Detroit small business owners know social media is essential. Showing up every day is the hard part.

Trice Clark makes something every day. She just does not always have her phone set up to record it.

Clark runs Kraftologie, a Detroit creative learning lab where the workshops fill up through Instagram. "All of my attendees from my workshops come from social media," she told Model D. The account that does that work is her own, @triceclark, and the business has been built largely on it.

In May she won the 14th annual Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown, a $100,000 grand prize for an entrepreneur opening a first brick-and-mortar location in Detroit, Hamtramck, or Highland Park. The contest is run by TechTown Detroit, Wayne State University's entrepreneurship hub, in partnership with Comerica Bank. Clark prevailed over three other finalists at the May 13 Hatch-Off after a public vote that drew more than 30,000 ballots. She plans to open Kraftologie's first dedicated space in Detroit's District 5.

The posting is the part that lags behind the making. "The most challenging part has honestly been the offline portion," Clark said. "I make stuff every day, but I don't always set up my phone to record. I'm usually working with tools, gloves and masks, so by the end of it I'm like, 'man, I should have recorded that.'" Even when she posts, reach is not guaranteed. "People don't see it," she said. "I find myself having to DM people my posts, and they'll say, 'I didn't even see this.'"

That gap between knowing social media matters and keeping it up is where a lot of small businesses sit. Carenna Fields, who runs the hair and beauty business Fierce Styles, builds her client list one clip at a time on an Instagram account, @fiercestyles_, with just over 80 followers. "Social media has played a huge role in the growth of my business," she said. The grind is the same one Clark describes. "One of the biggest challenges is consistency. Balancing content creation while actively working can feel overwhelming."

Some of it comes down to skill, not effort. Black Tech Saturdays, the Detroit organization co-founded by Johnnie and Alexa Turnage, runs workshops, mentorship, and cohort-based programs that teach entrepreneurs how to use digital tools and reach customers. "Not every small business owner understands the analytics behind it," Johnnie Turnage said, "how to target their audience or convert attention into sales." He points to the 2024 NFL Draft, when close to a million people came through the city, as a window many local businesses were not visible enough to use.

Clark's path runs the other direction. Instagram did not build Kraftologie for her. It put her in front of nearly everyone who eventually showed up.