A young colleague posed a very important question some days back, namely the right or the ideal social media strategy for startups. Just as I was thinking about it, I bumped into an old friend after many years. He could not have resurfaced in my life at a better time, because I discovered minutes into our conversation that he was the proud owner of a startup!
Within no time, we got down to talking in length about what he considered is the most important and indispensable ingredient to a startup. Pat came the reply: Digital Marketing Strategy! He could not have been more accurate. I knew that instant that he was a startup owner who knew his onions.
It indeed is true that the core of any startup is its social media strategy. Figuring the right social media strategy is a sine qua non for a startup. If there is one truly vital element to success as a startup, it has to be the social media strategy. So, we moved on to discussing what we could consider the right social media strategy for startups. After all, who will lose a chance to become famous with a colleague!
This is what we discovered during our conversation:
– The importance of the social media to a startup can never be underestimated: If you are a startup, you had better know what importance the social media hold to your business! The extent to which the social media influence and impact startups can be gauged from these startling (or mouth-watering, depending on how you see these) social media usage statistics:
It is thus very, very crucial for a startup to know how to leverage and optimize the social media. Doing so will ensure its success
Thorough knowledge of the user persona is the basis to chalking a social media startup strategy for a startup. The type of business is the decider for zeroing on the target market and which kind of social media should be invested in. It should consist of a mixed bag
Ideally, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are the social media to be used, depending on what kind of business the startup is.
Which social media is suited for startups?
Once my friend and I were agreed on the need for using the social media for marketing, we got back to the original question of our discussion, namely, what is the right social media strategy for a startup?
This is what we felt about which social media to use if you are a startup, based on your buyer persona, i.e., your target market:
Facebook, as the old adage goes, needs no introduction. What else is there to be told about a social media company that attracts some one-fifth of the world’s people on a daily basis? This can give you some idea of the humongous opportunity for your startup once your brand is seen prominently on this medium.
Ideal for:
Two-thirds of Facebook users are between the ages of 25 and 54. Facebook is the ideal platform if you want to enlarge your lead generation and advertise to a very focused and defined segment.
The world’s microblogging social media network, Twitter used to restrict the size of its messages to just 140 characters till November ’17, when that count doubled.
Ideal for:
As can be understood, Twitter, being a short, low-byte social medium, can be optimized if you are looking to make quick announcements or the “breaking news” kind of stories. It is expected that this platform caters to the segment whose attention span is highly limited. Consisting mainly of people under 50, Twitter is suited mainly for text, rather than for videos or images. This fact should drive your social media strategy if you are a startup.
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is the world’s largest social media platform for professionals, and this should give you an idea about whom to locate here and how. If you used LinkedIn the way to want to use the above two platforms, expect your startup’s digital marketing strategy to fall flat in the face! This is for those who want to establish trust and credibility and position themselves as people of some authority and thought leadership. Expect to interact with highly qualified and experienced professionals here.
Instagram:
Being Facebook’s video and photo sharing social media networking, Instagram, logically speaking, should be for those startups whose products or services make a visual appeal. It is thus for the kind of startup whose product requires verve and aplomb. Naturally, it does not make sense for a startup to use Instagram if their product or service is not visually friendly.
But still there are some ways businesses can use to grow their Instagram followers by posting quality content. For example, creating a hashtag contest, posting behind the scenes of their business, campaign hashtag and Instagram Giveaways.
And, other things about a social media strategy for startups…
The conversation between me and my friend did not end here. Is it only the Facebooks and the LinkedIns that should determine a startup’s social media strategy? While the criticality of these social media cannot be discounted, a full-pronged social media strategy for startups should be supplemented by other efforts. Which are these? These are what my friend and I thought about:
Blogs: There is no better way to express your own thoughts in the way you want to than through blogs.
Testimonials: What could be a better validation of your brand than when your customers speak well about it?
Webinars and podcasts: Although different from each other, these are powerful tools in helping your brand reach out to its audience.
eBooks and whitepapers: These are useful for a startup’s digital media strategy in positioning itself as someone who possesses deep knowledge and insight about its business and its market.
Photos and videos: These are self-explanatory strategies. It is imperative for a startup to be seen, and to be seen visually is an added bonus. Creating effective and attractive pics and videos and posting them at the right platforms can evoke a strong recall for a startup’s brand.
Conclusion
What do you think of the conversation between me and my friend? Do you think the strategies we discussed are insightful and will help a startup grow its digital marketing efforts? Let us know to what extent we are well informed, or whether we are at all!
