Considering that more than half of the world actively uses social media, you can easily develop your business with effective social media strategies. In today’s technology world, many different social media platforms are actively used. Social media, which is used by millions of users every day, is also of great importance for startups. This article has compiled several Strategies to Boost Social Media Growth for startups.
Importance of Social Media Growth for Startups
When it comes to marketing for businesses, more or less everyone has an opinion. Social media, which has become one of the important factors of marketing at the moment, finds itself more or less a place when it comes to marketing. Some find social media essential for a strong online marketing campaign, while others argue it is unnecessary.
Small businesses or startups are more likely to not see this requirement, but large businesses necessarily include social media strategies in all their marketing strategies. Small or large, if all businesses understand the importance of social media growth to their overall success, they will do their best to make the necessary investment.
To be successful in business, people need to know that your business exists. That’s why we don’t even need to tell you how important marketing is for your business.
Figure 1: Importance of Social Media Growth for Startups
From flyers to investing in television commercials, if you want to be a long-lasting business in any way, creating a marketing strategy is one of the most fundamental building blocks for your business’s survival.
We said marketing is important to your business, but there are different marketing solutions for every business, and none are one-size-fits-all. What works for one company may not work for another.
With the emergence of social media, new and more advanced tools have also become a part of marketing strategies. According to research, there are 63% of people worldwide have access to the internet. Considering that the vast majority of internet users use a social media platform, you can understand the importance of using social media in your marketing strategy.
If business owners determine which platforms their target audiences are on by doing research, they have the potential to reach their target audiences through social networks. Marketers can take advantage of social media channels for their customers with different strategies.
You can view social media as an extension of your website as it is where most online users will interact with the content on your website. If you have a blog or e-commerce site, the content can be shared with a call to action. This way users are redirected back to the website. It is very important because there are many distractions on social media whereas your website is only about your business.
Figure 2: Power of Social Media Growth
The Power of Social Media Growth
Online social media platforms now play a very important role in all processes of the customer relationship lifecycle. Social media; is a boon for brand equity, customer loyalty, and business performance. Various studies have also supported this situation.
Some studies showing the importance of social media strategies for startups are as follows:
- After interacting with a company on social media, 74% of consumers have a more positive brand impression.
- Once a customer likes your product or service on social media, the probability of purchasing increases by 51%.
- When a customer buys a good service, they tell three times more people about your brand than those who don’t use social media.
- 72% of people who complain about a particular company on Twitter like the company’s response.
- 84% of consumers trust product reviews from known people and 70% trust reviews from unknown people.
- 40% of social media users like to take advantage of special discounts and promotions of businesses.
- A brand’s social media followers spend twice as much as non-brand followers.
Figure 3: The Effect of Social Media on Startups
What are the Effects on Startups?
As with all marketing methods, social media marketing has a great impact on startups. These meats can be listed as follows:
1. Shows your originality
Authenticity is the most important element that distinguishes businesses from each other. Social media also helps you contribute to your originality.
As soon as we hear about a new company, we look to see if it exists on any social platform to see if it’s a scam or real. We judge a company as fake or not good based on their social media accounts. Just by thinking about it, you can see how social media plays a role in your business. So you can use social media marketing to showcase the brand’s authenticity and attract customers.
2. It allows you to reach your target audience
Social media marketing is a tool that allows you to promote your brand worldwide. The more you interact with your target audience on prominent social platforms, the better your chances of converting them into loyal customers. Moreover, social media has no boundaries, so your message can reach the whole world.
3. You benefit from low-cost advertising
One of the most important features of social media marketing is its low cost. Television commercials are limited and the campaign requires huge budgets. However, social media is much more cost-effective than television advertisements. Being cost-effective helps you get a big return on investment with a small investment.
Also, social media marketing has no entry cost. Targeted messages and ads on Facebook and Twitter come at a cost, but they are quite small compared to traditional marketing methods. Any business can run basic social media marketing at almost no cost.
Figure 4: Boost your startup with social media strategies
4. Builds brand loyalty
Developing a good customer base is vital for any business, and building brand loyalty is necessary to acquire that customer base. Social media marketing gives businesses this opportunity as it offers the opportunity to interact with people at any time. Social media is not just for promoting a product or service. It is also preferred to increase sales or acquire new potential customers. However, word of mouth is meant to build trust, provide genuine feedback, build a reputation as an expert, drive traffic to websites, and keep people informed about specific topics like activities.
