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By Olivia Young
/ CBS Colorado
On this Small Business Saturday, one Colorado business has found big success using social media to promote its products.
Saddle Up is a family-owned saddle shop in Gilcrest, Colorado that’s been around for 25 years. But in the last year and a half, they’ve more than quadrupled their sales thanks to a presence on the video platform TikTok.
“We’re kind of building a little saddle empire going on here,” said Lynnsy Diekman, store manager. She’s the reason small town small business Saddle Up is finding big success on TikTok.
Diekman created a TikTok account for the business in 2021 after they were closed for months during the pandemic. But after one video went viral, the account soon gained a following.
“It reaches a whole new audience in my opinion, people that you wouldn’t see walk in here they are going to see you and then lead to walking in here,” Diekman said. She posts videos telling Saddle Up’s story, showcasing different products and taking part in viral trends.
“She’s hilarious and I think she’s really great for business,” said Golda Tharp, a longtime customer of Diekman. Tharp follows Saddle Up on social media. She’s seen the impact the viral videos have had on the business.
“I think social media has been huge for them, I see them often passing my news feed,” Tharp said.
The engagement has taken Saddle Up’s yearly sales from 200,000 during pre-pandemic, to nearly a million now, with customers ordering across North America.
“We had a couple in here from Hays, Kansas the other day and they were like ‘yeah, we saw you on TikTok, so we drove all the way out here just to see you guys,’ so we get that on a daily basis almost now, it’s pretty cool,” Diekman said
Saddle Up has over 26,000 followers on TikTok, along with a presence on Instagram and Facebook. The business hopes to continue to grow online and expand its brick-and-mortar shop.
Olivia Young is a reporter at CBS News Colorado. Read her latest reports or check out her bio and send her an email.
First published on November 26, 2022 / 9:51 PM
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©2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.