Home-based businesses (HBBs), such as home bakeries and handcraft makers have taken off in recent years. While many HBB have been tapping on social media to raise awareness of their businesses, there are still opportunities to boost their social commerce efficiently. 

“Going digital is no longer an option, it is the default”, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of the Tata Group says. With many home-based business owners leveraging on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to grow their consumer base, it is essential to stay competitive in the digital landscape. With the increased usage of social media platforms during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, social commerce has become increasingly important. 

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular social media networks for the HBB community. Its targeted advertising features and relatively low costs help HBB owners to reach their customers efficiently. Not only is the platform very accessible, it is also easy for people with little to no digital marketing experience to operate. With the various Facebook groups for HBB and Facebook shops that provide a seamless social commerce experience online to the target audience, HBB owners will find opportunities to increase their customer base and sales traffic.

“Going digital is no longer an option, it is the default.”

Instagram

Nasty Cookie started out as a humble HBB and grew its business through its successful social media strategy to build 3 physical outlets in less than 3 years. Regime Sum, founder of Nasty Cookie, marketed her cookies heavily on Instagram. Videos of her cookies breaking went viral which led her to gain 30,000 followers on Instagram. According to Statistica, Instagram has over 1 billion active users as of January 2021, and 62.8% of global users are 18-34 years old, making Instagram the perfect platform to market to millennials globally. Not only will you be able to connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page and website to market your products simultaneously, you will also be able to connect and build customer relations across platforms. Instagram is a known sales booster, with easy marketing tools for all businesses to use. Similar to Facebook. Instagram specialises in paid promotions and targets your audiences’ demographics to boost your and sales. By paying your selected premium of $2 to $1000 a day, Instagram will advertise your posts to thousands of active users, ensuring a surge in brand awareness on top of gaining customer leads.

TikTok

TikTok has been one of the hottest social media platforms among Gen Z and younger millennials locally and globally. With functions such as duets and stitch that HBBs can utilise, TikTok is a great space to promote user-generated content.  TikTok also does not consider past content performance such as the number of followers, making it is easy for smaller HBBs’ content to go viral and reach a larger audience. Many HBBs are looking towards TikTok as a space to market their small businesses. 17-year-old Jay Kang, Founder of Snoopslimes, has over 2 million followers on TikTok, and sells over 10,000 slimes a week. Her content features eye-catching headlines and short videos showing sneak peeks of her upcoming slime collections. 

Home-based Businesses Need to Digitalise to Grow

Social media is definitely a tool that HBBs can play to their strengths. Whether it be diving into a new social media platform or improving your current platform, these new tactics will definitely increase customer reach. Not only will these new strategies help you grow your business, but more importantly, help grow your passion towards what you do. With social media advertising tools at our fingertips, it is essential for HBB owners to seize this opportunity to grow and raise their brand awareness. After all, the only way to go up is to go digital.