When going viral doesn’t stick: How Canadian small businesses are navigating social media

Three months after she launched her clothing brand Reborn Club, Tova Vaginshtein went viral, garnering 1.2 million views on TikTok practically overnight.

“It was a silly little TikTok of me just trying on a bunch of hoodies,” says the Toronto-based entrepreneur and content creator. “I got so many customers – from Europe, Australia, the U.S., everywhere. It was such a surreal feeling.”

Over the past five years, Ms. Vaginshtein has been able to grow Reborn Club through organic marketing via TikTok and Instagram into a six-figure business with an impressive 80 per cent customer retention rate.

“It’s nuts,” she says of the loyal community she’s built. “I have a hoodie that says, ‘I’m so grateful for you,’ in over ten colours. And I have people who have every single colour.”

About two years ago, however, something started to change. Sales slowed, and now Ms. Vaginshtein is wondering if her business has a long-term future at all. “It’s been really tough,” she says.

There are myriad possible reasons for this, she says, from an influx of new brands with higher marketing budgets to the increased cost of living. But one major factor is social media itself, which Ms. Vaginshtein describes as a “different place” to the one she launched into. The types of videos that used to organically get 10,000 or more views – in her case, ASMR-style packing videos and trying on pieces from her collection – barely garner a few thousand eyeballs, and maybe a single sale.

She adds that the platforms themselves can be unpredictable: You can get shadow-banned, which is when your videos are essentially hidden for no real reason or, as happened to her, you might lose levers that could appeal to the algorithm, like the ability to set your video to trending music.

“I feel like I’m drowning under all the noise,” Ms. Vaginshtein says of the everyday fight for attention on platforms. “It’s extremely scary. If I’m not getting views, I’m not getting sales.”

When popularity is a double-edged sword

This rollercoaster ride might sound familiar to Canadian small businesses trying to navigate social media in 2026.

Dr. Jenna Jacobson, director of the Retail Leadership Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University, says that social media continues to be important for small businesses, but that navigating it is more challenging than ever. “The key is using it strategically rather than simply posting for the sake of being visible,” she says.

She cautions businesses against pegging their hopes on viral success, a phenomenon that can be a double-edged sword.

“Going viral is not a strategy. It is unpredictable, and it can be positive or negative,” she says. “The better goal is to consistently create content your audience finds useful, interesting or shareable, which ultimately drives sales or achieves your goals.”

As trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. were increasing earlier this year, Michelle Wolfe, founder of Toronto-based activewear band Muve Life, shot a TikTok on her personal account from the front seat of her car. In the video, she shared how much more expensive it is to make her clothes in Canada rather than overseas, as she had previously.

“I was having a hard day, and I got very emotional. I didn’t even say my business name,” she says. “It’s the one that caught on – and I ended up making more money that month than I did all last year.”

Ms. Wolfe describes going viral – the post has nearly 75,000 views and over 1,000 comments – as a “massive dopamine hit.” It was also overwhelming. She’d never made that many sales and suddenly had to figure out how to get all those orders out at one time. Like Ms. Vaginshtein, Ms. Wolfe says she has experienced a post-viral drop in sales, but notes that many of the people buying didn’t necessarily care about her product.

“It’s so wild,” she says. “A lot of the people who are buying say, “I just want to support you. I love that you’re Canadian, that you’re trying something different.’”

The power of delegating

Blythe Cronyn, the Toronto-based founder of Elizabeth Blythe Fine Jewellery, says that when she started using social media to promote her business 12 years ago, it was a way to show people what she was making.

“Social media gave me a way to put my work in front of people beyond my immediate circle and, over time, build an audience around the aesthetic and story of the brand,” she says.

Until about a year ago, Ms. Cronyn did everything herself, learning it on the fly. She’s now brought on a social media manager who launched her TikTok account and now she is able to almost entirely delegate this part of her business. “That has been a really important shift for me. I’m a jeweller and a business owner, and there are only so many hours in the day,” she says.

Even though she’s less involved day-to-day, Ms. Cronyn says social media remains an important driver for her business. In fact, she believes that social media has fundamentally changed what it means to be a small creative business.

“Now, someone can be working in a small studio in Toronto and have someone on the other side of the world discover their work that same day,” she says.

Be consistent, be social and connect

For business owners eager to grow their business with social media, Dr. Jacobson has some suggestions. For starters, don’t try to be everywhere all at once.

“Small businesses often feel they need to be on every platform, but being good at social media takes time, skill and consistency,” she says. “I think it’s better to understand your audience deeply and do one or two platforms well than spread yourself too thin. Also remember that social media is about being social, so it’s also about connecting with others, commenting, and that all takes time.”

Also, be sure to have a plan for both becoming famous – and infamous.

“If you go viral, be ready for increased demand, customer questions, and foot traffic if you have a brick-and-mortar store or web traffic,” Dr. Jacobson says. “If attention turns negative, avoid reacting emotionally and respond thoughtfully and quickly when appropriate. Make a plan and stick to it.”

As for Ms. Vaginshtein, she is making some pivots, including taking some her relationship-building offline. She recently brought community members together for a breathwork class and hosted a custom tote bag making workshop.

She has also experimented with posting identical content on her personal account versus her business account and noticed that the former can do significantly better. For example, she got 400,000 views on her own Instagram for a video of her packing orders and just 2000 on the Reborn Club account. Looking ahead, she says it’s possible that her business will become a smaller part of her own platform as a content creator – or she might launch something entirely new.

Whatever happens, she says she’s so grateful for everything her business and social media has given her: the ability to be self-employed, be independent and the chance to travel.

“I’m still extremely blessed,” she says.