Lynchburg small businesses engage customers and build brand using social media

Social media is catalyzing Lynchburg’s small business growth in a big way. With continued additions such as Instagram Stories and Facebook Live, many locals are making these platforms their primary marketing place.

Small business social media use differs greatly, even within Lynchburg’s comparatively small economy. Businesses utilizing social media can directly link high levels of engagement to their business’s success.

“Lynchburg is a very local focused area and (the consumers) like things that are theirs,” Leah Jones of 434 Marketing, a local marketing consulting company, said. “They like to own that business. They like to own the story behind something. The things that get a better response are things that
tell a story.” 

Businesses are hiring additional employees to manage social media accounts or create content, as managing a professional social media account can be aggressively time consuming.

Lynchburg’s local boutique Live Trendy or Die trains their employees how to post on their Instagram and makes posting a duty for each shift, according to manager Aimee Patrick. Owner Stephanie Atkinson even
uses Instagram to find potential clothing wholesalers for her store, according to News and Advance.

Daniel Coco of The White Hart and Jason Arbusto of Daughters and Sons Pizza have dedicated employees to manage their accounts. Coco suggests that having a dedicated employee is essential so that time is not taken away from other business aspects.

Businesses may hire a third-party organization to manage accounts and create content. Lynchburg’s Double Tap Media, a marketing agency specializing in social media, uses skills like graphic design, photography and video production to create content for their clients.

“For a lot of industries in this economy, recruiting and hiring is a big goal, even more so than revenue,” Tim Gosnell, founder and managing director of Double Tap Media said.  

The White Hart announced open positions via social media this week.

Some small businesses are seeing more engagement via Instagram. Snapchat and LinkedIn are also becoming more common, but few local organizations have been successful on Twitter.

“A lot of smaller businesses don’t necessarily want to compete on Twitter,” Jones said. “It’s just a chaotic space right now.” 

Some organizations that have had success on Twitter are News and Advance at 8,920 followers, Thomas Road Baptist Church at 4,321, Joe Beans Coffee at 2,578 and the Lynchburg Humane Society 1,511.

Most businesses generally see higher numbers on Facebook, as the number of its users still outweighs all other platforms. However, more likes on Facebook versus followers on another platform does not mean more engagement, which is a more accurate definer of an account’s success.

Mama Crockett’s Cider Donuts is a Facebook champion of Lynchburg, with about 50,000 likes. While their Instagram followers are less than a seventh of their Facebook likes, their posts see many more likes, and they post stories about as often or more than they post on Facebook. Other mobile businesses like Nomad Coffee Co. also primarily post location information to Instagram.

The effectiveness of hashtags and the addition of stories has persuaded many to focus more on Instagram. Rookie’s, Golf Park Coffee Co., Third Wave Coffee, Nomad Coffee Co. and Live Trendy or Die have higher engagement via Instagram than Facebook. Live Trendy even includes their Instagram account outside their store window.

“The college age is going to be the most active within Instagram and Snapchat compared to Facebook,” Gosnell said. 

Businesses are not just looking for engagement, however. Businesses measuring their social media account’s success do not look to follows, likes or shares.

“There are several ways to measure (success), but the bottom line is going to be sales, and then long-term health of a brand of business is going to be customer service and customer satisfaction, which we work toward improving,” Gosnell said.

“As a social media marketer, it’s fun to get the interaction of people and we’re able to engage that way here in Lynchburg more so. It’s a lot harder, in some of the bigger markets,” Gosnell said.

As local businesses search for ways to grow their businesses, social media has proved a valuable tool to reach out into the community and engage with costumers.