Dr. Cindy Duke Shares How Female Entrepreneurs Can Leverage Social Media

As a career woman and entrepreneur, I love discovering new ways to grow my business. Who doesn’t, right? I love to stay on top of my game and I cannot help but to try to outdo myself, as often as possible.

This is more natural for us women than you may think. The truth is that as women, it is inherent for us to juggle our business and passion projects while finding ways to treasure the moments we spend with our loved ones, more than anything else.

In an ever-changing business industry, it is imperative to be resourceful while maintaining stability and relevance. In doing so, I aim to strike a balance between my ‘hustle’ with grace while remaining organized in juggling both personal and professional endeavors.

As an entrepreneur who strives hard to keep afloat amidst new trends, I pride myself on learning fresh techniques that I can incorporate into my trademark. Afterall, who doesn’t want to achieve success?

In order to obtain success, you better be ready for the next big thing. When that time comes, be sure to adapt or reroute your business efforts without compromising core goals and objectives. And most importantly, it must expand your boundaries and leave you feeling empowered henceforth.

Women Driving the Social Media Revolution

Since the internet has become a permanent fixture of contemporary culture, many women have found themselves dominating the entrepreneurial game in social media. The path to becoming a successful female entrepreneur is never simple. But when the internet innovation started to infiltrate every industry, women acquired new power in the realm of entrepreneurship. Women began to gain economic independence and the unique role social media plays in their business strategy is the key to their successes.

According to Gabriela Olivan, a director and expert in Corporate Communications, the role of women’s success in the social media domain is due to their natural ability to express and carry on different conversations. To put it simply, women are authentic communicators… a no brainer!

The impact that women have on social media can tear down dated stereotypes and build substantial legacy on branding, activism, advertisement, media, and entertainment. Women have now become leaders through social media — just check out your favorite influencers — and they have made a home out of it. This is how it is perceived, according to multiple studies that analyze female leadership within the internet space, and particularly, in social media.

With women’s proactivity on social media, it is believed that they will set more trends in the future. In spite of imposed challenges in learning the technical aspects, women have been more willing to expand their horizons and adapt to technology — thus, making them tech savants.

Women Holding the Entrepreneurial Torch Using Social Media

Even though many businesses have been crippled due to the ongoing pandemic, the “click and prosper” or digital industry is still alive and thriving — thanks to businesses built on social media. Meanwhile, many brick and mortar companies have been forced to shut down or downsize and this is especially true for those which are structured to operate physically. In these unprecedented times that we are navigating, these businesses are left with no choice but to transition to digital if it is a feasible option.

According to an article published by CultureBanx, smart business women recognize social media as a diverse tool for marketing, branding, and customer service. This point is especially true knowing multiple minority groups have been utilizing social media platforms to conceive and grow their businesses. It is also important to note that platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Stories have become fashionable for startup companies driven by savvy business women.

Last March 17, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that the social media giant is investing over $100 million to aid 30,000 small businesses across the globe. For women who want to secure capital, this is a great opportunity to help them as the pandemic continues to escalate. With this financial assistance and social media tool on hand, women can kick start their entrepreneurship journey and think creatively to promote their businesses amidst the pandemic.

On a different note, women of color are killing the entrepreneurship game. According to State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, 42% of businesses established in the U.S are female-led and the biggest portion comes from women of color. These employ 9.4 million workers and generate revenue of $1.9 trillion. Furthermore, 65% of minority women have a greater likelihood of having side gigs than other women — social media displayed this demographic with an unparalleled advantage to shape the future. Social media platforms have become a gateway to bridge the gap between cultural, social, and other barriers to interaction.

If you want your business to boom in the digital age, it’s imperative to cultivate an online presence in social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and the new kid on the block, Tiktok, are the top social media platforms dominating the click and prosper game. Because social media has become accessible for millions of women around the globe, entrepreneurship has never been this convenient. Although this new concept of entrepreneurship has its own fair share of challenges, there is no way women cannot adapt seamlessly to the trend.

In a study conducted by The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), looking at the economies of 59 countries, an estimated 231 million women started running new businesses in those regions. While it is true that not all businesses will thrive in the long run, many women are establishing solid enterprises that continue to flourish. On top of this, social media is a go-to platform among women-owned startup enterprises, in particular.

81% of startups owned by women say that social media is essential to their business endeavors, according to Facebook research. Female entrepreneurs also maximize the key features of the platforms, like Facebook groups and Marketplace, to engage with prospective customers.

How Women Use Social Media for Business Endeavors

Social media is easy, affordable, and fun to use. Navigating its features is not rocket science and the more you delve deeper, the more you get to appreciate its practicality.

With social media, women can easily determine and penetrate the market serving their target audience and engage with prospective clients or customers, without paying for costly campaigns. Social media is also a hallmark for branding and following. By consistently posting quality content regarding products and services, female entrepreneurs can build trust, impression, and customer loyalty using social media sites.

