Social media for small and medium-sized businesses
No one can avoid social media these days. But is it worth getting into the world of social media for me and my online business too? How can social media be useful for small and medium-sized merchants, and how much time should you spend on it? In this episode, we ask Jonas Fartaczek all the important questions about the Instagram platform and provide helpful tips and tricks for your ideal social media presence.
**Important links**
Isabell: Hello and welcome to a new episode of our eBay podcast. We're very happy that you're joining us again. My colleague Tino and I have prepared a very exciting topic for you today, and there are already a few phones lying on the table here and Tino, you've got yours in your hand again too? Put it away for a second!
Tino: Hey, sorry Isabell, and hello dear listeners. I was actually a bit distracted with Instagram and totally got lost in that world. Since we've been working on this episode, I actually keep catching myself looking at the app. You really can't escape social media these days, can you Isabell?
Isabell: Yes, that's a good question, one that of course you often ask yourself as a consumer too, and yes, we're all constantly on our phones, quickly scrolling through the feed, but it's of course also an exciting question for our merchants. Should I present my business on social media or not? Should I invest the time? And for all these questions, we've invited an expert today who may be able to help us with the answers, and there are many different platforms, and today we've focused specifically on the topic of Instagram.
Tino: Exactly. And with that, we'd like to welcome Jonas Fartaczek from Complus Media to our studio! Hello Jonas.
Jonas: Hello you two, thanks for the invitation. Great to be here in your studio.
Tino: Great, and Jonas, let's just get started right away. Before we look at how Instagram can help our merchants, please tell us a little about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
Jonas: Yes, I'm the managing director of Complus Media GmbH. We're based in Munich, and we look after the social media presence of small and medium-sized businesses, especially in the e-commerce sector. That means we create posts for them and run advertising campaigns. I started with social media about 10 years ago. I came from the content side, alongside my film directing studies, and then developed more toward strategy and marketing.
Isabell: Yes, very cool, why should a commercial merchant even be active on Instagram?
Jonas: We have around 21 million users in Germany, and as we've already seen, you use it too. How many hours do you spend in the app each day?
Tino: Oh, good question.
Isabell: Well, I have to say, I set my time limit to 20, 25 minutes because it was clearly way above that, but I didn't want to spend all my time on my phone. So these days, 20, 25 minutes.
Tino: I'm actually above that. Definitely at least an hour a day.
Jonas: Yes, for me it's also well over an hour, and if we already spend so much time on the platform as users, then it makes sense for merchants to be present on such a platform in order to get in touch with my potential new customers.
Tino: You actually do that professionally too, I mean.
Jonas: That's added on top of it. That's another extra on top.
Tino: In general, what's the biggest mistake you see many people making when they're on Instagram?
Jonas: Yes, I like to use a metaphor for that. So, Isabell, if you were to meet me for the first time today: do you actually want to marry me right away?
Isabell: Okay, I wasn't expecting that question, but I'd probably say that I'd want to get to know you a little better first.
Jonas: Okay, and that's actually a very good example of what many people do wrong, what they do wrong in their communication on the platform or in marketing in general. They're constantly shouting for marriage proposals and keep saying "marry me, marry me, marry me" - "buy me, buy me, buy me" - and actually, from real life, we know you have to flirt a little first to get to know each other. Go to the movies together, cook together, take a vacation together, and then ask many years later: "Will you marry me?" The chance that you'll say "yes" is much higher than right here, after we've known each other for 5 minutes.
Tino: But it's a shame, actually it would have been nice, because then we'd have had that Linda de Mol dream wedding effect during our podcast right away, that would have been quite exciting. Okay, but I understand that now, and how exactly does it work on Instagram?
Jonas: On Instagram, there are just so, so many different ways to publish content there. There are reels, there are stories, you can make regular posts. There are guides, so there are just so, so many ways to publish content, and the question now, of course, is okay, what kind of content is more like flirting on the street or on the train, winking at someone, and what is more like a first date? Second date, cinema, visiting, cooking together, and now analyzing the platform: what's more flirting, what's more of a date, and what's maybe a marriage proposal or the path to the altar? We can do that together now.
Isabell: Exactly, so let's start right from the beginning: what is flirting, basically, the wink in the pedestrian zone? How do I first make customers aware of my content?
