Success story: Social media for small businesses

With an extensive business background, Nicola was looking for support to grow the social media for her new sustainable small business.  Thanks to Meta’s She Means Business programme, she found Digital Boost’s free mentoring and her business has since gone from strength to strength! 

The journey to becoming an entrepreneur

Having been an entrepreneur since 2007, Nicola jokingly says she was practically ‘unemployable’ so a 9-5 job was never on the table for her.  She’s a natural businesswoman, with a list on her phone of all the crazy inventions and ideas she’s had over the years.  After exiting her first business, she knew she wanted to create something more, but none of her ideas were exciting her.

Eye-opening waste

📸 image from citytosea.org.uk

Based in Devon, Nicola spent much of the Pandemic exploring the local estuary with her children.  She was horrified at how much plastic waste was washing into the estuary, and even more shocked at how much of it was menstrual waste.

In the UK, over 200,00 tonnes of menstrual waste goes to landfill every single year and can damage the environment like Nicola experienced. 

Spending time cleaning up the estuary during the Pandemic ignited a passion in Nicola to address the period plastic issue.  When she discovered this passion, Nicola knew it had to be her next business.  She got ‘goose pimples’ and ‘that whoosh’ that made her know she was on the right track!

Support from Meta and NatWest

“Without the programme […] I wouldn’t be where I am now”

After spending the first year of her business developing her products and researching manufacturers, Nicola knew she needed support to dive into the Digital world.  Her business was a far cry from her previous business in the wine industry, so she knew she needed a helping hand. 

Through NatWest, she found the application for Meta’s She Means Business programme.  Nicola was one of 50 female founders selected out of over 3000 applications – something she’s immensely proud of.

Nicola credits the programme with giving her the push she needed to really digitalise her business.  She says that without the programme, she ‘would still be sitting on the periphery of working in a digital market’ and wouldn’t have known how to take her business from idea to success. 

Through the programme, Nicola received credits for Facebook Ads and support from Meta to develop an ad campaign.  Social media for small businesses can feel daunting and it can be easy to feel boxed out by “the big players” when your budget is small.  It’s why programmes like this are so important as they give amazing businesses like Power of Pants the chance to upskill and understand how to leverage social media to grow their businesses!

The programme also gave Nicola much-needed accountability and a focus that allowed her to move her business forward.  Knowing that she had homework to complete, meetings to attend, and networking sessions to take advantage of motivated Nicola to complete the programme – leading to success!

Finding Digital Boost

The She Means Business programme was supported by NatWest and Digital Boost, with Digital Boost facilitating panel discussions, round-table sessions and unlimited free mentoring for the programme participants. 

Nicola discovered Digital Boost through the programme and was totally blown away by the free mentoring and Masterclasses she could access. 

Now, thanks to the ongoing support of Digital Boost’s mentors, a year on and things are ‘looking clearer’ for Nicola. 

She acknowledges that she had everything she needed, but it was all ‘jumbled’ in her head before she found Digital Boost. 

Social media for small businesses

During her mentoring sessions, Nicola has been able to get clarity around her ideal client and put this to work in her social media marketing. 

With over 20 million potential ideal clients, ranging in age, circumstance and gender, Nicola had struggled to get clear on how to attract her dream customers. 

She’s now worked with mentors to get clear on her audience, taken SEO Masterclasses, and had support to develop Google Ads and Facebook Ads campaigns. 

Nicola credits Digital Boost with learning how to ‘really understand social media’.  She’s learnt the ‘mechanics of how to do [social media]’ and ‘how to reach people’ which she says has been ‘invaluable’ for her business.

@powerofpants on Instagram

An ‘amazing’ introduction to Visa

“It was like the stars aligned’

Through their partnership with Visa, Digital Boost was able to invite Nicola to an exclusive mentoring day with members of the European Leadership team! 

Nicola joined a 3-hour personalised workshop with two members of the team to workshop ideas to grow Nicola’s business. 

Serendipitously, Nicola’s mentors were huge sporting advocates and realised her vision to challenge the way periods prevent many people from taking part in sports.

Through their network, they were able to introduce Nicola to key experts to support her as she took on this new challenge with her messaging.

For Nicola, having mentors not only offer advice but also show so much enthusiasm and open doors to further her business was invaluable.  The confidence it gave her was unmatched and she left the workshop totally blown away by this newfound energy!

Impact

“[I] 100% would not be in the position I am now if I hadn’t done any of this and met the mentors and gone through the programmes”

It’s been an absolute delight to see Nicola go from strength thanks to the support she’s received from us and our partners at Meta, NatWest and Visa.

It just goes to show that no matter where you are in your business journey, or what previous experience you have, support is beneficial for everyone! And when it’s personalised through mentorship, there’s no limit to how much a business like Nicola’s can grow! 

Want to get on track for success like Nicola did? Whether you’re looking for help with social media, strategy, marketing, fundraising or HR we’ve got you covered with our free mentoring for small businesses and charities!