Special to the HT
MEEKER | Kneeling at the basin of the pedicure chair on a quiet November morning, Candice Maes, owner of Rozzi’s Salon, explained how she was charmed by the story of a new customer who had recently moved to town and discovered Rozzi’s through Facebook. The business page, which had both her booking page and reviews directly linked, allowed the new customer to easily learn about the salon’s services and book accordingly.
Maes credits the acquisition of this new client to the skills she learned from a Meeker Chamber of Commerce’s Lunch and Learn session she attended with Madi Ducey – widely known in the community as “Social Media Madi.”
The Lunch and Learn training series is a free workshop opportunity with lunch for business owners to learn from experts on various business topics, and is part of the Chamber’s “Biz First” program, which works to “support local entrepreneurship through education, counseling, networking, and resources to improve economic development in the community.” This series launched last May with LearnBiz’s Ryan Murray “Mastering Customer Engagement” class where participants learned to cultivate strong customer relationships and loyal community bases as well as navigate uncomfortable situations with confidence. In September and October, Madi’s trainings shifted the focus of classes to the capabilities of social media marketing.
Margie Joy, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority’s (CHFA) Western Slope Community Relations Manager, explained that through a community partnership grant, CHFA was able to fund the Lunch and Learn series, as well as The Business Center in Town Hall where these classes take place. CHFA is a self-sufficient, quasi-governmental organization dedicated to supporting affordable housing and economic development by investing in the on-the-ground work organizations are already doing to support their communities.
As Sara Stephenson, executive director of the Meeker Chamber of Commerce, states, “The heart of the program is to help businesses stay strong and thrive rather than stagnating, and coming up with ways that older businesses can help work with the newer businesses that need all the help they can get.”
“It’s hard in a small town,” she adds.
One widely-cited analysis of rural entrepreneurship notes that rural firms “contain smaller economies and fewer market opportunities, which are limited by the size and remoteness of rural communities,” leaving rural entrepreneurs with “fewer income-generating opportunities” than their urban counterparts (Henderson, Low & Weiler, 2007).
In 2018, RPI Consulting, a local management consulting firm based in Durango that focuses on community economic development in the mountain west, performed a business survey in which 73% of respondents reported that they get their public information about local events from social media, and 91% of people responded that they have a Facebook account for their business. 76% of respondents also reported interest in trainings to assist their businesses, with leading interests in finance or taxes (52%), marketing (48%), and customer service (24%).
Stephenson approached Ducey, an elementary school teacher turned social media entrepreneur who helps small businesses market themselves, to create classes that teach business owners about how to use social media: from using brand assets and graphics to search engine optimization and everything in between. Madi explained that when she is approached by businesses, they may have a Facebook page, but are confused about what and how often to post among other struggles. Maes stated that she attended to learn “how it all works, because I had a Facebook page that I posted on occasionally, but really I had no idea.” Stephenson aims to help coach businesses by getting them to “do what they can.”
“Not everyone can post everyday. I laid out the tools to use, did a little bit of tutorials on how to use them, and answered questions. But I reiterate to take the information, use what you can, how you can, and do not put too much pressure on it. Have fun with it.”
Stephenson, on account of the Chamber’s Facebook page, echoes her understanding of the confusion people feel when it comes to social media promotion. “Sometimes I will post a video of sheep going down the highway and it will get thousands of likes, and other times a post will get two likes. It’s all the algorithm.”
In the face of these algorithmic uncertainties, Ducey preaches that doing what you can and being consistent is what matters. “A lot of people worry that posting too much will bother people, but not everyone is going to see your post everyday. You’ll catch more people that way. And you’ll get more interaction that way.”
As Ducey notes, social media helps with visibility and getting businesses out there. The lessons aim to build that visibility on a smaller scale too, through marketing connections where the community uplifts one another. Maes calls this “friends helping friends.” She often receives referrals from Emily Gerloff, owner of The Mend, who shares Rozzi’s posts and tags her. “It’s like, come get your nails done here; go get your skin stuff done there.”
Despite strong interest per the 2018 survey, turnout remains a challenge. The November Lunch and Learn was canceled due to low attendance— a decision organizers made to respect participants and facilitators’ time. The session has been rescheduled and will take place on Dec. 16 from 12-1 p.m. in the Business Center on the second floor of Town Hall (see the ad on Page 9). This will be the last social media marketing class of the series.
Next, Stephenson explained that she hopes to create an accounting/finance class for businesses; she explained that in order to best serve the community’s interests and needs, the Chamber strives to acquire continual feedback and interest topics for future classes.
By Kate Lockwood
Meeker High School alumni Kate Lockwood is a student at Colorado College and a former intern at the Herald Times.