Product Marketing on Social Media

Do you run a product-based small business and feel like most social media marketing advice is always aimed at service providers?

Do you look at hooks and prompts online and think… “That works for coaches or mentors, but how does that apply to my candles, ceramics, jewellery, or products?”

If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I’m breaking down product marketing on social media for small business owners and showing you how to turn common social media hooks and prompts into content that works for product-based businesses.

You’ll walk away with a fresh way of thinking about product marketing on social media and practical ideas you can use in your content straight away.

Huge thanks to Sarah @tinysarahmakes (yes, we found her!) for the suggestion for this episode.

Links mentioned in this episode:
Grab my 30 free social media hooks and prompts for small business owners here

Get weekly content prompts, social media strategy, and support from me and other small business owners by joining us inside Get Seen Get Sales, our incredible social media mentorship community.

• Social Media Strategy and Support: Join Get Seen Get Sales and get the tools, support, strategies & accountability you need to grow your small business (product or service) on social media with confidence Learn more
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of Glow Pardics. Thanks so much for joining me again today. I'm really looking forward to getting into this subject today. It's all about product marketing on social media. So it's something that I have heard from quite a few small business owners in the past who have said that when they come across the likes of hooks and prompts to use on social media, they really feel as if they're based around service businesses. So businesses that might offer an online service like mine, for example, for social media mentorship rather than a small business that offers a product like a physical thing, like candles or notebooks or stickers or whatever your small business might offer. It could be anything, jewellery, etc. etc. In the past, I've just sort of tweaked the hook or prompt that we've been talking about to show them how it can be done. But then I got an email recently from Sarah, Sarah E has called in. Thank you so much for getting in touch. Just bringing this up again, saying that she downloaded my 30 free prompts and hooks, but said that they felt they were geared more towards service businesses. So totally get that. So yeah, I'm going to crack that open today. Let's get into it. A lot of hooks and prompts that you will see to use on social media are things that are based around about transformations and problems. This is a big thing. So you know your ideal client inside out, you've identified the problem that they have and how you help with that problem. And a lot of product-based businesses who often sell fun things, nice things or luxury items, we could say their want-to-haves rather than need-to-haves. And what these business owners will tell me is that they struggle to see where their client's problem is because it's more a sort of want rather than a need. And therefore, that they don't see any sort of transformation happening there as well. And I totally get that. It makes a lot of sense. You know, if you're selling fun bunting for parties, then your client doesn't have a problem. They're looking for something fun. And the example we're going to talk about today is Sarah, who emailed in a listener of the podcast. Thank you so much for listening, Sarah, and get in touch who does ceramic art. Now that's all I know. I don't know who the ideal client is or what particular type of ceramic art that Sarah does. But please do get in touch and let me know because I'd love to come and find you and find out more about your business and support you, of course, follow along, etc. But in this instance today, I'm going to just do it on an example of ceramic art or kind of household items like mugs and stuff like that. But we'll get into that more in a wee second. But yes, this is the thing, they don't have a problem, but they do, I think it's just around the wordn't. I'm sure I've spoken about this before. I've probably spoke about it at some point in ideal client when I've been talking about ideal client, which is like my favourite subject, as you'll know. But the problem, if you like, is just the need, the want, the desire, the thing that they're looking for. So if you for your example, your ideal client is someone who loves having friends over, they love hosting for lunch, brunch, dinner, whatever it might be, anything at all that requires plates and cutlery and mugs and teacups and that sort of thing. So what they're looking for is a nice, perhaps it's a nice tea set that they're looking for, a nice set of matching mugs for when they've got the girls round for brunch, or a nice proper but modern set of teacups and saucers, you know, that they're proud to bring out when they've got friends round for dinner for coffee afterwards, you know, coffee mugs, that kind of thing. They're not embarrassed to bring out the mismatched mugs or cups for whatever it might be. So although that's a luxurious want, that's their issue, you know, that's what they're looking for. Say that you make lovely handmade bunting for parties that says happy birthday. Your customer's problem might be that they're a mum with young kids, there's lots of birthday parties when they're young. And each time there is a party or family coming round to visit, they're having to buy just the sort of cheap generic banners that are in the card shop that are all sorts of colours that don't necessarily match their decor or anything that they're going for, don't match the theme of the party, especially if you're having something at home. So your ideal client's problem there, if you like, their need, their want, their desire, is that they want to have nice button, they want to have a nice banner, nice happy birthday sign that they can bring out every year. So it's cheaper because they're only buying it once, it's more sustainable for the environment. They're not buying plastic banners every time, you know, that then tear when you bring them down, or sometimes you put them up a cell tape or blue tack or whatever that takes some of the colour off them once you take them off the wall. So that if they're not looking grey, they're looking tatty for the next time. So you don't use them, so you're buying again and you're binning them. So it's better for the environment