Jonas: Content that's suitable for flirting is placement that brings a lot, a lot of reach, and right now on Instagram that's reels. If you post a reel, you can assume that very, very many people will see it, even if they aren't yet your followers or don't know you yet. That's the classic "I'm walking through the pedestrian zone or sitting in a bar and winking at someone" - what happens? What happens if I like a reel? I may go to the person's or company's profile and follow it and subscribe to the company.
Isabell: And why is that especially the case with reels right now?
Jonas: The content curation on the platform simply works very differently with reels than it does in the feed. In the feed, we follow the company or our best female friend or best male friend or other influencers on the platform, and then we see the content they post simply because we follow the person or company and like it. With reels, it's not so much sorted by companies or people, but rather by content, by topics. So if it's about travel, and I'm very interested in travel and travel photography, for example, I'll see a lot, a lot of reels from people who are into that topic, who show their most beautiful photos there, for example. And that means the algorithm, or the sorting of content, is topic-specific, whereas the feed is more people- or company-specific.
Tino: So now I'm, for example, an eBay seller: how do I even get started with a reel like that?
Jonas: So I think if you've never made a reel before, it makes sense to take a little time, get comfortable on the couch, and just spend an hour consuming these reels and looking around: what are other people doing? You'll quickly notice certain trends, things that repeat. You notice there's a certain kind of humor that apparently works well, and then you just think about it for yourself: okay, so that's content that goes over well. From my perspective as a company, what could I do now to adapt to that? So what can I do as a business that's similar or goes in that direction?
Isabell: Okay, let's stay with this metaphor that the wedding is basically the purchase completion, and we've now flirted with our customer. How would we go on a date with our customer now? So how do we build customer loyalty?
Jonas: Exactly, so we've exchanged phone numbers in the sense that someone follows us, and then you often see that many people post stories every day, and stories are actually nothing more than another date we have with each other every day. Yes, that's the classic element. Stories are always only seen by people who follow you as a company or follow you as a person. That means it's basically already the step after getting to know each other; it's no longer that you're communicating with someone who's never heard of you, but now you're communicating with people who know you.
Tino: And how should I design my next date or my next story now?
Jonas: It's extremely useful to make stories as interactive as possible. There are many possibilities and interaction elements that can be integrated into stories. We have sticker elements, we can do a quiz in them. We can just ask a question, we can do a challenge. Or build in a slider, so it's just about interacting as much as possible. A really good date is simply one where both people talk, not just one person constantly rambling into the room.
Isabell: I love the metaphor. You mentioned a few other things you can do on Instagram at the beginning, like posting photos or videos, and I think you also mentioned carousels. Which of those works best?
Jonas: I think Instagram is developing from a photo platform into a video platform. That means that currently, videos actually work better than photos, definitely, and carousels also work a little better than photos. Why is that? Well, carousels are those multiple photos or videos sitting next to each other. Then I have to swipe through them. And when I interact with content, watch a video for longer, maybe read the text with it, swipe through the carousel, then the algorithm thinks the content is so good, the person is so interested in it, that it rewards that positively, because of course it's super good if you engage with something; it's a positive signal and it gives the company more reach, of course.
Tino: And in carousels I can actually link videos and images?
Jonas: Exactly, you can do that with just photos. You can do that with just videos. You can mix video and photo, depending on what suits you and the story you want to tell. Of course, it makes sense to use a video to grab attention somehow. Simply because it's moving. That way people are more likely to stop in the feed, so I always call it a "fun stopper"; you stop scrolling simply because it's something exciting, and maybe then on slide 2 or 3 there can be a description or the short facts you have with the photo.
Tino: And what should I show in the posts, or how much of my company should I reveal at all?
Jonas: I always think it's great and exciting to get a look behind the scenes. So I think many people always do the classic product shoots they also have in their shop, product references in the background. It's just sometimes interesting, yes, we've all seen that. It's much more exciting to maybe show a detail of the product, or how it's made, or the processes behind the company? Who takes care of customer support? Who answers the phone when someone calls, just become a bit more personal - like on a date too. Yes, we know each other, you think I'm quite okay, and now it's simply about getting to know me. What does he do all day? How does he live, what quirks does he have, what edges does he have with his product? That's what's exciting now, that you want to show me.
