Welcome again to Later’s SelfMade collection, the place we showcase small enterprise house owners, their journeys, and suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs.
We spoke to Annabel Okeya, founding father of Seventh & Oak, an unbiased model of handmade and eco-friendly house perfume items based mostly out of Ontario, Canada.
Annabel shares the inspiration behind the model, why she’s captivated with sustainability, and the way she’s constructed an engaged digital neighborhood — all throughout a world pandemic.
In Might of 2020, Annabel seen a rising development within the candle trade.
As a rule, she discovered that store-bought candles had been riddled with poisonous compounds, excessive quantities of lead, and paraffin wax, all of which “affected my respiratory and gave me complications.”
So she determined to do one thing about it.
It was then that Annabel tried her hand at creating candles herself, utilizing acquainted substances like soy wax and plant-based oils.
And what initially began as a interest, quickly was a splendidly scented enterprise enterprise.
Combining her ardour for sustainability along with her background in advertising and design, Seventh & Oak was born.
For Annabel, her mission is easy: create high quality candles that do not come on the expense of the setting or our furry pals.
“I created Seventh & Oak to fill a void within the eco-friendly candle neighborhood and make a optimistic influence on the planet, one scent at a time.”
Quick-forward to current day, and Seventh & Oak’s candles have entered our houses and landed coveted options in publications like Elle USA and My Domaine.
Later: Sustainability is certainly one of your core values, how do you weave that messaging into your content material technique?
Annabel: My mum taught me to reside sustainably, and it’s one thing I’ve all the time carried with me.
We’re so captivated with being sustainable that it’s certainly one of our content material pillars at Seventh & Oak.
Each different grid submit, Instagram Story, or caption touches on sustainability — we also have a collection devoted to sharing information about individuals bettering the planet.
Later: What has been the important thing to your success on social media?
Annabel: Creating shareable graphics and crowd pleasing images of our merchandise. This requires numerous planning and batching behind the scenes.
Later is a unbelievable software that we’ve come to like for social media scheduling.
We’re in a position to schedule content material throughout Instagram, Fb, Pinterest, Twitter, and even TikTok — saving us a ton of time.
I’m additionally such a knowledge nerd so the Analytics tab is my favourite. It has a lot data to leverage and craft efficient advertising methods — like hashtags to make use of, greatest time to submit, and what sort of content material to deal with.
Later: Talking of making eye-catching images — you’ve such a robust visible aesthetic. What goes into creating your feed?
Annabel: We gravitate in the direction of sure colour palettes, and with my design background, we’re in a position to preserve that consistency throughout our social media pages.
Numerous the shareable graphics on our social media platforms had been created by me so I wish to suppose that I’ve a artistic eye and that’s mirrored all through our branding.
We plan content material for the month based mostly on our content material pillars and any releases, occasions, or nationwide holidays arising.
It’s nice to see content material come collectively on Later’s platform — it offers us an thought of what our feed will seem like on Instagram!
ICYMI: Later’s free Visible Instagram Planner permits you to preview your feed aesthetic earlier than you submit — so you’ll be able to curate the proper Instagram grid on your model.
Later: What side of social media has helped you develop Seventh & Oak essentially the most?
Annabel: Constantly partaking with our viewers. Whether or not it’s replying to feedback or DMs, we do our greatest to ensure anybody who takes the time to interact with us looks like part of the neighborhood.
That, and we love story polls and so does our viewers. They’re a means for us to get to know them, a few of their ache factors, or get their enter on any product we plan to launch.
We get excessive engagement on the times we run polls — they assist us preserve a reference to our viewers.
Later: What’s an underrated social media tactic?
Annabel: The significance of user-generated content material and the way it boosts a model’s credibility.
We see a spike in gross sales after we repost a buyer’s submit on tales about our merchandise, in comparison with after we submit our personal content material.
Later: What’s essentially the most shocking factor you have discovered about beginning a enterprise (within the midst of a pandemic no much less!)?
Annabel: For those who attempt to promote to everybody, you’re promoting to nobody.
You must know who your best clients are. The place are they situated? What do they take pleasure in doing? What are they captivated with? What are their ache factors and the way can your merchandise resolve them?
Understanding your best buyer will assist you to create advertising methods that can assist them discover you, purchase from you, and develop into advocates of your model.
Later: Now in relation to working a enterprise, are you able to ever actually “flip off”?
Annabel: Completely not. My thoughts is all the time working, however after I’m getting harassed, I flip off all my units and take a breather.
Yoga calms me down. I observe throughout my lunch hour or proper earlier than mattress, and naturally, I all the time burn a candle.
*Editor’s notice: This interview has been edited for readability and size.
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