6 Dos and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing for startups

There’s much more to social media marketing than it seems and you’ll need a lot of preparation in order to get it right.

Everyone knows that social media plays a huge role in today’s business world. Every company, big or small, needs a social media presence in order to keep going. This is the case because social media is one of the best places to market your business. So, if you’ve decided to promote your company on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, you’re on the right track. Still, there’s much more to social media marketing than it seems and you’ll need a lot of preparation in order to get it right. That’s why we’ve come up with six dos and don’ts of social media marketing for startups, you’ll definitely want to take a closer look at.

DO understand your followers

When marketing on social media, it’s very important that you understand the users who follow your pages. Fail to do this, and you’ll have no idea what kind of content to share. But how do you learn more about the people who follow your social media pages? Basically, you’ll need to do a thorough demographic research and use the data you collect to come up with ideal posts to share on your pages. An important thing to remember is that no matter who your followers are, it’s imperative that you create a strong social media presence for your business.

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DO have a plan

If you’re trying to promote a product or service on social media, you can’t just go and share promotional posts whenever you feel like doing so. What you need instead is an entire plan for promoting your product or service. This means you’ll need to come up with a whole set of posts your followers will find interesting and create a timetable for sharing them. If you’re new to social media marketing, this is probably where you’ll want to collaborate with an expert.

DO maximize your bio

When it comes to attracting new followers to your page, they’re always going to check your bio before they actually click that “subscribe” button. That said, you’ll probably want to maximize your bio. This means you should use your bio section to provide important info about your business. We recommend writing a short description of your business and including a couple of relevant facts. Usually, you’ll have some additional space left for a picture you’ll probably want to use for your company’s logo.

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DON’T ignore negative comments

One of the biggest mistakes many business owners make is avoid responding to negative comments on social media. When you market on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, there will always be some negative comments and it’s critical that you respond to them as politely as possible. This will show your followers that you have absolutely nothing to hide and that you’re open to suggestions. If you receive negative comments about the product or service you’re promoting, use them to improve your offerings.

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DON’T use every social media platform

Today, there are just so many social media platforms you can promote your business on. However, if you try to use all of them to promote your products or services, you probably won’t be able to make it. Instead, what you need to do is figure out which social media platforms work the best for you and stick to them. If you’re struggling to figure out which platforms do the trick for your business, turning to experts in media monitoring is recommended.

DON’T post too much

What’s the point of having social media pages for your business if you’re not going to post regularly? Only if you’re consistent with your posts will you be able to grow your social media pages and attract more people to your business. However, this doesn’t mean you should just go and post everything you come across on the web. In fact, it’s quality over quantity, but you need to make sure you post on a daily basis. One or two posts per day during the week and one per day on the weekend should do the trick.

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Social media marketing is something your business simply can’t survive without. Have all the things we’ve talked about in mind and you should be able to enter the world of social media marketing with ease.





The importance of social media marketing for your business

This post will highlight the importance of having a presence on social media platforms for your business.

If you agree that the world is more connected than it was a few decades ago. Then I’d bet you would win tons of money with your million dollar answer –the world is virtually connected on social network(s). Strangely, though, the discovery has been gathering dust for a few years now; that businesses almost forgot the relevance of inhabiting social media sites.

The discussion still rages on, however, on the significance of social media sites. Plainly, some entrepreneurs have been fortunate enough with social media while others can’t seem to get it right. Of course, you and we know that mounting a social media onslaught is not rocket science. But how comes the statistics don’t favor the larger population? That’s a discussion for another day.

For now, we are going to discuss the importance of using social media as an extension of your marketing onslaught or rather incorporating social media sites in your marketing strategy. There are a number of ways that you can look at it depending on what you wish to achieve. However, the bottom line remains the same; increasing sales is the ultimate winner. Irrespective of the kind of trade you will be engaging in, at the end of the day we all wish to make ends meet.

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If you are not increasing conversions and sales, you need to reflect and redefine your social media campaign. Here lies the problem, technology is a fast lane, and there is no better place that this statement holds true than in Silicon Valley. We mean, they are churning out socially oriented startups as fast as you can say millionaires. Indeed, social media sites have made more millionaires than any other industry especially in the past decade. But can the profits be shared with businesses represented there as well?



Importance of social media marketing

As we stated earlier, we are going to refrain from getting into details on how to strategize on a social media campaign. Instead, this post will highlight the importance of having a presence on social media platforms for your business.

Increase brand recognition

What kind of business are you engaged in? It doesn’t matter whether you are leading a multinational or you are making your baby steps with your startup or like me, you are involved in online marketing. There is something for everyone on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, YouTube, and Pinterest. With a presence in most if not all social media sites, you are bound to increase your brand recognition.

