Dean Holborn

Holborn’s, Redhill, Surrey

“We have a Facebook page for each shop and we want to get into Instagram as well. We know we should be upping the ante on Instagram. My wife and my sister-in-law handle the Facebook pages and they’re very good at shouting about what’s new in the store and letting people know about events.

The store looked amazing for Halloween and if you look on our Facebook page, you can see all the pictures and videos that we uploaded. We had hundreds of people come to the shop as a result of those posts. We run a big event around Bonfire Night as well – we’ve run it for years. We put some great videos and pictures up of that as well. Social media is really good from an events perspective. I take my first delivery of Christmas trees in a few days and that will be all over socials as well. We sold 400 Christmas trees last year – £20,000-worth of business – and social media played its part.”

Umar Majid

Baba’s Kitchen, Glasgow

“We’re mainly on Facebook, where we have around 4,000 followers and likes. We have TikTok and Instagram, but we post very rarely there and don’t have as many followers. Our demographic is mostly over 30 years old and they’ve grown up with Facebook and still use it as their primary social media outlet compared to younger people on TikTok and Instagram.

We’ve found that we get a lot more engagement if we put a face in the picture – whether it’s me, my dad, a staff member or even a customer. You just get more traction than you would with a simple promotion or deal. Find out what your community and customers like, and focus your posts on that. We’re in the Buckfast triangle, so we did a post on our Facebook page about how you can drink Buckfast in a cocktail, with recipe ideas and challenges, and that got 2,500 likes and comments.”

Read more: How to use social media to promote your shop

Priyesh Vekaria

One Stop Carlton Convenience, Manchester

“I post across all the platforms. I usually create my content on TikTok and then share it to Facebook and Instagram. You don’t need to post multiple times a day, but with the algorithms the way they are, the more you post, the more reach you generate organically. If you only post once a week, you’ll sit at the bottom of people’s feeds. Whereas if you post every day, even if it’s repetitive, people will see you more. “Events are always good, people love events. We did a Bon- ????ire Night party and we shared that with the customers on social media. Also, when you win an award, posting that on social media gives you an edge. People like to know that their local store is an award-winning store. “Don’t bombard people with offers because you come across as desperate. It’s a balancing act and it has to have relevance to the customer.”

Read more advice for independent convenience retailers