When social media first started out many years back, it was meant to connect people. Today, its use has changed and evolved. In addition to connecting people, social media is now often used to sell products and services.
In the last few years, there have been several credible small business ideas that are finding favors on social platforms. For example, dietary supplement manufacturing is emerging as a hot idea given how health and fitness-conscious people have become on social media. This can be a huge market and can generate sizable revenues if you are able to leverage the right social media strategies like Influencer Marketing and others.
If you’re savvy with your social media use, you can also use social media to your advantage by starting a small business. Gone are the days when having a physical store was the only way to have a business, especially now since more shoppers are preferring to shop online. So, social media is a market opportunity that you should definitely consider.
Here’s a list of small business ideas that you can start as a social media savvy entrepreneur:
Selling custom printed products is another good small business opportunity on social media. This can be anything from mugs, kitchen cutlery, cheese boards, custom stickers, and bags, among many things.
Custom printed products will always be a hit as people love personalized products, whether for themselves or for their gifts. If you keep improving and offering more kinds of personalized and custom printed products, then your market on social media will surely grow. Alternatively, you can design custom foil stickers for a popular game, TV show, or book and market this to people within those fandoms, as many people love to purchase little trinkets and items of their favorite character or series.
Today, for instance, there are many businesses that are turning kids’ drawings into jewelry or pillowcases. Vector lamps of a photo outline are popular, too. Find your niche and the kind of printed products that you’d like to sell so you can focus on a specific group of customers to target for your Facebook merchandise store.
If you’re not camera-shy, love talking, and don’t mind putting a glimpse of your life out in the open, then starting out a vlog is a good money-making opportunity!
If you take the time to look through YouTube, you’ll notice that there are many vlogs up on the rise. That’s simply because there’s a market for it. YouTube monetizes videos depending on the number of subscribers and likes it achieves. So, when your vlog is able to reach their requirement, you can start getting paid for your videos.
Through vlogging, you’re effectively earning while doing something that you love. Do note that you’ve got to be patient with your growth as success won’t happen overnight.
If you have a good following on any social media platform, you can opt to be a social media influencer.
When you work as one, different brands will give their products and services to you so you can test them out. Then, you leave a review or promote the product or service through a social media post.
Typically, you’re going to be paid for every post that you make, and the amount will also depend on the number of followers that you have. Apart from that per post payment scheme, there may also be brands that’ll send you a discount code or an affiliate link. For every purchase that was made through the link, you’ll have a commission.
If you’ve got a knack for taking photos, then you can also work as a travel photographer. Social media, particularly Instagram, is undoubtedly one of the best avenues to showcase your talent because it’s open for the world to see.
The photos you take can be up for sale through your blog or your social media accounts.
Do you love sewing or knitting? Why not turn that passion into a business on social media sites.
Depending on your level of expertise, there are many things you can sew or knit. With sewing, you can go for anything such as infant clothing, home goods, or even costumes. For knitting, there’s a market for knitted placemats and cup holders, among others.
With this kind of business, however, be sure to post your lead time on the order process post or notes on your social media sites. This way, your customers are going to be informed that some items might not be immediately available because you still have to create them. This will show customers that each piece is, in fact, handmade by you.
A phone case business is another great idea. Especially for the younger generation, there’s still that market for phone cases that are trendy and cute. More so, there are those who love to change their phone cases regularly to match their mood or outfit.
So, a phone case business, as a small business idea, is a profitable and marketable one on your social media sites where many of the users are also from the younger group of individuals.
If you love to shop and you don’t mind shopping for others once in a while, you can also post your errands or personal shopping services on social media.
When you go to a particular store, especially those that are on sale, you post individuals of the products that the store is selling. Then, on your social media account, your customers, who are also necessarily your followers, will reply in the comments section as to the items they want you to get for them.
Generally, your fee can either be per item or for the entire bulk purchase. If a shipping or delivery fee is needed for this to reach the location of some shoppers, then the shipping fee will be borne by that particular shopper as well.
For those of you who have a knack for organizing, you can also post on social media your professional organizing services. In keeping with the times today, if face-to-face consultations aren’t possible, then many of these organizing services are also now done online.
Once you’re able to establish a strong following of clients, you can also expand your business so you can start selling organization tools, like buckets, drawer organizers, among others, on your social media accounts. That way, whenever a potential client asks for your organization’s services after seeing your social media account, they’ll also purchase the needed tools from your own online store.
This list of ideas isn’t exhaustive as there are hundreds of small business ideas that you can do! Your best bet can actually be just as good as anyone else’s. Each small business will have its own fair share of pros and cons, so it’s up to you to sell those products and services that resonate well with you.
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Mashum Mollah is an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at Viacon, a digital marketing agency that drive visibility, engagement, and proven results. He blogs at BloggerOutreach.io.