In the past, we have gotten to know of relatively new brands through my Facebook newsfeed. We are sure you too, might have learned of a new product and brand as well through a social media platform. Now can you imagine a scenario whereby you are placing your bet on million plus users? Of course, the numbers will be limited at first but as you grow; your brand recognition grows as well.

Improve brand loyalty

How do you improve brand loyalty on social media sites? You simply employ the tools provided by the social media platforms. In fact, if you approach the entire social media marketing strategy with optimism and business tactics, you will make the interaction more social for your customers.

You can introduce a helpline where customers can engage with the brand on a social level. If the social media campaign is effective enough, it will motivate customers to become loyal supporters of your profitable cause.

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Conversions are imminent

Conversions are quite important when dealing with social media sites. If you post something on social media it will reach your existing customers, new customers, and potential customers. With that said, the aftermath is nothing short of notable conversions.

Of course, there are factors that will affect the outcome. However, any post, image or video should have a link to your website since a customer might end up there subsequently converting. Although, not all form of social media sites interactions will lead to a conversion but when they do make sure they are impactful on your business.

What about the brand authority?

Social media sites have a role in solidifying the brand authority. Typically, customers perceive any form of social media interaction as a show of good faith.

In essence, they have found a platform to expresses most of their feelings which extends to their favorite brand. Consequently, the customers will brag or invoke their confidence in a brand they are proud of on social media.

In effect, the brand they share among their followers would increase its authority. Now, it’s more advantageous to your brand if customers are willingly sharing of its excellence on social media. Increased inbound traffic In most cases



Inbound traffic

Tends to be limited without social media sites. How’s that you ask? Well, in the absence of social media sites, inbound traffic can only be identified to people searching on keywords you’ve ranked for or people who are already aware of the existence of your brand.

The more social media profiles you add to your resume, the more paths you create that can directly lead to your site. Furthermore, content is a major factor in inbound traffic. This means that the high-quality content you syndicate on your social media profile is another opportunity for new visitors.

With an increase in the syndicated content, the inbound traffic also moves in equal measures vertically –more traffic leads to more leads and more conversions.

Reduced marketing costs

In most businesses, marketing eats away at a large chunk of the budget but social media sites and maybe, just maybe there is hope. Obviously, advertising on Facebook is cheaper than on Google. Unpredictably, though the rates might increase as the urge to make more profits kicks in.

At the moment, however, marketing has become cheaper especially with the relatively free flowing following offered by the large numbers of people represented on social media.

In any case, the efforts required to mount a social media onslaught is less than in organizing traditional forms of marketing. Within a few hours, you can be able to create or source for content, as well as the syndication strategy. However, the universal rule of “starting small” still applies here, and you shouldn’t ignore this healthy principle.

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Better performance with your search engine ranking

Search engine optimization (SEO) is entirely blamed for the success or failure of a search engine ranking. Of course, social media sites have taken up the space of the new kid on the block in this regard. How much effort can you channel into search engine rankings through social media? A lot actually; search engines are not blind of your social media presence.

In fact, a social media presence is in consideration during ranking. This strategy begins with optimizing your blog while the links to social media acts as strengthening factors. By now, you should be having regular parties with your search engine friends. While we are at it, it’s good to mention that the social media presence increase credibility, trustworthiness, and legitimacy.

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What about the customer experience?

We can’t reiterate further the importance of good customer relations to any form of business. How do you interact with your customers? There are a myriad of methods that can be used to communicate with your clients including phone calls, emails, and Social media. The social aspect found on social media sites is unparalleled. The customers’ expectations are supposed to be met and not the other way round.

If you are keen on satisfying your customers, you will lend them your ears especially on such platforms as these. From experience, it’s evident that most customers tend to vent their anger through social media sites. As such, you need to ensure that there is someone to receive this complaint as they take the action necessary in such a situation. In a different scenario, the customer might be commending your business and its right to thank them for the compliment.

Improved customer insight

You can learn a lot about what your customers think about you through social media sites. On social media platforms, customers are totally blunt on how they feel about something.

If they do not like one of your products, you will definitely know about it. In addition, you can be able to differentiate between the popular content and the boring content. You are also able to measure conversion through a myriad of promotions placed on your social media platforms. It is from such findings that you create the right channels for generating profits.

Conclusion As we are having this conversation, your competition is already represented on social media. In short, you need to start your social media campaign if you haven’t started already. Moreover, there is nothing to lose if you start out with the campaign. You can share your experience with the social media marketing in the comments section below.

If you are looking for social media marketing or digital marketing service for your business or startup, email us contact@ourownstartup.com. You can also view all our services here.