Isabell: If I look at a classic eBay merchant who's just started on the platform, they usually don't have staff with someone who takes care of the whole thing, meaning the whole topic is already very time-consuming. You just said that somehow I should already create some kind of interaction once a day. Well, I still have my everyday business, my day-to-day operations that I need to take care of. So what's basically the minimum, where you'd say, okay, I can do that, or maybe do you have a tip on how to make the whole thing a bit more efficient?
Jonas: The little consultant in me naturally says, of course, do as much as possible every day. That's what I have to say now. But yes, of course that's not really worthwhile for smaller businesses. Yes, and that's why it's even more important to make a plan, to simply think up an editorial calendar. Okay, what can I post when? And the year is very predictable. Theoretically, we already know at Easter that Christmas falls on the 24th again, and theoretically I can already start pre-producing Christmas content when I have time. I just think things get a lot easier if you approach it with a plan and structure. And then prepare and schedule the content, and for scheduling there's simply this Facebook Creator Studio. You can Google it afterward. It's a tool from Facebook, it's free, and you can basically schedule posts for Instagram and Facebook over the whole year. And then you can just sit down for a day and pre-plan the posts for the week or the month, and you no longer really have to deal with it every day, thinking every day, oh God, oh God, what do I need now? What story do I make today? What reel do I make today? Instead, I think structure makes things much easier. That's one. The second is that it doesn't always have to be highly professional quality; it doesn't always have to be a professional photo shoot or a professionally produced video. Sometimes it really is enough to just take your phone, take a photo or record a short video, and then publish and post that.
Isabell: Hashtag date, hashtag dream wedding, hashtag eBay podcast. How many hashtags should I actually use?
Jonas: Everyone always asks me that question. And there isn't really a general answer. I'll just say my opinion on it: I think hashtags are becoming more and more irrelevant. Why is that? If you think about it, okay, what is a hashtag anyway? I imagine it like a drawer in an old government office, where I categorize images like folders, and then each hashtag is one of those folders, and now the question is where do I file my image so it fits? If I take a photo of a sunset, then it should go in the sunset folder, and then I open the tab with sunsets, and there are lots and lots of other pictures there, all red and yellow, and some sunsets by the sea or over the mountains. So that used to be incredibly, incredibly important. Also for the platform, to understand what is actually shown in this photo or this video. Nowadays, image recognition and video recognition read that out so well that they already know what's in the photo, even if we don't do a big categorization through hashtags. That means I suspect hashtags are becoming less and less important. Sorting by hashtags isn't quite as important anymore. It still helps a little with reach. That's true. But in the long run it's becoming less and less important, and that's why my recommendation is that 0 - 4 hashtags should actually be enough.
Tino: And maybe not entirely irrelevant seasonally at the moment: Christmas or xmas?
Jonas: Whenever you're a shop selling in Germany, use the German terms. The hashtag xmas, the posts would also be shown to people who might be in the USA. But that's not your target group at all; that's the wrong pedestrian zone to be flirting in. You have to be active in the right pedestrian zone too. If you sell in Germany, in the German pedestrian zone, then flirt with people there through your posts, and that's why you should use German hashtags. And if you're even more local, of course use the hashtags even more granularly and locally.
Isabell: Okay, now back to your metaphor: so we've flirted, we've had our first dates, lots of interaction. How do I get the customer to the altar to say yes?
Jonas: Two options. We had the story earlier: if I react to that, I actually start a 1-to-1 chat with you, and if I have a customer in a chat, then theoretically I can simply send them the link to a product there. I can ask them another question, is the chair in pink or green? And then I can just send the right link. That would be one way to get the person from the platform into my shop. And the second is brand new: recently you can make link stickers in stories, meaning place links in stories that lead to my shop. And of course it makes sense to place those within thumb's reach, meaning somewhere at the bottom or in the middle, because a link sticker in the top left corner of the screen, as a right-handed person, I almost lose my phone, so it falls out of my hand when I have to try to reach it up there on the left, and it's much easier when it's simply placed on the bottom and in the middle, where I can click it very, very easily. That's a little insider tip.
Tino: And date, wedding, marriage... It all actually sounds pretty easy. But why do so many people struggle with the topic? I mean, not with marriage.