to be able to have something that you can use every time. Then that's the problem, that's the desire, that's the need that your business then solves. So you see how I think it's just about taking this word problem and reframing it for a product-based business into that it's the want, the need, the desire. And that's something that I can absolutely take on board as a social media mentor when I'm talking about these kind of things. It is actually something I took on board in Get Seen Get Sales, GSGS, which is my online mentorship group. I had a member recently, I think it was last year, and she was a product-based business. And every week in our mentorship group, we have a content pack that lands, and it's got a hooker prompt for every single day of the week, you know, all based on what's working right now on social media. There's no guest work involved. It's like a fully comprehensive pack with everything you need to create content for your business for the following week to attract, nurture, and convert. So this product-based business had said that she was struggling to turn the hooks and prompts into an appropriate for her product-based business. Now, within the content pack, I always gave an example and I would just randomly choose businesses that were in the mentorship group and base examples on them. Just one example. But then, that was months ago, I changed it now that the content pack has an example for a product-based business and a service-based business with every single one so that you can clearly see and identify how your product-based business can fit into that too. So, yeah, as a mentor, it's absolutely something I've already taken on, and I'm going to take on more when I'm talking about online, when I'm talking about on Instagram and Facebook and whatever, and I'm giving tips out on how to use these prompts and hooks, I'm going to make sure that I'm giving product and service-based businesses because this is a thing that I absolutely want to help you with. Now, today I'm going to put myself on the spot a little. This came around because Sarah, who's a listener of the podcast, who got in touch, does ceramic art and who highlighted this issue for me and asked if I could do an episode around it, more than happy to do it. And listen, if you've got an idea for a topic as well, please get in touch. Let me know what your business name, give me your Instagram or Facebook names or whatever, so I can come and find you and follow along and cheer you on. Also give you a shout out in the podcast if you're giving me an idea for an episode like this, then I would love to give you credit. Sarah also downloaded my free 30 prompts and hooks to attract nurture convert. So there's 10 for each section. I will link to that in the show notes today. And what I'm gonna do is just choose one of each section, so one attraction hook, one nurture hook, one conversion hook at random for a ceramic art business. As I see, I'm gonna base it on them making household items. I'm gonna put myself on the spot here live and turn the prompt into one that's applicable for this business. Okay, let's go. The first one I'm choosing is an attraction hook. The top 10 advantages of doing XXX every day. So you can totally see how if you're a ceramic artist, this might be a hard one to fit in. But what I'm thinking about is if you make beautiful handmade mugs, coffee mugs, then I would be saying top 10 advantages of drinking your morning coffee from a handmade mug every day. So attraction, what we're doing with attraction here is putting that out there to ideal clients who don't follow us already with the hope that they will see this, they'll see themselves, they'll see their need, their want, their desire in the reel. I know it's heavy going, isn't it? We're pinning a lot in this reel for someone to see their hopes and desires in it. But someone who is scrolling along sees your reel, sees the text on it, think, oh, that's speaking directly to me. I'm going to stop on this, have a little look, and then look at your page and then follow along. That's what we want attraction to do here. So for top 10 advantages of doing XXX every day, I would use this as a ceramic artist, a top 10 advantages of drinking your morning coffee from a handmade mug every day. That would be a lovely hook to stop your ideal client who appreciates handmade, who appreciates ceramic art, and who thinks, oh, so ceramic art isn't something, you know, that I just buy and sit on a shelf. It's actually something that I can incorporate into every day and something that can actually help me feel good. And some of those reasons that you might want to put on there, the top 10 advantages of drinking your morning coffee from a handmade mug every day could be that it slows down the process. It turns a rushed morning more into a ritual where you will actually feel the warmth in your hands from this mug, and that you're also supporting a small business while you do that. It's a mug that really matches your kitchen aesthetic, the feel, the vibes of your home. It's something that really starts your day intentionally. So I would really go with cozy visuals with that. And in terms of the video for this real just set your camera up to have one of your creations, one of your handmade mugs up, or let's start putting on, like I say, and put myself in the spot here. I would have the mug sat on the worktop, I'd be pouring the warm coffee in, I'd pick it up and have both hands round about it. That would be the video. Maybe even taking a sip, I guess, if you're going to do top 10 advantages. And if you're going to do the 10 of them actually on the screen, you could also bring it up to your mouth and have a little sip, and that would be it. That would be the extent of the video there. And then put your top ten things on top of it. That's attraction. Next we're going into a nurture prompt. I'm going to give myself a challenge here because I can absolutely see how a product-based business would think this nurture hook was for a service-based business. Now, if you're a sit you're an artist, you know, I can absolutely see how you'd be thinking my items are luxury and they're want-to-haves. What sort of struggle could my ideal client possibly have that I can help with that would take them from a struggle to success? I'm going to think about what was talking about earlier about matching sets. Maybe your ideal client thinks that the only way they can get a nice tea set that's matching is, you know, a really old-fashioned one, the ones that we pick up in charity shops, which are