Smart and strategic business women also know that social media isn’t only about cutthroat marketing and upfront selling. They understand the significance and power of storytelling and personality to resonate across boundaries. Put simply, it’s about inspiring people!

Now let’s look at how women utilize social media for effective and strategic entrepreneurship:

The Power of Storytelling

Authenticity is key to queenhood. There is a reason why people go gaga over the Kardashians, why the youth marvel over Ariana Grande, and how Oprah Winfrey built an empire. These world-renowned women surely have mastered the art of storytelling. Not only are they notoriously successful entrepreneurs, they know how to incorporate storytelling into their branding experience, for the world to behold.

Platforms like Instagram shine the best when it comes to telling your stories. You don’t have to shove down your audience’s throat how fancy your trendy skirts for sale are or how sumptuous your desserts for delivery are — you just have to tell them the story about it. By simply making them feel that they need it more than anything and they could relate to it, you are able to touch and reach them on a personal level.

Instagram Stories have become a newfangled tool for advertising. In fact, it is used by 500 million users each day and approximately 2 million advertisers buy story ads to promote their products or services. Despite its expirable display life, Stories boast a high engagement and are great for brand building and lead generation. Not to mention, 20% of stories posted by businesses result in direct messages from prospects.

Apart from the fact that IG Stories are easy-peasy to create, they are fashionable for company updates, sharing new products, introducing team members, and sharing “at-the-moment” moods to help followers keep tabs. You can also go extra by using polls and conduct Q&A sessions to encourage the audience to engage and learn more about your brand or business.

Putting a Human Face for Brand

We all have great ideas about how we present our brand across social media channels. Although unique identity is crucial to stand out, putting a human face would make your brand compelling.

Branding is more beyond the logo and its related marketing aesthetics. Your brand is about the people behind the business — the emotion a business evokes and the customer experience. After all, businesses need to communicate with people in order to remain relevant and thrive! There is a symbiotic relationship. Hence, human emotion is essential to connect effectively.

This is where social media shines the most. It allows female entrepreneurs to engage with prospective customers or clients and develop relationships based on their brands.

Your entrepreneurial journey can kick off through building networks on Twitter and Facebook. If you’re producing services targeting the general public (e.g. fashion line, restaurants, real-estate, flower shop, pastry house, etc.) Facebook is the queen and also the home of the general public. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is ideal for business to business (B2B) connections or if you are looking for professional affiliations or to inform customers about professional products and services.

Learn the Technical Facet with SEO

You don’t have to overthink this. Many female entrepreneurs have been wearing technical hats in order to understand the algorithm of social media.

SEO or search engine optimization refers to the process of growing the quality and quantity of your page traffic. This also pertains to the process of placing your brand pages on the search engine results.

Are you thinking that this is Quite too technical to grasp? Let’s put it this way: So you have a Facebook or Instagram page for your business course? You want to gain traction and exposure in order for people to learn about that business? In turn, you become anxious and stressed about how you can build your audience and encourage them to learn about your brand? Well, that’s where SEO comes in!

To keep your social media pages SEO-friendly, you need to be consistent in posting quality content while incorporating “keyword/s” that best describe your business. Think of yourself as a customer who is seeking a service. What would you type on the search engine, like google, to find the services that you seek?

Having an active and optimized social media page can trigger the search engine algorithm — resulting in higher visibility on the search results. Writing blogs and making videos that are relevant to your brand, also help to boost your page to more audiences. Getting positive testimonials and reviews on your free Google My Business profile also helps big time.

Growing Your Influence

Social media is a pool of business influencers. These influencers have established credibility on a certain practice or industry and have a massive following. Instagram is notable for its contemporary approach to vibrating influence through visuals and stories, thereby reaching more people.

For startup entrepreneurs, you can learn from influencers by engaging with them and understanding how they navigate their network. It is important to be active and consistent by producing quality content. You can start a YouTube channel and upload videos that tackle your business, or your expertise in a certain field. Savvy businesswomen also engage with other entrepreneurs and discuss insights. Not only do they benefit from amplifying their own business brand, but they also empower each other and motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to follow suit.

Women have been changing the status quo in their own creative ways. Nowadays, women make up a significant impact in various industries and they do it with grace and passion. Some experts also estimate that by the year 2030, women could control two-thirds of the nation’s wealth. Isn’t that exciting? Social media is undeniably the newfangled outlet for women to break the ceiling in the modern entrepreneurial era.

With their ability to start new business from scratch, come up with creative directives, market and speak to customers directly, and learn and apply new techniques, women are in full throttle to get ahead in the business world.

Even if you’re starting your business as a one-woman enterprise, it is imperative to have a growth mindset and think of innovation. There is so much that you can do using social media, as long as you’re strategic and responsible for it. If you determine your brand and decide to leverage social media, you could make a much higher impact than you anticipated when you first started off your business.

Be the queen of your empire and celebrate every little milestone. You’re well on your way to climbing the staircase of success in your gold stilettos or sneakers.