Social media has become the main channel for small platforms to promote brand development

In May 2020, Dougherty launched Camskns, a platform that sells thin protective cases for high-end cameras such as Sony, Canon and Nikon models. Since then, it has expanded to sell cases for GoPro cameras and drones.

Dougherty said sales have been growing steadily month over month, reaching into the five-digit range each month.

Dougherty attributes much of its growth to marketing and posts on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. He said when customers buy camera cases , they show them on social media and tag them Camskns, which helps build brand awareness and increase sales.

Camskns uses paid and organic postings on social media and works with influencers to promote its products on social media. It is reported that 70% of Camskns' website visits come from social media, with Instagram being the main channel. About half of its marketing budget is spent on social media advertising and creating content for it.

Just like many sellers building their brand presence on TikTok, Camskns has also achieved some results on the social media platform.

“TikTok is a difficult beast to tackle, to say the least,” Dougherty said . “ TikTok trends are constantly evolving and it’s hard to keep up . ”

In contrast, Dougherty quickly created a video of him simply talking about its products and asking anyone to reach out to the brand on Instagram if they wanted to become an influencer, which generated nearly 10,000 views in two days.

While Dougherty hasn’t found the right formula to make every TikTok post successful, he’s not giving up.

Dougherty said he no longer uses paid advertising on the platform for marketing. He believes that TikTok's ad targeting options are too basic compared to Facebook and Instagram. On TikTok, for example, the brand can target age , gender and broad interests. In contrast, he said, on Facebook and Instagram, he can drill down to very granular interest levels, as well as other cross-selling features.

According to a recent survey, only 5% of retailers advertise on TikTok in 2020 .

Increasing average order value is Dougherty’s next goal in growing his business in 2021. After talking with another direct-to-consumer business friend, he decided to update the buy now, pay later payment option.

For Dougherty, one of the main selling points of adding buy now, pay later is that sellers take on the risk for shoppers. Klarna will pay Camskns the full amount of the order within a week of the purchase, even if the consumer has three installments left.

It takes about two to three weeks from contacting Klarna to enabling payment on the site. He said that from launching Klarna in mid-January to mid-March, 5-9% of all orders are now through Klarna.

Since launching the feature, Camskns has seen a 2% increase in conversion rates in months with Klarna compared to months without the feature.

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