For most entrepreneurs and business leaders, social media marketing is an important tool. You need to be forward-thinking and have a forward-looking approach. However, I noticed that many of them don’t take advantage of this amazing marketing channel. This is why I have developed an easy social media strategy for startups that everyone can implement.
Why should You Implement a social media strategy?
A startup is an organization searching for a repeatable and scalable business model. It’s meant to grow and grow fast. The first obvious reason to do social media is to prevent your startup from failing. Most marketers will tell you that a social media strategy is crucial for your startup. The issue is that many entrepreneurs have a technical background and don’t see marketing as a serious tool. Social media is the top channel to get your startup discovered. Whether you are building a startup from scratch or you have a more advanced business, social media needs to be an essential part of your marketing strategy. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.
Which social media channels should your startup use?
Be careful to not use all social media channels simultaneously. You need to use the ones where your target is. Each social media has its particularities and your target might be using Facebook but not Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat. It is important for you to know your target in order to choose which social media channel you should be using. To know more about social media, you can check social media demographics.
Social media marketing has huge potential to drive traffic, get new leads, and increase sales. There are many ways to promote your content on social media, but with a lack of understanding and without effective tools and tactics, you’ll struggle to get results. It’s also important to notice that each social media has its own particularities. With that being said, you should still maintain a consistent image across all social medias you use. Using social media marketing will improve your brand recognition, make your voice heard, and connect you with your potential users. Word-of-mouth is known as being the most effective channel to get new customers. You have to picture social media as word-of-mouth on steroids.
Having a social media strategy for your startup will allow you to connect with potential and current users in a more personal way. If you do it right, you will build brand loyalty and create more leads and sales.
Define your message and identity
In order to reach the right audience, you should have a relevant identity. If you are in the banking industry, have a professional profile picture and post about funding; if you are in the sports industry, talk about sports. This might seem obvious for most but a lot of people use social media in the wrong way and don’t deliver the right message, image, or branding.
Defining your image is key if you want a successful marketing strategy on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Engage and interact with your potential or existing users
You need to interact with potential users by following them on social media, posting interesting and relevant content, sending discounts, reposting content from others, answering your followers, or commenting on their posts. You can even use social media to sell and sign new clients. Social selling is a new-age tool to create business outcomes. You should also be interacting and joining in on conversations on social media with people who may need your products or services. Staying active on social media will allow you to get quick and effective answers and feedback about your startup.
Do you want to grow your startup with social media?
Create unique content for your startup
This takes time but content creation should be part of your social media strategy. It could be blog posts, visuals, or infographics. By creating your own content, you will deliver a message and begin to build your brand. Social media is great to showcase your content. The goal is to interact with your audience and see their reactions to your content. Engagement is crucial.
Should your startup pay for social media ads?
It really depends on the current stage at which your startup is at. However, I love A/B Testing and I believe that you should A/B test social media ads for your startup, even if it is as little as a dollar a day. This will help you understand how social media ads work, as well as train you to understand data and even give you some insights about your users that you wouldn’t have known without testing. Testing, tracking, and measuring is vital for your startup’s social media strategy.
What you learned about implementing a social media strategy for your startup
Having a social media strategy is essential. If you want to outperform your competitors, you need to create better content than they do and engage with your community. You learned that social media is a must for your startup to get your first users’ feedback and also to gain traction. On Social media, you need to curate great content, create and share compelling content, as well as being personal and talking directly to potential users or customers.
Social media is a great marketing channel and needs to be A/B tested in order to take the best from it. You have to know that social media is only 1 marketing channel your startup can use and you can define a marketing strategy around it. Social media should be part of a bigger picture and is an essential element of inbound marketing.