Doomscrolling, TikTok trends, likes and comments: these are common words in much of Generation Z’s vocabulary that, a few decades ago, did not exist in the context they do today. In 2026, the digital landscape continues to grow, with 60.5% of the global population using social media as of April 2026.
One industry that social media has affected is small local businesses. According to Forbes, 77% of small businesses use social media to grow their business and connect with their customers.
On the corner of Magnolia Street in downtown Bellingham sits one of those small businesses using social media platforms to promote and grow its business. Nate Brown is a co-owner of Sweet As Waffles, a restaurant with over 65,000 followers on Instagram and 5,385 followers on TikTok.
“I find that social media is just like one of the most important forms of marketing these days,” Brown said.
He emphasized how easily a business can get in front of a large audience through trends, and said social media can be an inexpensive marketing tool. Brown also uses the Sweet As Waffles social media platform in collaboration with businesses that are popular to the Bellingham demographic to expand their business outreach.
“I would do this thing called piggyback marketing,” Brown said. “I targeted companies like Montucky and Pit Viper, and they ultimately shared us (online), which created a larger demographic.”
Reaching out to large businesses is not the only way that Sweet As Waffles creates connections.
They have collaborated with businesses downtown, such as Colophon Cafe and Aslan Brewing Company. Brown credits this promotion for creating a natural growth to their social media page, locally and even internationally.
“If you have a smart person running your social media, you're more likely to get a broader outreach, and if people see that – and they're from Seattle or Tacoma – next time they come to Bellingham, they're more likely to go to the places they see on social media,” said Juliette Schmauder, a second-year Western Washington University student.
Schmauder said she likes to follow local businesses on social media to look out for when they have events or special deals coming up. As a customer, she also enjoys when restaurants showcase their menus online so she can visualize what the food is going to look like before she gets there.
“That's what I like about the Sweet As Waffles (Instagram page),” Schmauder said. “I hadn't been there before recently, and I looked at their Instagram page to see what I wanted.”
Behind the counter making those waffles is Abbi Means. She has worked at Sweet As Waffles for almost one year and her official title is waffle wizard. She and her coworkers help film videos for Sweet As Waffles’ social media and come up with ideas for posts that they think will boost engagement.
“I don't think that we would have as much business as we do if it weren't for our social media presence,” Means said.
Means not only helps to create social media posts, but she also engages with other businesses’ posts on her own time. She follows other Bellingham businesses like AB Crepes and Horseshoe Cafe.
“I personally have found a lot of small businesses through social media that I don't think I would have found otherwise,” Means said.
Around 93.79% of businesses worldwide use social media marketing to promote their businesses, creating an increased opportunity for those small businesses to be found every day.
“The average person spends over two hours a day on social media across the world,” said Nathalie Wagler, community engagement manager for downtown Bellingham. “So it goes without saying the importance of social media and capturing peoples’ attention while they're scrolling.”
Wagler has worked as the community engagement manager for the Downtown Bellingham Partnership for four years. She wears many hats, but one of her jobs is to run the downtown social media page and works with a marketing agency, Intellitonic, to facilitate advertisements and support local businesses.
Wagler also assists in social media training for businesses. Her goal is to educate businesses on improving their marketing.
“The other common misconception that we hear a lot is people are worried that since they don't have professional photography or somebody in-house that's a social media expert, that means that they can't succeed on social media, and that's just totally not the case,” Wagler said. “You don't have to have a degree in marketing to manage a successful social media account.”
Brown believes that an online review, a comment or a share can positively affect a small business.
“Go and support your local business, hit them with a like or a comment,” Brown said. “Especially those businesses that don't get much interaction, those people are still really trying. They might not be hitting it out of the park or anything, but they're trying.”
Laney Lark (she/her) is a city life reporter for The Front. She is a third-year student at Western, majoring in archaeology and minoring in journalism. When she's not in the newsroom, she can be found late-night crafting or taking a nap with her cat Darcy. You can reach her at laneylark.thefront@gmail.com.