Jonas: Sometimes that too. I just think we've grown up with all these platforms. Yes, we don't know it any other way. Even now, when we started with Facebook, social media is nothing new to us, we grew into it. Many people are just a little afraid because it's something new, and I always say you can't break anything, just do it and try it. So, just lose all your inhibitions and get started, that's step one. The second thing, yes, is that it's a bit of work, and especially at the beginning it's of course not like: I'm on the platform and boom, marriage proposals start pouring in. Of course it's not like that. I first have to build a community, build a following, and that simply takes time. Patience. There is a small shortcut, so to speak: I go onto the platform, start running ads that then lead directly to my shop. But if you really do it organically, it just takes a certain amount of time, and after 2 months you shouldn't let yourself get discouraged; you really have to say, okay, this takes time, I'll give myself one or two years as a merchant and just try it out.
Isabell: So you're saying you should stick with it for a good year, even if things aren't going so well right now?
Jonas: Yes, especially at the beginning, you don't have anyone following you yet, you really have to start from zero to build a community. It might help if you already have an existing email list of existing customers that you can send a message to saying you're now on Instagram too. But really starting an account from zero like that just takes time and patience.
Tino: Jonas, thank you so much for the exciting insights into the world of social media, and above all the great advice for our merchants. Now we still have the last question for you, and we actually ask all our guests this: what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Jonas: That's really awkward right before Christmas. I'm not going to say what all I bought, there are one or two Christmas presents in there, and I also know that one or the other person will probably hear this podcast, and I don't want to spoil what they're getting for Christmas, I'll tell you that as soon as the microphones are off.
Isabell: But thanks again for the reminder, I of course still need a few gifts now, at the beginning of December, I'm more of a last-minute shopper. Yes, but we're saying goodbye for this week, Jonas, thank you so, so much for taking the time for us and being here today, and yes, in two weeks there will already be the next episode.
Tino: Thank you very much, Jonas. I'm now going to watch a few reels and stories on Instagram and say goodbye to everyone for now.
Isabell: Yes, and with that we're כמובן also saying goodbye to our listeners, and we hope you enjoyed today's podcast as much as we did, and yes, if you have any suggestions or questions, or feedback on the podcast, please let the eBay Community know, and of course we'd also be happy if you subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform. See you again in 2 weeks.
Tino: Hey, sorry Isabell, and hello dear listeners. I was actually a bit distracted with Instagram and totally got lost in that world. Since we've been working on this episode, I actually keep catching myself looking at the app. You really can't escape social media these days, can you Isabell?
Isabell: Yes, that's a good question, one that of course you often ask yourself as a consumer too, and yes, we're all constantly on our phones, quickly scrolling through the feed, but it's of course also an exciting question for our merchants. Should I present my business on social media or not? Should I invest the time? And for all these questions, we've invited an expert today who may be able to help us with the answers, and there are many different platforms, and today we've focused specifically on the topic of Instagram.
Tino: Exactly. And with that, we'd like to welcome Jonas Fartaczek from Complus Media to our studio! Hello Jonas.
Jonas: Hello you two, thanks for the invitation. Great to be here in your studio.
Tino: Great, and Jonas, let's just get started right away. Before we look at how Instagram can help our merchants, please tell us a little about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
Jonas: Yes, I'm the managing director of Complus Media GmbH. We're based in Munich, and we look after the social media presence of small and medium-sized businesses, especially in the e-commerce sector. That means we create posts for them and run advertising campaigns. I started with social media about 10 years ago. I came from the content side, alongside my film directing studies, and then developed more toward strategy and marketing.
Isabell: Yes, very cool, why should a commercial merchant even be active on Instagram?
Jonas: We have around 21 million users in Germany, and as we've already seen, you use it too. How many hours do you spend in the app each day?
Tino: Oh, good question.
Isabell: Well, I have to say, I set my time limit to 20, 25 minutes because it was clearly way above that, but I didn't want to spend all my time on my phone. So these days, 20, 25 minutes.
Tino: I'm actually above that. Definitely at least an hour a day.
Jonas: Yes, for me it's also well over an hour, and if we already spend so much time on the platform as users, then it makes sense for merchants to be present on such a platform in order to get in touch with my potential new customers.
