OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Omaha small business owners say consistent social media posting is essential to competing with big box retailers
- A UNO marketing professor says small businesses must embrace social media to compete with big box retailers, recommending one to two posts per day, per platform.
- Omaha business owners say consistent posting and understanding audience insights have been key to growing their customer bases.
- The pressure to maintain a social media presence is real. One Olde Towne Elkhorn business owner recently cited the challenge of keeping up with social media as a factor in her decision to close.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Social media has become a daily necessity for small businesses trying to compete in an increasingly digital marketplace and Omaha business owners say the investment is paying off.
The shift began accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Max Yu, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Nebraska Omaha, said consumer habits changed dramatically during that period.
"So during COVID, the average time on social media for consumer increased to 3 hours."
U.S. Census data shows online shopping is up about 75% since the pandemic.
"So that is a critical point. And nowadays, consumers, they are really used to social media, used to online shopping," Yu said.
Yu said small businesses need to adapt, incorporating social media into their daily practice to compete with big box retailers. He recommends aiming for one to two posts per day, per platform, with consistency being the key factor.
One West Omaha business putting that advice into practice is Storm Bath and Beauty. Owner Mariellen Storm said posting frequently and understanding her audience has helped grow her store in its first year.
"We aim to post at least twice a day," Storm said.
Storm said the data available through social platforms has helped her better target her customers.
"Mainly on Facebook we could see our insights so that's very helpful where we can see that most of our audience is women between the ages of 35 and 55," Storm said.
At Prairie in Bloom, owner Lukas Rix has been using social platforms since the business opened. He said not every platform works equally well for every business.
"I know TikTok is way more appealing to the younger generation. Unfortunately not a lot of my customers are on here that's why I've seen the traction more with Facebook and Instagram," Rix said.
Both owners said the time and resources required to maintain a social media presence are worth it.
"Our biggest thing is to be able to use it to generate traffic. That's what we want," Rix said.
"There's a lot of really helpful tools out there for business owners," Storm said.
The conversation around social media and small business comes as some local retailers struggle to keep up. On Feb. 18, I spoke with Jen Holmquist, owner of Coco & Charlies in Olde Towne Elkhorn, who announced the difficult decision to close her business. She cited the challenges of keeping up with social media as one of the contributing factors.
