Had a chat with a local shop owner about Instagram ads last week

The guy runs a small bike repair shop two blocks from my place and told me he spends $150 a month on Instagram ads but gets maybe 2 customers from it. He said he just posts pictures of bikes he fixes and uses whatever hashtags pop into his head. Made me wonder how many small business owners are throwing money at ads without a real plan for targeting.

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rosejackson4mo ago

Yeah my sister runs a little vintage shop and she was doing the same thing, just throwing $100 at Instagram and hoping for the best. I helped her target people in our city who follow thrift store accounts and she went from maybe one sale a month to like five or six. The platforms definitely make it hard on purpose so you keep spending more.

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holly_young354mo ago

Oh man, "whatever hashtags pop into his head" - that's exactly what my neighbor does with her little bakery. She was spending $200 a month on Facebook ads and just posting pictures of croissants with #yummy and #foodie. I finally sat down with her and showed her how to target people within 5 miles who actually searched for bakeries or desserts. She cut her spending to $75 and gets more walk-ins now. Feels like social media companies love making it confusing on purpose so we just throw money at them.

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