Social Media Strategy for Startups: the Beginners’ Guide
For most of entrepreneurs and business leaders, social media marketing is an important tool. You need to be forward thinking and have a forward-looking approach towards it. However, having worked with startups, I noticed that many of them don’t take enough 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 my startup have a social media strategy?
Do you even know what is a startup? 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 avoid your startup to fail. You might have heard that, in the 3rd quarter of 2017, Facebook has reached 2+ billion monthly active users while Instagram reached 700 million, Snapchat 350 millions, Twitter 320 million, LinkedIn 500 million and Pinterest 150 million average monthly active users. Most marketers will tell you that a social media strategy is crucial for your startup. The issue is that many entrepreneurs have technical background and don’t see marketing or growth hacking 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 part of your marketing strategy. Don’t miss out 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 primordial for you to know your target in order to choose which social media channel you should be using. To know more about social media, your 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 (The message should still be consistent by taking in consideration image sizes, best times for posting...)
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 make you 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.
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 (The message should still be consistent by taking in consideration image sizes, best times for posting...)
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 make you 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 FinTech, BlockChain or funding; if you are in the sport 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.
If you want a successful Instagram marketing strategy, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or else, it's key that you define your identity.
If you want a successful Instagram marketing strategy, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or else, it's key that you define your identity.
Engage and interact with your potential or existing users
You need to interact by following potential users on social media, posting interesting and relevant content, sending discounts, reposting content from others, answering your followers or commenting on their posts. You should also be interacting and joining conversations on social media with people who may need your products or services. Staying active on social media will allow you to get direct answers and feedbacks about your startup, idea or concept.
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 build your startup branding. Social media are great to showcase your content. The goal is to interact with your audience and see their reactions about your content.
You can apply growth hacking to your social media strategy in order to A/B test what you post and according to the data or feedback you get, you can optimize your content (If you’re not sure what I am talking about, check the growth hacking definition). The content itself should be relevant to your startup industry but it could also be informative, funny, shocking depending on what your goal is. There are many content marketing tactics you can get inspiration from to create perfect content.
Remember that you should find the right spot between what you want to tell and what your readers are looking for.
You can apply growth hacking to your social media strategy in order to A/B test what you post and according to the data or feedback you get, you can optimize your content (If you’re not sure what I am talking about, check the growth hacking definition). The content itself should be relevant to your startup industry but it could also be informative, funny, shocking depending on what your goal is. There are many content marketing tactics you can get inspiration from to create perfect content.
Remember that you should find the right spot between what you want to tell and what your readers are looking for.
Should your startup pay for social media ads?
It really depends on what stage 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 US$ 1 / day. This will help you understand how social media ads work, as well as train you to understanding data and even give you some insights about your users that you wouldn’t have known without testing. Testing, tracking and measuring is key 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, engage with your community, etc... You learned that social media is a must for your startup to get your first users’ feedback and also to get traction. There are top social media marketing tips out there, don't hesitate to apply what you learn. 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.
At Growth Hackers, we are experienced in executing social media strategy for startups and we can help you with it. We are kind of social media hackers if you want. We will A/B test different social media, grow your community with our growth hacking methods, improve your startup brand image, interact with your users, analyze the data, get users feedback; all this in order to accompany your product development growth and success.
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.
At Growth Hackers, we are experienced in executing social media strategy for startups and we can help you with it. We are kind of social media hackers if you want. We will A/B test different social media, grow your community with our growth hacking methods, improve your startup brand image, interact with your users, analyze the data, get users feedback; all this in order to accompany your product development growth and success.
Jonathan Aufray
I am the co-founder and CEO at Growth Hackers. I help startups, SMBs and entrepreneurs grow with digital marketing and growth hacking. I help them drive traffic, generate leads, improve conversions & increase their revenue with data-driven growth strategies. I am passionate about startups, growth hacking, inbound marketing and entrepreneurship. You can follow me on Twitter: @JonathanAufray or connect with me on LinkedIn.
5 Comments
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Hi Growth Hackers Team,
This was a really good read which covered a lot of ground. I’m gonna be bookmarking this one!
Hi there,
Growth Hackers team has yet again proved their worth with this brilliant post.
With the rise in start-ups in various possible fields, it’s important that these start-ups have strong marketing strategies for them to sustain. Social media is a powerful tool, and using it in the right way can take a brand a long way.
Most of the business are promote in an online forum. By which your business will become popular in Users or peoples. Social Media Marketing is one of the best Source to promote your business. It will help to generate quality traffic and leads to your business. It has many platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Most of the software companies can provide best services. I’m also running a small business but i did nit know how to promote it and show it to audience . but you have given a great knowledge at least i am able to start promotion of my business. Thanks for sharing this useful article. Give more ideas of promoting in an online forum.
I will be sure to bookmark this blog post as it’s got so much content and social media marketing insights to it.