Social Media 101 — How to Take Your Side Hustle Beyond Word-of-Mouth 

Regardless of the size of the enterprise, marketing is one of the most important catalysts of a business’s growth. I mean, you can’t make money if you can’t get customers, right? And you can’t get customers if no one hears about your business!


When starting a side hustle, word-of-mouth tends to be the de facto marketing strategy.

Well, to take things to the next level, here comes social media, which has the potential to be word-of-mouth on steroids!

It have real plenty social media platforms, though. 😮


So, ahhhhhmmmm… which one to choose?
Let’s look at four of the most common ones:

1. Facebook. Built around the human race’s propensity for macoing, Facebook is the largest social media platform, with almost 3 billion monthly active users. It also has a very robust (and free!) Marketplace that allows you to advertise and sell products directly.
   
   Something to consider: Facebook is good for marketing to clients over 25, with almost 50% of its users between the ages of 25 and 45. Also, Facebook’s Marketplace is an extremely good second-hand shop, which is perfect for a thrifting side hustle.

2. Instagram. Instagram is one of the easiest platforms on which to build a personal brand. Instagram is vital for businesses where fostering a more personal relationship is important. Its simple image (or video) plus caption format makes it ideal for marketing service-based and coaching-type businesses.
   
   Something to consider: Instagram is very good for organic reach. Since it is such a visual space, in addition to helping build relationships, it’s a great platform for selling “visual” products such as art commissions and videography.
   
   
3. YouTube. Second only to Facebook in terms of monthly active users, YouTube provides the means to access many new clients. However, due to its structure and unique algorithm, YouTube is more suited for long-term marketing needs using evergreen content (content that is not time-sensitive).
   
   Something to consider: Although video production is time-consuming, there are high potential returns on investment, since videos on YouTube have much more longevity when compared with posts on the other platforms listed here.
   
   
4. TikTok. With massive growth fuelled by the stay-at-home orders of the pandemic, TikTok now has over 1 billion monthly users. Their short-form video format is incredibly engaging, and many side hustlers and freelancers have leveraged this attention-grabber to grow awareness of their personal brands. 🕺🏽
   
   Something to consider: Approximately one-third of TikTok users are under 20 years old. This makes TikTok a prime location for marketing items and services targeted at teens and young adults, such as makeup and video games.

 
The platform you choose depends heavily on who you want to reach.  In the future, we’ll look at how to use these platforms to expose your business to as many of the people you want to reach as possible.