Hello, welcome back to you slice of success.
I am so glad you're here, friend of the episode.
Before we dive in, I wanna just quickly talk about today's topic, which is why your cake business isn't growing on Instagram and what you can do to fix it.
So if you have ever felt stuck at unsure why your posts are not reaching the right people, or you're frustrated with your engagement this episode is for you, and speaking of social media, if you're looking for a clear strategy to turn your Instagram into a tool that brings you more cake orders, my brand new course, social media blueprint is launching very soon.
It's designed to walk you through exactly how to use Instagram in the right way without spending hours figuring it all out and I'm going to share more details at the end, but if you are curious right now, go and check out the link in the show notes.
Okay, so I'm just gonna dive straight into the episode and let's get your social media working for you so first let's talk about the biggest mistakes that I see cake makers making on Instagram and if you are doing any of these, don't worry, we're gonna fix them today.
So the first mistake that I see is posting without a strategy.
So just posting random cake photos is just not enough.
If you are posting a cake photo and you're writing a really simple caption like loved making this cake and then leaving it at that, it's not giving people a reason to engage with you or to take any action at all.
So instead, you want to try something like I loved making this cake.
It was designed to match the celebration.
It could be, you know, the theme of the party.
It could be couples wedding theme.
It could be a kid's birthday. Um and then you can ask a question.
So what kind of theme would you have for your party or or what's the thing you like most about this cake, you know, asking a question?
It invites the conversation and encourages potential customers to imagine ordering from you, you need to be intentional with what you share.
So you've got to think about what your ideal customers actually want to see and are they looking for inspiration?
Do they need help choosing the right cake?
Your content should answer their questions and guide them towards booking with you.
It's the next mistake is focusing on followers instead of customers.
Now, this is big because I see so many people worrying about the number of followers. And more followers don't always mean more orders.
So instead of focusing on growing your audience as fast as possible, you have to shift your attention.
You need to shift it to attracting the right people, because engagement and connection matter so much more than numbers.
So the question that you want to ask yourself is, are the people who are following you actually potential customers, or are they just random accounts?
Because having a small audience but an engaged audience of local customers who constantly interact with your post, they're interested in your cakes, is far more valuable than having thousands of followers who are never going to engage and are never going to order from you.
The goal isn't just to gain followers.
It's to build the relationships with the people who could actually turn into paying customers.
And the third mistake, you're not asking them.
You're not telling them what to do next.
And if you're not telling them what to do next, they're not gonna take action.
Every post should have some sort of simple, clear instruction, whether that's DMing you for your availability, whether that is too tag a friend who might like the cake, whether it's clicking a link in your bio. The more direct you are, the more likely people are to engage, but there is a but Now, does every single post need a call to action?
No, not necessarily.
So while a call to action is a great way to boost engagement and to like guide your audience towards the next step, they really need to feel natural and not overly forced.
You don't want every post to sound like a salesp pitch and that is a mistake that actually I see a lot of so constantly saying book now contact me to book and take over and over and over again.
You are just scaring people away because it is like a sales pitch.
It has been mixed up.
Sometimes a strong call to action like click the link in my to book your key is great.
Other times you need something a little bit softer, like just asking a question just simple, simple posts, like let me know in the comments which you prefer. And it's okay to just post something engaging, like a behind the scen story or a personal moment without adding a cult of action at all.
The key is balance.
You want to create post that encourage the interaction, but also keep things feeling natural and authentic because if it's if it's too saly, then people are just not going to engage it.
They're just not.
Instead of just showing a cake and hoping people that are gonna comment or ask a question or anything else, you need to prompt them to take the next step.
You need to encourage the interaction.
So, for example, instead of saying, loved making this cake , try something more engaging, would you choose a floral or a minimalist wedding cake for your big day?
Let me know in the comments.
You know, something like that.
This invites their engagement, and it keeps your audience involved.
So now that we know what not to do, let's talk about how to actually get your posts in front of the right people.
The ones who are ready to buy from you.
Number one # #s and tags they can they can really help you reach the people in your area.
Now, ashs are not as important as they used to be.
They used to be that you could use 30 ashtags in every single post and that would be whatabbed everybody's attention.
It's not so much the case anymore.
So right now, the sort of aim is sort of five or six ashs in every post and the most important thing is actually the caption, so the caption is now the most important part of your post, because the algorithm isatching through all the words, and based on what you've written , it will know how to categorize it, it will know who to put it in front of. That sort of thing.
So you do have to think about what you're posting, but ashtill count.
Instead of using broad #s like cakes of Instagram, wedding cakes of Instagram, focus on the ones that are actually gonna connect you to your local audience, because you don't want the whole world to know about your cakes because the whole world isn't gonna order from you.
So #s like Manchester wedding cakes or NYC custom cakes.
These will hope potential customers in your area find you faster , and another great tip is to mix different types of ashags so use a combination of your local ashs, like your city region, etc., but also adding industry specific hashtags, so luxury wedding cakes, custom birthday cakes, that sort of thing. Occasion based #s are also a good idea, so occasion based would be, say, wedding cage 2025. Baby shower cake cakes, things like that.
So using a mix of these is gonna increase your chance of being discovered by the right audience . But we can go one step further and not forget about location tags.
So a location tag is brilliant for when you, for example, are delivering to a venue or you set an up a wedding cake, etc. Tagging the location of that venue is gonna help local customers and businesses find you when somebody goes onto Instagram and looks at a venue and they can search by the tag of the location, you're gonna pop up.
So tagging popular events and locations in your area can also get your work in front of potential clients. Who are planning events nearby?
Okay, so number two to actually make this work talk about what your customers care about.
So most cake makers only post their work, but your customers need to see more than just pretty cakes . They want to know what makes working with you special.
