We've got a few updates since my last post!
Thankfully Meta approved our products to be sold on Facebook and Instagram, and shortly after that our EIN came in the mail so we've also been approved to sell on TikTok! That's really exciting for me. Part of my job is to making the shopping experience as streamlined and frictionless as possible which translates to fewer clicks/taps to create an order. Of course all of these channels are still new to me so I'll be working on whatever problems come up.
TikTok isn't a fan of us listing branded products, which sucks but is completely fair. There's a ton of branded the stuff that gets sold on Shopify/Etsy so we don't feel that we're taking advantage of these bigger names (Warner Bros, for example) when we were also sold branded raw material to make our product. It's messy but that's just part of the game, I guess.
We're also working on a content strategy to get our social media numbers up. With a bigger data sample I can have a better idea of our target demo behavior and interests. It's somewhat of a slog and it's hard to stay motivated and be consistent but I think it'll be worth it. This is a prime example of why this is the boring half of the business. 😅
Polls, giveaways and review spotlights are on the list. I want to make it a habit to publicly thank our customers for ordering and even more so for leaving reviews. We've also started a referral program so that anyone can link our shop to their friends or family and if a purchase is made, both parties receive a discount. We're doing as much as we can to increase traffic and show appreciation to those who are generous enough to offer us any amount of their time. There was a near-instant shot of excitement and orders when we first launched. It feels like the honeymoon period with the business is over already and now it's about keeping our heads down and just taking another step.
We're making slow but sure progress into local sales. If you happen to be in the Seguin/Austin/San Marcos/San Antonio area, hopefully we'll see you at some local markets soon!
That's about it for now. Hopefully I can report back with something exciting in the next week or two.
-Trey