Negosentro | How Do I Develop a Social Media Strategy for My Startup? | Traditional marketing methods are now passé. Your startup story may be over even before it starts unless you invest in a solid social media strategy. Social media is the way to go if you want an edge over your competition in this hyper-competitive market, but where do you start and how do you create a strategy that delivers the desired results without wasting time and energy? Here’s what our experts suggest:
Know Which Social Media Platforms Work for Your Startup
Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram: there are so many choices when it comes to social media.
You could spread your effort across every social media platform, but some of them may not work for the kind of startup you have. You need to pick one platform where you are most likely to find your target audience and put your focus there. If you don’t have any social media presence, it’s best to set up your account on one before diving in too deep.
It is important to pick a platform best aligned with your business’s goals. For example, if you want access to e-commerce features to convert followers into paying customers and build a community of loyal users, Instagram is what you need.
Set Up Your Social Media Goals
Without having measurable goals, it is impossible to know whether your social media strategy works or not.
Set up goals that are S.M.A.R.T—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Link your goals with a specific metric to track how close you are to attaining them. You can use the analytic tools available to evaluate the metrics. For instance, if your goal is to hit 5,000 followers in the next 3 months, the metric you need to check is how many followers you gain on a month-on-month basis.
As a startup, you only need to focus on a few goals at a time that are most relevant for marketing your business. Make sure to add a timeframe for achieving the goals to help you keep on track.
Work On a Content Strategy
Starting your social media journey without a robust content strategy is similar to swimming in the ocean when you don’t even know how to swim in a training pool—you are bound to feel overwhelmed.
Given the competition on social media platforms, where every brand and startup is vying for the attention of their target audience, a laser-focused strategy becomes even more important. Start by answering a few basic questions:
- What type of content does your target audience like to consume?
- How frequently can you create content?
- Will you be able to market your content?
Creating a content calendar is also useful to help you publish more efficiently. A content calendar can maximize your productivity and help you quickly repurpose content without the risk of duplicating anything.
Know Your Brand Voice
Your brand personality needs to shine through your social media accounts and truly reflect who you are as a business. Interacting with your audience online can give them a clue about how the interaction may go offline. So it is vital to showcase the authentic tone of your business.
Not sure how to find out your brand voice? Take into account the values and mission of your brand. Ask yourself: do you want to come across as a serious and formal setup or be more relatable and friendly?
Each piece of content you upload on your social media account should reflect your brand voice. Make sure to do your homework while crafting a foolproof social media strategy.
Create Audience Personas
Creating meaningful content for your audience is easier when you know what they want. The best way to do that is by creating customer personas, a personification of your ideal customer or client. Take into account the key demographics like their age, location, interest, and income. The more detailed your customer persona, the easier it will be to target and engage them.
For instance, if you are a wellness company in the business of selling wellness products, the persona you want to target is someone who values leading a healthy lifestyle, has expendable income, and wants additional support to stay healthy. Any content you publish should conform to the overall theme of promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Know What Your Competitors Are Doing
You cannot create a social media strategy in isolation, without watching what is happening in your market. Auditing your competitors through a competitive analysis can help you understand what is expected from your social media content.
For example, you may discover that while your competitor has a strong presence on Instagram, they haven’t put much effort into staying active on LinkedIn. Use that as an opportunity and present relevant content to the target audience on LinkedIn who is not getting much attention. This is easier than establishing your presence on a platform where your competitor is already wooing the target audience.
Additionally, you can also use social listening to keep tabs on your competitor. Watch hashtags and @ responses, know what the target audience is saying about them and use that information to refine your social media strategy.
Keep Doing Social Media Audits
Once you start creating and posting content on your social media accounts, it is important to continue to evaluate your performance on a regular basis. Taking stock can also help you redirect your efforts if needed. Ask yourself how your content is performing, what’s not working, and how often your audience is genuinely engaging.
If you find that one of your social media accounts lacks a clear purpose or goal, rethink whether you want to continue putting in the effort there or use that as an opportunity to use that effort to improve your content on other platforms where the audience is clearly happy with what you do. Even though you may be unhappy with your audit results, it is one of the best ways to keep your strategy focused.
Need Help Crafting a Powerful Social Media Strategy for Your Startup?
Creating a social media strategy that delivers your desired results doesn’t have to be an endless experiment. With the right agency, you can get it right the first time.
At InnoVision, we have an experienced team who can craft a strategy suited to the needs of your business that attracts your audience just the way you want. Reach out to us right away and let us work our magic.
