Social media helps a bricks and mortar shop when it makes locals feel they already know you before they step inside. That means the owner on camera, the stories behind your stock, and content that looks like your street, not a catalogue. Get Known handles the strategy, filming and posting so you can stay behind the counter.
People do not follow shops, they follow the person behind the counter. When locals recognise your face from short videos, walking past your window is far more likely to turn into walking in, because the shop already feels familiar. You cannot film every day while serving customers and receiving stock, so Get Known batches filming into single sessions and turns a few hours into weeks of content.
A product photo on a white background with a price is a catalogue page, and nobody follows a catalogue. What earns attention is the story around the stock: why you chose this supplier, the delivery being unpacked, the item you nearly did not order that keeps selling out. When people know why something is on your shelf, they come in to see it instead of scrolling past it.
Views are not visits, and it is easy to mistake one for the other. A video can reach people who will never set foot in your postcode, so raw reach flatters every physical shop. What social media reliably does for bricks and mortar retail is build recognition among locals, so the people who already pass your door have a reason to open it. Your position, your window and your signage still do the heavy lifting for passing trade, and we will say so plainly.
Local retail runs on a calendar: market days, school holidays, street festivals, late night trading before Christmas. Content tied to that calendar shows locals your shop is part of the suburb, not just a tenant in it. Filming your stall at the weekend market, the Christmas window going in, or a swap with the cafe two doors down puts your shop in front of people who already spend money in your street.
A chain can beat you on price, range and parking, and pretending otherwise wastes your money. What it cannot do is put its owner on camera, remember what a regular bought last month, or explain why a product suits the people who actually live nearby. Personality is the one thing head office cannot roll out across a national network, so it belongs at the centre of everything you post.
If your shop lives on passing trade in a busy centre and you are already at capacity, more attention will not fit through the door. If your Google Business Profile has no photos, wrong opening hours or unanswered reviews, fix that before paying anyone for content, because someone searching for a shop like yours right now is closer to buying than someone scrolling. We tell owners when this is the case, even though it costs us the job.
Indirectly, yes, but rarely on the day you post. Social media builds recognition, so when a local walks past your shop it feels familiar and worth stepping into. It works alongside your window, your signage and your Google listing rather than replacing them. Treat it as a way to be known in your suburb, not as a switch that turns on foot traffic.
The owner talking to camera, the stories behind your stock, and what is happening in your suburb. New stock works as content when you explain why you chose it, not when you photograph it against a white wall with a price. Community moments like market days, street events and collaborations with neighbouring businesses show locals you are part of the area.
With personality, because that is the one thing a chain cannot copy. A chain cannot put its owner on camera, name the street it is on, or tell the story of why a product made it onto the shelf. An independent shop that shows its face consistently becomes part of the suburb in a way a national brand cannot.
You will get more from social media if you are, because you are the reason people choose your shop over a chain. Being on camera does not mean filming every day. Get Known batches filming into single sessions, so a few hours produces weeks of content and you can get back to the counter.
No, and any agency that says otherwise is selling, not advising. If your sales come almost entirely from passing trade and you are already busy, or your Google Business Profile needs fixing first, social media is not the right next spend. Put money where your customers actually decide, which for many local shops is the search result and the shopfront.
Part of our social media management service, which covers every industry we work across. Our founder Nicholas Remondos also writes longer guides at nicholasremondos.com.
Book a content audit. If social media is not your bottleneck, we will tell you.
Book a content audit