This year, we’re excited to introduce cohorts—three teams based on raise amounts, designed to help you connect, engage, and succeed together. By working together, your team can achieve even greater fundraising success!
Let’s dive into some strategies to maximize your impact, support your team, and take full advantage of this event:
🐝 Click here to find your cohort team! 🐝
1. Why Cohorts?
Our goal with Cohorts is to strengthen community support within the Honeycomb network. By working together and amplifying each other’s messages, each team member can increase their visibility, reach new audiences, and inspire more investments. Think of your Cohort as your biggest cheerleaders for the weekend!
2. Get to Know Your Cohort Team
The week of Small Business Saturday, each cohort will hold a Cohort Strategy Session with the business owners and Honeycomb support team. Each cohort represents businesses aiming for similar raise goals, making it the perfect group to align with and share tips and advice with each other. Here’s what you can do with your team, or to prepare ahead of the meeting:
- Introduce Yourself: Craft a message to tell your teammates a little more about yourself and your business. Start by sharing your business’s mission, what you're raising funds for, and what support you’re seeking.
- Identify Common Goals: Many of you will share similar customer bases or market obstacles. Find creative ways to align in your messaging and support each other’s campaigns.
- Team Name Selection: Your cohort team name will be chosen during the strategy session.
3. Cohort Contest Details
On the first day of our promotion (November 30, 2024), we’ll kick off with a special Cohort Contest: the team with the most social media engagement will earn the title of Social Media Champions!
Date: November 30, 2024 12:00AM ET - November 30, 2024 11:59PM ET
Objective: Drive social media engagement for your Cohort! The team with the most combined engagement (likes, comments, shares) on their posts wins the contest.
How to Participate:
- Post actively on social media about your Honeycomb campaign on November 30.
- ⭐ Use the hashtag #SBSHoneycomb2024 for posts to be counted towards the contest⭐
- Engage with your Cohort members’ posts by liking, commenting, and sharing. Use the social media posts with your cohort's colors!
4. Key Marketing & Media Strategies for Cohort Collaboration
Working with your cohort gives your content greater reach beyond the amazing community you've built. Here are some key tactics to maximize engagement:
- Like, Comment, Share: Boost each other’s posts by engaging actively. A quick like, thoughtful comment, or share can double the visibility of your posts.
- Comment with Substance: Comments with meaningful engagement (e.g., “I love what [Business Name] is doing for our community!”) are more likely to be shared and encourage others to join the conversation.
- Tag Your Cohort Team: Whenever possible, tag your fellow cohort members to show solidarity and encourage a mutual support chain.
- Highlight Each Other’s Wins: If a cohort member reaches a milestone, share it on your page and tag them so they see it! Showing appreciation for each other’s efforts adds credibility and strengthens your audience’s trust.
- Celebrate Your Cohort Team: Rally with messages like “We’re part of #Team[YourCohort]! Help us win by liking, commenting, and sharing!”
5. Social Media Tips for Maximum Engagement
To help your cohort get the most out of social media on Small Business Saturday:
- Post Multiple Times Throughout the Day: Stay top of mind by posting consistently, especially during high-engagement times (morning, midday, and evening).
- Use Hashtags: Utilize #SmallBusinessSaturday, #InvestInLocal, and #SBSHoneycomb2024 for wider reach.
- Create Stories and Short Videos: Short, engaging content is more likely to be shared, creating ripple effects in engagement.
Pro Tip: Pin your Small Business Saturday post to the top of your profile so it’s the first thing visitors see.
- Plan Your Posts in Advance: Follow the SBS Calendar! Have engaging, creative posts ready to go for the first day.
- Encourage Your Supporters to Comment & Share: The more interaction, the higher your engagement.
6. How Honeycomb Will Support Your Cohort
Throughout the day, our team will be monitoring and encouraging Cohort activity. We’ll share some of the top posts across Honeycomb’s social media to boost visibility, and your Customer Experience Manager and Support Team will be available to answer questions and offer tips to help keep your team’s momentum high.
Let’s make this Small Business Saturday a memorable one. Good luck to each of our Cohorts, and thank you for bringing the spirit of community to life!