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Small Business Guide to Blogging

blogging

Isn’t it ironic that you can read a guide to blogging from a blog? Every small business should have one—read on to find out how to start yours.

Blogging 101

The first thing to know about blogging is that your customers are your readers. So blog for them!

Second, the content you’re blogging about should be constructive. It’s easy to think of blog ideas when you think of what you’d like to know. Topics can include day-to-day problems, social media tips, display ideas, inventory management, what gets you inspired (including self-help books and self-care strategies), the list is endless really.

Third, you don’t have to write a lot, but you should post often. When it comes to blogging consistent content is more important than thorough content. Speaking of content, people are visual thinkers and learners so images are important. Believe it or not, a catchy title can go a long way as well.

Finally, get the whole team involved. Your blog will go places further than you imagined when you bring in others to help.

Executing your blog

The easiest way to stay consistent with blog posts is to plan them out. A great way to plan your content is to become inspired by customers! What questions have they been asking lately? Is there any sort of product that seems to be in higher demand?

Similar to your physical store, you should interact with your customers online. That is, if someone comments, respond!

Last but not least, analyze your readership numbers. If something doesn’t seem to be working, try something new to see if that fixes it.


If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you. And don’t forget, you can always purchase single issues if you prefer that instead.

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Tips for Going Live on Facebook

Facebook live

If you’re like most of the world, you’ve received notifications from Facebook alerting you that one of your friends or the pages you follow are going live. Jump in on the action with these tips.

Promoting your Facebook live

Video is becoming more popular, and live videos get 3 times more interaction than other videos on social media. Promote your Facebook live event before it takes place, and post about it across all social media channels.

When you chose a date and time for your event keep in mind what works best for your followers. Looking at previous engagement data should help you make this decision.

Try a test run

Test run your Facebook live event before the scheduled date and time so you can avoid formatting problems. Try to get this right as watchers will stay on the video three times as long as they would other videos (nobody wants watchers to leave for silly reasons, such as shaky video).

Some things to consider include: lighting, production quality (will you be shooting in your store? Or in front of a blank wall to minimize distractions?), and whether or not you should shoot vertically or horizontally (vertical shooting can sometimes make you look too close to the camera).

Interact with your followers

Remember, Facebook live is to engage with your audience. This means you should be adding context constantly throughout your video so any new followers who jump on know what you’re speaking about.

Interact with followers by addressing their comments as they appear. This will make your stream feel like a two-way conversation, which may explain why live videos drive ten times the amount of comments compared to other videos.

Wrapping up the event

After the event is over, check your data. How are the results compared to other posts? Take the time to respond to any comments you may have missed, and encourage people to continue to comment if they’re catching the video after the event is over.

Interested in learning more? Use this checklist to help you get started with your first Facebook live.


If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.