If you can't differentiate yourself and make yourself stand out compared to the millions of other cake makers around you, you will you will dip out.
So you want to share behind the scenes content.
Explain your process as frequently asked questions about your booking system.
The more that they understand what it's like to work with you, the more confident they're gonna feel about booking with you . And we can take it a step further.
We can show the hum side of your business.
People buy from people.
So post about what inspires your designs, highlight some customer experiences, walk your audience through the journey of a keycorder , shared the small moments like how you prep for a big wedding order or what a Kate tasting session looks like.
People really do love seeing the real stories and not just the finished product products because it builds the trust and it builds that connection.
People buy from people that trust and that connection that you get from sharing these behind the scenes um stories, people learn to trust you and they understand that you are real business, there is a whole process behind this and it's not just a pretty cake at the end of the day . So another great way to keep customers engaged is to include interactive content. Poles, Q&A stickers, and things like that in your stories, and then behind the scenes clips makes people feel involved.
OK, so use different methods to get people engage . It doesn't just boost engagement.
It also helps you understand what your customers love, so you can create content that speaks to them.
So if you're asking a Q&A in your stories, uh you can facial content around the answers and the polles.
Okay, so numbers three to help you boost your engagement is to engage before you post.
Instagram rewards accounts that are active.
So if you just login to pop your post app and then you log off, it's really not good for you.
The algorithm is gonna say no, you just a spam, you're just a bot.
I'm not going to show your posts very fast so you have to actually be active on the app now I'm not talking about spending all day going through and scrolling and liking and comment on everything that's that's not what we're doing here but you do have to be active so my advice would be to spend 10 minutes and engaging with other accounts before you post so when I'm saying engaging with other accounts, you want to like some posts.
You want to comment on some posts . Um and when you comment in commenting on the posts comment on posts that are related to your business.
So if you're a wedding cake maker, then you can comment on posts from local wedding venues or maybe some event planners if you're like a celebration cake, then you've got some event planners around you that could come to you for a cake comment on their posts. Even past customers, if you're following customers, comment on their posts, because you know, it's really personal and then then you become like a friend to them and then they pass your details on to other people.
Doing all of this for 10 minutes before you post your stuff increases the chances of your content showing up in their feeds.
So you're expanding your reach naturally.
OK, so I'm gonna wrap up with some small tweaks that you can make right now to improve your Instagram engagement and get more customers so three small changes number one improve your bio. Your bio is one of the first things that potential customers see so make sure it clearly states who you are what you do and how they can book with you so you want to avoid vague phrases and just get straight to the point.
Something like I'm gonna give you a wedding cake example, because obviously that's what I do, so that's what I know best. Luxury wedding cakes in london , now booking for 2025.
It works far better than cake artist DM for orders something like that so if you have a cake maker WhatsApp me for an order in a as your bio, that's just not gonna work . It's just is not going to work.
You have to be quite specific and straight to the point.
So adding a location in there is gonna really, really help.
You know, these these bios, they're searchable.
So if somebody's searching for cake maker in london , having cake maker London in your biioname is a win.
You're gonna pop right up there.
Okay, so number two of another small change, use your stories.
Stories are so important.
I think they're neglected by a lot as well because you post to your main grid and you're done . It's Instagram stories are a really great way to connect with your current audience.
They don't have to be perfect either.
You just got to show up consistently, so you can't just post one story and then next week post another story.
You do have to show up consistently because it builds this connection. But you use stories to share more of your personality, um show behind the scenes moments, you can ask or interacted questions and use the poles and use the stickers.
They are great for that, and customers love getting a glimpse of the person behind the cakes.
Stories are such a great way to build that connection, so start using stories and again, remember, doesn't have to be perfect.
These are more like behind the scenes.
These are more of your own personality.
So start using it, build those connections.
So number three, is what you can do right now, repurpose your content , so essentially, you're not gonna have new cakes to post all the time unless you're making a cake on a daily basis, you're not gonna have new photos to share all the time reuse what you already have so you can turn a photo into a real you can go and have a look at a caption that you've written before and turn that into a carousel post you can use a customer review and create a graphic of an image on camera and use that as a standalone post.
This is gonna make it so much easier to stay consistent without constantly creating new content because you might not have new content to constantly create.
Go back a year in your Instagram. See what post you posted a year ago, which cakes you really love post them again.
Now I'm not saying post the exact same thing.
It can be the same photo absolutely, but the caption has to change and remember the caption is really important.
It has to engage your customer.
It can't just be a love make in this case It just can't be that.
It can't be left blank either.
That's a huge thing to avoid.
Do not leave a blank caption . Okay, so the three things you're gonna do right now to improve your Instagram.
You're going to improve your bio.
You're going to use stories to connect with your audience and you're going to reuse some content.
If you have been struggling with social media and you would like a step by step plan to actually turn Instagram into a tool that gets you more a cake orders and you need to check out social media blueprint.
Now it is not out yet.
It will be out at the end of February so if you are listening to this at the beginning of February when it's released, it's not out yet , but it will be soon.
What's gonna be inside the course so how to create content that actually converts into bookings?
The Instagram strategy that works without needing to post every single day and there are going to be tools to save time and grow faster.
There is a wait list at the moment, and if you join the wait list, you will not only be the first person to know when it is available.
You're gonna get nicely cheeky little discount.
So yeah, get on that wait list.
The link is in the show notes for that.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I really do hope this episode gives you some clear steps to improve your Instagram strategy and start attracting your dream customers.
And if you love this episode, I would really appreciate it.
If you would share it with a fellow cake maker who might just need to hear it.
And as always, if you've got any questions, you can doer me on Instagram, I always love to chat to other cake makers.
I am on Instagram at the cake business Academy.
So I'm gonna see you next week for another episode oflice of Success and until then keep going and keep growing.