Tino: You actually do that professionally too, I mean.
Jonas: That's added on top of it. That's another extra on top.
Tino: In general, what's the biggest mistake you see many people making when they're on Instagram?
Jonas: Yes, I like to use a metaphor for that. So, Isabell, if you were to meet me for the first time today: do you actually want to marry me right away?
Isabell: Okay, I wasn't expecting that question, but I'd probably say that I'd want to get to know you a little better first.
Jonas: Okay, and that's actually a very good example of what many people do wrong, what they do wrong in their communication on the platform or in marketing in general. They're constantly shouting for marriage proposals and keep saying "marry me, marry me, marry me" - "buy me, buy me, buy me" - and actually, from real life, we know you have to flirt a little first to get to know each other. Go to the movies together, cook together, take a vacation together, and then ask many years later: "Will you marry me?" The chance that you'll say "yes" is much higher than right here, after we've known each other for 5 minutes.
Tino: But it's a shame, actually it would have been nice, because then we'd have had that Linda de Mol dream wedding effect during our podcast right away, that would have been quite exciting. Okay, but I understand that now, and how exactly does it work on Instagram?
Jonas: On Instagram, there are just so, so many different ways to publish content there. There are reels, there are stories, you can make regular posts. There are guides, so there are just so, so many ways to publish content, and the question now, of course, is okay, what kind of content is more like flirting on the street or on the train, winking at someone, and what is more like a first date? Second date, cinema, visiting, cooking together, and now analyzing the platform: what's more flirting, what's more of a date, and what's maybe a marriage proposal or the path to the altar? We can do that together now.
Isabell: Exactly, so let's start right from the beginning: what is flirting, basically, the wink in the pedestrian zone? How do I first make customers aware of my content?
Jonas: Content that's suitable for flirting is placement that brings a lot, a lot of reach, and right now on Instagram that's reels. If you post a reel, you can assume that very, very many people will see it, even if they aren't yet your followers or don't know you yet. That's the classic "I'm walking through the pedestrian zone or sitting in a bar and winking at someone" - what happens? What happens if I like a reel? I may go to the person's or company's profile and follow it and subscribe to the company.
Isabell: And why is that especially the case with reels right now?
Jonas: The content curation on the platform simply works very differently with reels than it does in the feed. In the feed, we follow the company or our best female friend or best male friend or other influencers on the platform, and then we see the content they post simply because we follow the person or company and like it. With reels, it's not so much sorted by companies or people, but rather by content, by topics. So if it's about travel, and I'm very interested in travel and travel photography, for example, I'll see a lot, a lot of reels from people who are into that topic, who show their most beautiful photos there, for example. And that means the algorithm, or the sorting of content, is topic-specific, whereas the feed is more people- or company-specific.
Tino: So now I'm, for example, an eBay seller: how do I even get started with a reel like that?
Jonas: So I think if you've never made a reel before, it makes sense to take a little time, get comfortable on the couch, and just spend an hour consuming these reels and looking around: what are other people doing? You'll quickly notice certain trends, things that repeat. You notice there's a certain kind of humor that apparently works well, and then you just think about it for yourself: okay, so that's content that goes over well. From my perspective as a company, what could I do now to adapt to that? So what can I do as a business that's similar or goes in that direction?
Isabell: Okay, let's stay with this metaphor that the wedding is basically the purchase completion, and we've now flirted with our customer. How would we go on a date with our customer now? So how do we build customer loyalty?
Jonas: Exactly, so we've exchanged phone numbers in the sense that someone follows us, and then you often see that many people post stories every day, and stories are actually nothing more than another date we have with each other every day. Yes, that's the classic element. Stories are always only seen by people who follow you as a company or follow you as a person. That means it's basically already the step after getting to know each other; it's no longer that you're communicating with someone who's never heard of you, but now you're communicating with people who know you.
Tino: And how should I design my next date or my next story now?
Jonas: It's extremely useful to make stories as interactive as possible. There are many possibilities and interaction elements that can be integrated into stories. We have sticker elements, we can do a quiz in them. We can just ask a question, we can do a challenge. Or build in a slider, so it's just about interacting as much as possible. A really good date is simply one where both people talk, not just one person constantly rambling into the room.