cute by the way. But if that doesn't match their vibe, their mood, their hosting sort of style, they love having people over for dinner, they love doing coffees at a coffee afterwards, but they hate that they bring out these just sort of generic supermarket mugs or this old-fashioned tea set that they've got. So we've went from I hate hosting because nothing matches or embarrassed to host because nothing matches, to confidently inviting friends over every month. And then you can talk about how they invested in a matching set of X, Y, and Z and how they feel excited and proud to set the table for after dinner coffee or having friends over for a morning coffee. And hosting feels fun and easy and something that they look forward to. So there you are. That's just transformed. That listen, I'm actually quite proud of that one. Okay, I'm going. I'm going to challenge myself again here because the conversion one, I should have said, you know, I explained what attraction hooks do, nurture hooks are all about opening up conversation, helping us get to know each other, help you get to know your ideal clients better on social media, encourage engagement and just general conversation. So with that customer spotlight one, how they went from X to X, you can really talk about that in a carousel, for example, over the slides with images of what they bought. Maybe even if your customer was willing to send you an image of what they used to use before, and then they bought your set and what they're using now to really visually show that difference. And then your call to action on a post like that could be have you got a set that you're embarrassed to use? Did you know you can get matching coffee mugs from me? And then it's about making your ideal clients buy that are fun or classy or modern or a kind of the old ways with them, or they've got a little slot for your coffee spoon at the side, you know, or those mugs that you get, they've got a little spot for a biscuit cookie at the side as well, you know. I always caveat this. Before you do anything, you should know your ideal client who you are marketing to inside out, and then it makes it so much easier to turn these hooks and prompts around. Okay, so the conversion one, a conversion post is generally when we're going for the sale, we're asking them to book or buy there, and then the one I'm choosing, I'm going to put myself in a spot here again. The best investment you can make in your life is investment feels like a very businessy copper word, doesn't it? But we could absolutely change that to a product-based business. And with this ceramic artist that I have in mind and this ideal client that I've got in mind, I'm thinking like the best investment you can make in your life is the way your everyday feels. The best investment you can make in your life is the way your everyday feels. That's lovely. If I was in the market for these type of nice luxury items, a lot of it's about how it feels, isn't it? How it feels to buy these things and have these things and drink from these things and eat from these things. Yeah, so the best investment you can make in your life and is in the way that everyday feels. Let's go for that. And then you would go on to explain how you know how how you use your mugs every single day or your plates every single day. And why not make these moments feel nice? Why not make these everyday moments feel good? Back to our morning coffee, why not turn it into a slow ritual, you know? And I'm talking could be two, three, five minutes. This doesn't have to turn into a half-hour sit-down meditation thing here. It can just be something that you do that reminds you. You might pick up that handmade mug that's got on the side, enjoy or take a breath, inhale, exhale. You know what might actually be written on the side of the mug, it might be stamped into the ceramic, into the clay. And you know that every morning when you pick that up to pour your coffee, it's a reminder to stop and breathe. And that's everyday things. So this would be again on Instagram, for example, it would be a carousel, and that would be your nice bold hook at the start. The best investment you can make in your life is in the way your everyday feels. That would absolutely stop my scroll. I want to make everyday stuff feel nice. Absolutely, you've got my attention. Let's do it. So, listen, yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I'm quite proud of them. Okay, I have just totally put myself on the spot here with a business I'm not familiar with. So I'm very, very proud of that. Made up ideal client and made up ceramic artist. So, Sarah, if you're listening, I hope that helps. Please get in touch and let me know where I can find you. I would love to share your business in the show notes today as well. This is very sleepless in Seattle. If you're out there, if you're listening, please get in touch. Anyway, okay, I'm losing the plot now here, doing voices and accents and everything. I'm gonna leave it at that. I really hope that's helpful. You will see this now going forward in the content that I share. I'm gonna make sure I share product and service examples. If I'm not, please feel free to comment, drop me a DM to say, can you give me a product-based business example or that hook? Please be sure to call me out. And the link that I am talking about here to these 30 free hooks is going to be in the show notes and description and all those places today, so you can go and find it. As always, if you've got any questions, you want to tag me on anything, so I can come and share you on, please do. Best place to find me is Instagram, amandahues.uk L-I-M on all social media platforms so that I can keep on top of how they work for my mentorship group. And of course, if you ever feel you want more support on this, you want to go deeper in this, you want books and prompts every week that are fresh, that are working right now, and you want to actually be guided along to how to properly market your business on social media for success, then you know where I am. I am in Get S and Get Sales, our incredible online mentorship community, and I would love to welcome you in. We would love to welcome you in. It's a really amazing group of good eggs who get it and are there, who are just sharing everything the winds, the wobbles, and everything in between, and they're driving. So we're saving you a seat, the kettle's on. If you want to go deeper on this kind of thing, then the link is always in the show notes to come and join us and get some get saved. Until next time, take care.