier videos that got more views due to cross-posting. Filming outside is great because there’s more action in the background, which also increases views.
3. My demographic is finding me on Instagram more than TikTok. My product is targeting adults 24–36, but my TikToks are generally finding people under 25. This could be due to my audience targeting, but I also think it’s because my demographic is more active on Instagram.
4. Some content has reached people through hashtags, but I need to better target my content. I believe some of my content would do better in front of the right audience, and I’ve noticed I’m not reaching the correct demographics.
5. Instagram carousels reach non-followers. It’s a misconception that reels are the only way to grow on Instagram. My carousels reached non-followers through hashtags.

Here’s what’s next:

I’m opening for preorders in two weeks, and I’ll launch the product in a month. While I plan to pursue other marketing channels over the next couple months around launch, for social media, my goals are to:

1. Continue to consistently post, even if I’m not sure what’s working or if I have the best post. For these first few months, I’m still in learning mode. Consistency is key.
2. Encourage engagement. Engagement will grow my account and get people excited about the brand. I’ll continue to ask open ended questions, but I might also try giveaways or more edgy, controversial content.
3. Improve conversion. I’ve grown my email list to 12 emails over this past month, but of course none of those have converted to sales yet since the product isn’t live yet. Once the product is launched, I want to focus my content on converting people to join my email list and buy the product.

Thanks for reading! Follow me — I’ll post an update in another month on my marketing efforts (not just digital!). I post about growing my small business and navigating personal finance in NYC. If you run a small business and run a brand account, drop your website/social media handle in the comments so I can check you out!