Isabell: I love the metaphor. You mentioned a few other things you can do on Instagram at the beginning, like posting photos or videos, and I think you also mentioned carousels. Which of those works best?
Jonas: I think Instagram is developing from a photo platform into a video platform. That means that currently, videos actually work better than photos, definitely, and carousels also work a little better than photos. Why is that? Well, carousels are those multiple photos or videos sitting next to each other. Then I have to swipe through them. And when I interact with content, watch a video for longer, maybe read the text with it, swipe through the carousel, then the algorithm thinks the content is so good, the person is so interested in it, that it rewards that positively, because of course it's super good if you engage with something; it's a positive signal and it gives the company more reach, of course.
Tino: And in carousels I can actually link videos and images?
Jonas: Exactly, you can do that with just photos. You can do that with just videos. You can mix video and photo, depending on what suits you and the story you want to tell. Of course, it makes sense to use a video to grab attention somehow. Simply because it's moving. That way people are more likely to stop in the feed, so I always call it a "fun stopper"; you stop scrolling simply because it's something exciting, and maybe then on slide 2 or 3 there can be a description or the short facts you have with the photo.
Tino: And what should I show in the posts, or how much of my company should I reveal at all?
Jonas: I always think it's great and exciting to get a look behind the scenes. So I think many people always do the classic product shoots they also have in their shop, product references in the background. It's just sometimes interesting, yes, we've all seen that. It's much more exciting to maybe show a detail of the product, or how it's made, or the processes behind the company? Who takes care of customer support? Who answers the phone when someone calls, just become a bit more personal - like on a date too. Yes, we know each other, you think I'm quite okay, and now it's simply about getting to know me. What does he do all day? How does he live, what quirks does he have, what edges does he have with his product? That's what's exciting now, that you want to show me.
Isabell: If I look at a classic eBay merchant who's just started on the platform, they usually don't have staff with someone who takes care of the whole thing, meaning the whole topic is already very time-consuming. You just said that somehow I should already create some kind of interaction once a day. Well, I still have my everyday business, my day-to-day operations that I need to take care of. So what's basically the minimum, where you'd say, okay, I can do that, or maybe do you have a tip on how to make the whole thing a bit more efficient?
Jonas: The little consultant in me naturally says, of course, do as much as possible every day. That's what I have to say now. But yes, of course that's not really worthwhile for smaller businesses. Yes, and that's why it's even more important to make a plan, to simply think up an editorial calendar. Okay, what can I post when? And the year is very predictable. Theoretically, we already know at Easter that Christmas falls on the 24th again, and theoretically I can already start pre-producing Christmas content when I have time. I just think things get a lot easier if you approach it with a plan and structure. And then prepare and schedule the content, and for scheduling there's simply this Facebook Creator Studio. You can Google it afterward. It's a tool from Facebook, it's free, and you can basically schedule posts for Instagram and Facebook over the whole year. And then you can just sit down for a day and pre-plan the posts for the week or the month, and you no longer really have to deal with it every day, thinking every day, oh God, oh God, what do I need now? What story do I make today? What reel do I make today? Instead, I think structure makes things much easier. That's one. The second is that it doesn't always have to be highly professional quality; it doesn't always have to be a professional photo shoot or a professionally produced video. Sometimes it really is enough to just take your phone, take a photo or record a short video, and then publish and post that.
Isabell: Hashtag date, hashtag dream wedding, hashtag eBay podcast. How many hashtags should I actually use?
Jonas: Everyone always asks me that question. And there isn't really a general answer. I'll just say my opinion on it: I think hashtags are becoming more and more irrelevant. Why is that? If you think about it, okay, what is a hashtag anyway? I imagine it like a drawer in an old government office, where I categorize images like folders, and then each hashtag is one of those folders, and now the question is where do I file my image so it fits? If I take a photo of a sunset, then it should go in the sunset folder, and then I open the tab with sunsets, and there are lots and lots of other pictures there, all red and yellow, and some sunsets by the sea or over the mountains. So that used to be incredibly, incredibly important. Also for the platform, to understand what is actually shown in this photo or this video. Nowadays, image recognition and video recognition read that out so well that they already know what's in the photo, even if we don't do a big categorization through hashtags. That means I suspect hashtags are becoming less and less important. Sorting by hashtags isn't quite as important anymore. It still helps a little with reach. That's true. But in the long run it's becoming less and less important, and that's why my recommendation is that 0 - 4 hashtags should actually be enough.
