Small Business Spotlight: Succulent Native

In a recent study by Campaign Monitor, small business owners ranked customer acquisition as their biggest marketing challenge and ranked social media as their biggest opportunity both to build brand awareness and to gain new customers. While many small business owners already know the marketing value of social media, actually developing and implementing an effective social media strategy can be an entirely different story.

If you’re a small business owner curious about how other small businesses are effectively utilizing social media to grow their businesses, keep reading! We sat down with Ashli Hughes, Social Media Manager for Succulent Native, a boutique plant and gift shop in Austin, TX, to get the scoop on the social media strategies that have been most successful for this small but thriving small business.

Ashli Hughes, Social Media Manager, Succulent Native

What were Succulent Native’s main social media goals when you first joined the team as Social Media Manager?

When I joined the team, our goals were to keep building our following and to get more engagement. The previous social media manager barely posted, didn't share people's posts that included us, never engaged with our plant community, and had a cold algorithm. I focus on warming it up.

Which platform(s) did you identify as most relevant to Succulent Native’s customer base?  

Instagram has by far been the platform with the most engagement. TikTok is good, and Threads has shown surprising growth. Facebook is dead.

What type of social media content have you found regularly achieves the highest engagement?

When I remix someone else's content that's had a lot of views, we get a huge bump in likes. Also, carousels with a song get great traction.

Describe your process for planning out Succulent Native’s social media content?

When I plan content, I look at what's getting the most traction and use that to guide the next round of posts. I also look at our newsletters and see what's getting opens. 

What tips can you give small business owners for getting started with developing social media plans for their businesses?

I suggest creating Reels and posting on Instagram in all four places (feed, stories, reels, and notes) as much as possible. Take thoughtful pictures, and make sure to engage with your following. Follow people and make thoughtful comments on their posts. Little by little, it will add up.