9 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TIPS FOR STARTUPS

Starting a business is hard work, whether it's a restaurant, gym, construction contractor or an online business. Startups are especially challenging when funding is tight and time is very limited. Even so, it is crucial to build your brand's social media presence.

Social media provides free or cheap access to your ideal target market, making it an extremely effective marketing strategy. It allows you to attract new customers to your brand each and every day.

Before you start working on your brand's social media, take some time to learn about the best practices for growing your following and building your brand's visibility. Here are nine of the most important things every startup should know about social media marketing before they begin:

1.   Have a goal

When you are starting out on your social media marketing strategy, identify a clear goal. Having a good idea of what your objectives are for each campaign and how long it will take you to achieve it, but more importantly the actions required to get there. If you don't have a goal and a clear direction for your social media, then you are merely posting content randomly in hopes of generating a following and revenue.

2.   Identify your audience

You need to tailor your social media to your ideal audience. Spend some time creating an outline of your target market, for example, gender, age group, lifestyle, key interests, industry, location, job titles. The more you drill down into who you are targeting, the more you know how to speak to them, the more you can tailor your posts to give value to them.

3. Content that gives value

There is no point posting for the sake of posting. It is recommended to post frequently and consistently. However, that doesn't mean you should publish low-quality posts that offers no value to your audience. Low value posts get pushed to the bottom of the news feed as nobody wants to engage with low-quality content. Curate quality content with quality pictures that gives value to your audience, so that your followers genuinely enjoy your feed.

4.   Free vs Paid

For about 10 years social media was a free marketing platform that successfully helped brands reach their audiences with little spend on ads. Now things have changed, Facebook business page posts don't have the same reach. Using Facebook ads to increase your brand's visibility is a great option if you know how to do it right. You don't need to boost every post or create ads every week. Create a well-organised funnel strategy so that your followers are directed to your website and your product or service giving them the opportunity to purchase.

5.   Know the best times to post

The different social media channels work in different ways and are used very differently by audiences. You might find that one social media platform works better in the morning and a totally different one in the evening. For example, I find that my Instagram functions best at 10 pm and before 6 am, whereas my Facebook works best around the 6 pm mark and Pinterest works best around noon. Look at the insights and analytics available to you, use them to guide you on when the best time to post is. Create a schedule with these times, and regularly check your insights to check for changes. If you are starting out with a brand new social media account, play around with the times for a few weeks until you find what works for you.

6.   Complete Your Profiles

Your social profile may be the first glimpse of your brand online. The more information and details about your brand that you can include in your bio, the more it allows users to decide whether your brand is right for them and whether they should like or follow your page. Having a complete profile also gives you the opportunity to use keywords to increase your search rankings.

7.   Make it convert

As much as you want to give your target audience a peek at your brand, you also want to be using it to generate leads and boost sales. By including call-to-actions in your posts, on your ads and at the end of your articles so that you are encouraging your audience to take the next step. If you are providing something free in return for their email address or offering a high-value regular newsletter, you increase the chances of your audience going to your website and moving from audience to customer.

8.  Blogging will help you grow

When you first start blogging it feels like hard work, the first few blogs are challenging, but your website needs a blog that publishes high-quality content regularly, weekly works best for me. The blog has two significant benefits for my business, one it gives my readers value and tips on how to use their social media as well as increases our brand visibility on search engines. I include keywords before publishing each blog post; I work hard on search engine optimisation so that I am attracting potential customers that are interested in what I offer. Blogging makes brands more human, giving them a voice and connecting with people. People like people, they like connecting with people and interacting with people.

9.   Engagement is important

To get engagement, you must first engage. You need to be seen engaging with your community. I recommend spending about an hour, spread out over the course of the day, interacting with potential followers. I don't recommend an automation tool that likes and follows on social media for you, it can damage your brand, and it isn't authentic. Being yourself, being real and having real conversations will grow your following, it may not be as fast as an automation tool, but they will stick around a lot longer.

Social media takes time, strategy, patience and sometimes it takes a whole start over. Don't be afraid to make a few mistakes along the way. So as a startup, focus on these tips to help grow your social media and guide you in the right direction.