Tino: And maybe not entirely irrelevant seasonally at the moment: Christmas or xmas?
Jonas: Whenever you're a shop selling in Germany, use the German terms. The hashtag xmas, the posts would also be shown to people who might be in the USA. But that's not your target group at all; that's the wrong pedestrian zone to be flirting in. You have to be active in the right pedestrian zone too. If you sell in Germany, in the German pedestrian zone, then flirt with people there through your posts, and that's why you should use German hashtags. And if you're even more local, of course use the hashtags even more granularly and locally.
Isabell: Okay, now back to your metaphor: so we've flirted, we've had our first dates, lots of interaction. How do I get the customer to the altar to say yes?
Jonas: Two options. We had the story earlier: if I react to that, I actually start a 1-to-1 chat with you, and if I have a customer in a chat, then theoretically I can simply send them the link to a product there. I can ask them another question, is the chair in pink or green? And then I can just send the right link. That would be one way to get the person from the platform into my shop. And the second is brand new: recently you can make link stickers in stories, meaning place links in stories that lead to my shop. And of course it makes sense to place those within thumb's reach, meaning somewhere at the bottom or in the middle, because a link sticker in the top left corner of the screen, as a right-handed person, I almost lose my phone, so it falls out of my hand when I have to try to reach it up there on the left, and it's much easier when it's simply placed on the bottom and in the middle, where I can click it very, very easily. That's a little insider tip.
Tino: And date, wedding, marriage... It all actually sounds pretty easy. But why do so many people struggle with the topic? I mean, not with marriage.
Jonas: Sometimes that too. I just think we've grown up with all these platforms. Yes, we don't know it any other way. Even now, when we started with Facebook, social media is nothing new to us, we grew into it. Many people are just a little afraid because it's something new, and I always say you can't break anything, just do it and try it. So, just lose all your inhibitions and get started, that's step one. The second thing, yes, is that it's a bit of work, and especially at the beginning it's of course not like: I'm on the platform and boom, marriage proposals start pouring in. Of course it's not like that. I first have to build a community, build a following, and that simply takes time. Patience. There is a small shortcut, so to speak: I go onto the platform, start running ads that then lead directly to my shop. But if you really do it organically, it just takes a certain amount of time, and after 2 months you shouldn't let yourself get discouraged; you really have to say, okay, this takes time, I'll give myself one or two years as a merchant and just try it out.
Isabell: So you're saying you should stick with it for a good year, even if things aren't going so well right now?
Jonas: Yes, especially at the beginning, you don't have anyone following you yet, you really have to start from zero to build a community. It might help if you already have an existing email list of existing customers that you can send a message to saying you're now on Instagram too. But really starting an account from zero like that just takes time and patience.
Tino: Jonas, thank you so much for the exciting insights into the world of social media, and above all the great advice for our merchants. Now we still have the last question for you, and we actually ask all our guests this: what was the last thing you bought on eBay?
Jonas: That's really awkward right before Christmas. I'm not going to say what all I bought, there are one or two Christmas presents in there, and I also know that one or the other person will probably hear this podcast, and I don't want to spoil what they're getting for Christmas, I'll tell you that as soon as the microphones are off.
Isabell: But thanks again for the reminder, I of course still need a few gifts now, at the beginning of December, I'm more of a last-minute shopper. Yes, but we're saying goodbye for this week, Jonas, thank you so, so much for taking the time for us and being here today, and yes, in two weeks there will already be the next episode.
Tino: Thank you very much, Jonas. I'm now going to watch a few reels and stories on Instagram and say goodbye to everyone for now.
Isabell: Yes, and with that we're כמובן also saying goodbye to our listeners, and we hope you enjoyed today's podcast as much as we did, and yes, if you have any suggestions or questions, or feedback on the podcast, please let the eBay Community know, and of course we'd also be happy if you subscribe to the podcast on your preferred podcast platform. See you again in 2 weeks.
2 comments
secondhandmyfriend
·4 years agoGreat idea to share tips here. 👍 Thanks everyone
kongkra-92
·4 years agoGood news