All these alternatives are made at a very low cost. Considering the returns, don’t you think social media is a great investment?
5. Allows you to easily connect with existing and potential customers
Your current and potential customers are already on social media… So why not meet them on the same platforms? Social media serves as an outlet for providing customer service, communicating with your customers, doing market research, and much more. Simple market research will help you identify which social networks your target audience uses the most.
Tips to Improve Social Media Growth Presence for Startups
Today, most technology businesses started their business life as a startup. As these businesses are small and emerging businesses, it is difficult to reach customers at first glance. On the other hand, it is just as easy to reach potential customers with effective social media strategies. Correctly positioning your startup on social media allows you to reach potential customers around the world. Tips to Improve Social Media Growth Presence for Startups are listed as follows.
1. Decide Which Platform to Use
There are dozens of different social media tools currently available. Among these platforms, platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok are among the most preferred and used platforms. However, each of them appeals to different users and stands out with different types of content. For example, while business developments are at the forefront on LinkedIn, visual design is more prominent on Instagram. Social media platforms are like the marketing fronts of startups, while content is like the arsenal of this platform, the front. According to the platform you choose, you should regularly produce content suitable for the platform. That’s why you should first identify your platform.
2. The 80/20 Rule
On the platform you choose, 20% should include content for advertising purposes that praise your brand, while 80% should produce content that adds value. However, you should produce content according to the likes and comments of your users. For example, if you use Instagram, you can plan your content based on your most liked posts by analyzing user reactions.
3. Utilize Social Media Tools
To reach your potential customers on social media, you first need to analyze the followers and interactions you have. With the right social media strategies and analysis, you can develop effective strategies. For example, if you are actively using Instagram, you can use the Socialays tool. You can analyze your Instagram account effectively with the artificial intelligence-supported analysis tool. Thus, you can determine how your followers react to which types of posts with comments and adjust your new content accordingly. You can categorize follower reactions as positive, negative, or undecided. So plan your next posts accordingly.
4. Examine successful social media strategies, campaigns, and accounts
Follow the Facebook and Twitter accounts of social media portals and blogs that publish content on these topics. Thanks to the articles written on these topics, you can get unexpected ideas from unexpected places. Most importantly, you can motivate yourself by seeing them succeed.
Figure 5: Examine successful social media campaigns
5. Have social media cards
Create a collection of images (your own social media cards) for use on social media. For this, you can use images from photo sites where you will not have copyright problems, as well as a subscription from paid photo sites such as Shutterstock. You can take it. Using free Photo Editing tools such as http://www.fotor.com, you can create a web address, slogan, logo, etc. on these images. You can increase the readability and visual power of your messages.
6. Ask questions, and complete sentences
Asking your target audience to comment on your question or complete an incomplete sentence will increase the shares of your brand and page or profile. Think about what these types of questions might be and make a list to share regularly. You can share one example per week as the question of the week. Let’s say you opened a baby play center and if there are mothers in your target audience, you should ask mothers, “When do you think the child should start daycare?” You can ask them to complete a sentence such as “I think motherhood means……” while asking a question.
7. Prepare lists, infographics
Listed content with numbers in the title of the post and infographics that show data at once tend to be read and shared more. You can prepare such content related to your business, brand, market, and target audience and share it on your blog and then on your social media accounts. You can prepare visual infographics with real research results.
8. Promotional or usage videos
The videos you will prepare about your product or service do not have to be very professional. According to the content of your business, user opinion, usage tips, promotional videos, etc. You can prepare. Now even phone cameras can take very high-quality shots of inappropriate light. With free video editing applications, you can add text, music, sound effects, etc. to your videos. If you want something more professional, you can get service from websites that provide promotional videos at very affordable prices.
9. Prepare acknowledgments and short introductory texts
Prepare a thank you message to people who start following your brand profile on any social media and accept your connection or friend request. In this thank you message, you can include information such as a brief introduction of your product or service, your website address, and a call to like your other social media addresses.
You can create your social media strategy by taking various strategic steps in many different ways. With an effective social media strategy, you can spread your startup business to a much wider audience.
