5 Proven Social Media Marketing Strategies for Startups

Getting success with a startup is challenging. In this digital age, startup success, in most cases, aligns with social media marketing. This concept means the practice of using social media platforms to present your product to the target market. In this blog, I’m going to say the proven social media marketing strategies for startups, which we have tested in our business too, once upon a time.

Why Does Social Media Marketing So Popular?

If you ask me for one reason for the popularity of social media marketing, well, I can give you three.
At first, a huge number of people are using social media worldwide. Datareportal says:

So, it is the most effective way to present your product to a larger audience.

Next, it is a convenient way to reach the target customer considering the demographic factors. That means you get to spend effort on the people who are suitable and interested in the product.

Finally, it is the most cost-effective way for your startup. Compared to giant competitors, a startup does not have a fat budget for promotional activities. So, choosing the cheapest platform is a significant priority for a startup.

What is strategy?

Despite using the social media platform for product marketing, there are so many startups that ended up closing their business. The reason is, they did not have proper strategies while promoting their product.

In simple words, strategies are a combination of small tactics that help you achieve the goal. In this scenario, if you follow some tactics while promoting your product on social media, you can assure your success.

Social Media Strategies

So, which are the social media marketing strategies for startups?

I am planning here to provide a simple step-by-step guideline that you cannot afford to avoid if you want to get a positive outcome.

01. Create Customer Persona and Set the Objectives

At first, you need to outline a detailed hypothetical description of your customer, which is called customer persona.

Who is your potential buyer? What are their demographics? Which kind of problem are your customers facing? What does your customer expect through your service? How are you planning to solve those problems?

To answer these questions will give you a clear idea about making a customer persona. You have to think always from your customer point of view.

For example, you have a driving safety product to offer exclusively for teenage drivers. So, you can create a hypothetical profile with the following details:

• Age: 16-19
• Location: Minnesota
• Type: Beginner driver
• Income: Low
• Is a student or worker
• Price sensitive
• Live with parents
• Active on social media
• Not very adventurous
• Not a fast driver

There are two ways by which you can prepare a proper customer persona. Qualitative research (customer interview and focus group discussion) and quantitative research (web analytics and market segmentation tools). 

There are also lots of customer persona question templates which you can use as a shortcut.

I guess you have already a business plan that describes your targeted customer according to the demographic factors. That means you have outlined a hypothetical description of your customer who is suitable for your product.

But when you move to promote the product, you have also to figure out which kind of audience will have interest in your product.

For example, you have a product to offer exclusively for teenagers. But, the elderly siblings can also have an interest in that product to buy that as a gift.

In social media marketing, you can set your marketing tool to ensure that both suitable and interested audiences will be accessible to your content. So, you have to prepare a proper customer persona by doing intense research.

Next, you need to ask yourself, “What do you want from social media marketing?“

You have to set a clear and measurable social media marketing goal. The goal should not be irrelevant and need to be attained on time.

For instance, increase brand awareness, drive traffic, grow revenue, boost brand engagement, etc.

Every step taken through the social media marketing journey will be associated with that goal. Because, if you don’t have the goal of stepping on Everest, you will climb day after day, but never be on the top of the world.

Without a proper goal, it will be difficult for you to achieve a positive result. Because, if you don’t have the goal of stepping on Everest, you will climb day after day, but never be on the top of the world.

02. Find the Best Social Media Channel

It is not a very wise decision to create a business profile on every possible social media platform. You have to figure out which platform is appropriate to reach your target audience.

For example, if you launch a product for teenagers in the US market, your top priority should be Snapchat. Because Statista says:

That means you have to do proper research to find out the link between your product offering and the social media usage of the target market.

Also, you have to observe your competitors’ social media activities. When you observe closely, you will get a surface idea of the competitors’ social media marketing strategy.

But DO NOT follow blindly the social media actions of your competitors.

03. Set Up the Social Media Profiles

You have to add details about your business after creating a social media profile. Here, I am explaining this section with an example of Facebook.

To promote your startup on Facebook, you need to create a Facebook page naming by your business. After that, the following details you need to add to your Facebook page:

• A customized URL (you can edit that in the page settings)
• The physical address of your startup
• Phone number
• Email address (with your startup name)
• Profile picture (company logo as a profile picture recommended)
• Cover photo (company logo, tag line, product/service details, or anything that matches with your business vibe)
• Company description

The significance of these details is high. Because a profile enriched with company information helps to create a sense of trust among the customer.

Next, you need to increase your followers and there are two ways to do that. Those are, organic social growth (non-paid marketing), and paid social growth (paid marketing through advertising).

The main priority of a startup is minimizing the promotional cost in the best possible way. So, in my view, organic growth is a convenient option for the beginning.

04. Create the Contents Based on Platform & Audience

The first question you need to answer is, “What does my target audience like to experience?”

Nowadays, people prefer animated promotional content rather than still pictures of product details. Also, some audiences like to read informative product details (unknown product value) before a buying decision. It is your call to understand your audience first. After that, you will be able to outline a content strategy based on your customer preference.

Besides, you need to consider that, continuous promotional content makes your audience bored. In this way, you will end up losing your followers.

To retain your audience, you can mix up your promotional content with another generic one. For example, if you are offering an herbal product range, you can post an informative article about different herbs.

Moreover, never underestimate the power of a good visual representation. Believe me, an eye-catching visual of your post will enhance your brand value in a greater way.

05. Measure the Results and Plan Accordingly

Keep an eye on social media analytics will help you to measure the level of post reach, number of clicks, the rate of engagement, and so on. In this way, you will be able to understand the success rate of each post or campaign. There are several free and paid analytics tools that you can use.

Based on the analytics result, you will plan for your next content or campaign. If you find content with a lower result, you can skip creating that kind of content for your future campaign. As a result, the success rate of your future campaign will increase.

Tips to Spice Up Your Social Media Marketing Strategies

Firstly, you have to engage with your audience through comments, messages, and reviews.

Secondly, a consistent content posting will make your audience habituated with your brand. If your post is irregular, there is a chance that your audience will start to forget about your product.

Next, there is no alternative to being active during business hours. The more responsive you will be, the more positive impression will create among the audience.

Finally, trying to post in a peak hour and specific time will help to engage more audience. Also, the audience will be adapted with that timing and expected post from you on that specified hour.

If you need to ensure your ecommerce digital marketing strategy on on track, you can check this article of our partner here.

Things You Need to Avoid

There are four things you must avoid.

• Spelling mistakes in the content
• Controversial content
• The wrong dimension of the visual content, and
• Bad behavior with your audience

Any of these four mistakes is more than enough to degrade your brand image within a second.

Conclusion

At last, there is an option of hiring a social media expert if your company budget supports you. Otherwise, some research with a detailed plan could save you from spending money on an expert. But, there are no alternative of preparing your social media marketing strategies, before jumping into the full-fledged business.

Besides, always try to observe the customer discussion through the comment section. In this way, you will be able to find out the perception of your target audience towards your brand. Also, it will help you to use those viewpoints to improve your content.