We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maneko Reid. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maneko below.

Maneko, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I currently, and have always, managed the social media for Greensboro Black Owned. It was never a thought to hire a team to do it because I always felt that would ruin the authenticity of the page. I felt like I would be able to make more meaningful connections with business owners and members of the community if I was engaging with them personally. So far, the results have been good. I first created the instagram page during Covid, so I had plenty of free time to manage it. However, as life carried on, I had less and less time to dedicate to it. WIth work, personal life, and raising a puppy, it became quite a lot! I ended up taking a year or so off, but recently revamped. It has been a time-consuming process but I would not do anything differently. For future business owners who are thinking about what to do in terms of social media, I would suggest looking at how much time you can commit to managing social media and make a decision from there.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I created and manage an Instagram page called Greensboro Black Owned. The purpose of the page is to support, uplift, and provide exposure to black owned businesses in the Greensboro/Triad area. I first got the idea from a similar page based in Charlotte. I decided that it would be a great thing to have in the Triad because many people, including myself, were unaware of how many black owned businesses we have. I am most proud of the number of businesses I have been able to share and support, in addition to the growing number of followers that are appreciative of the work I do. The main thing I want followers to know is that I am doing this for the support and continued success of our black owned businesses and business owners.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Before I even created the social media page for my business, I shared the idea with my boyfriend and my friends. They helped me pick color schemes, fonts, etc. Then, once the page was created, they all shared it to their personal social media accounts. From there, it just picked up steam naturally. Once I started featuring businesses, more businesses would follow, other bloggers, community members, etc. It actually happened very naturally and organically.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think would helped me build my reputation is the simple fact that I have never switched up. Everything has essentially been the same as it was when I first began. People know what the page is for and they know what to expect.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @gsoblackowned