35. Tips on Leveraging Social Media For Community and Success

Crank & Boom Podcast with Toa Green

Overwhelmed by running a business AND having to promote it on social media? In this enlightening episode, our host Toa discusses how to make social media work for you and your schedule, tapping into its potential to create a loyal community, and her personal journey of harnessing it for business growth.

Starting from the early days in her Thai restaurant business with posts only on Facebook, she began to realize customers' rising interest in her ice cream posts, and how the power of that community helped lead the way into creating a booming ice cream business.

Toa emphasizes the importance of a sound social media strategy, breaking it down into three fundamental (and easy) steps to keep it manageable. The episode also deep-dives into social media's complexities, providing effective solutions to combat overwhelm. Toa's tips range from planning your social media content using various tools available, to the importance of crafting authentic stories that resonate with your audience. The episode wraps up with a powerful reminder of social media's broader purpose: spreading your unique message to the world, potentially making a significant difference in someone's life.

In this episode you’ll gain insights into:

• How to create a social media plan that works for you and your business, and doesn’t drain you of time or energy

• Ways to create community through social media, and translating that online community into real community of faithful followers and customers

• Strategies on how to successfully outsource, if social media is not your thing, affordably and sensibly

The key moments in this episode:

00:01:38 - How social media has evolved

00:08:22 - 3 steps to setting a solid social media foundation

00:10:44 - The power of authenticity in social media

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Thank you to our sponsors!

Goldbelly | Find the most famous, most regional iconic foods from around the country–including Crank & Boom Ice Cream–and ship it all right to your door at goldbelly.com/

Holly Hill Restaurants | 9 unique locations in Kentucky that celebrate the connection of family, to farm to table. Find stories, recipes, how-to's, and curated gifts by visiting hollyhillandco.com

Resources Mentioned in Episode

• Discord Social Media Platform

• Canva Social Media Planning Tool

• Sprout Social

• Later Social (now Greatly Social)

• Be sure and look for Toa’s 10 Tips for Social Media Success, coming soon to the Crank & Boom resource page

Quotable Moments From the Episode

“It was really neat to start building that ice cream community just from our Facebook posts. Having it translate from social to real life made me see the power and the effects of social media and being able to say, ‘Oh, this is how I reach people.’ Because we didn't have any money for paid ads, We couldn't put ads in mailers, we couldn't create mailers, we couldn't get into magazines.That was really the start of how we created our online community and how we built that along with building our real life community as well.” - Toa Green

“I think [consistency] is the biggest thing because if you show up one day and then 2.5 weeks later you show up, it's not going to help really build your audience, and it's not going to make the algorithm very happy, and they're going to think that you're inconsistent.” - Toa Green

“Enjoy the process. If you absolutely hate social media and you don't spend any time there, then maybe figure out a way to outsource it.” - Toa Green

“Usually there is some other driving force as to why you're wanting to start a business. And if you can take that same purpose and translate it into social media, just think about how many more people you can reach.” - Toa Green

Connect with Toa! C&B Podcast website

C&B Ice Cream website

C&B Podcast's Instagram

C&B Substack

*Production by Four Eyes Media*