10 Tactics to Build Quality Social Media Presence – Startup Tips

Someone on Twitter asked this:

What would you recommend to #startups looking to build social media presence?

Startups are highly results-driven. Well, every business is (and should be). With the so many “experts” and “gurus,” where should you begin? It’s a jungle out there, and information can be overwhelming.

I wrote this article for:

1. Startups who wanted to jumpstart their social media presence;
2. Any business that is new in social media;
3. Business owners who are not keen on simply “winging” their social media presence; and last but not least,
4. The startup company that asked me the question.

10 Tips to Build your Social Media Presence

Your goal should precede your concern over choice of platforms | Tip 1

I often come across businesses who ask which social media platforms they should use. Doesn’t that seem like putting the horse before the cart? It is a reasonable question to ask, but concern for such should not overtake concern over your goal.

Be clear about your purpose for using social media marketing.

Having an explicit goal to focus on is like driving. The brain, if you notice, has the tendency to cause the car to swerve toward what the driver is looking at. You observe what’s around you, including the competitor, but your eyeballs should be primarily toward your destination. You can navigate through traffic or take another route, but that does not change the destination. .

Question for you to answer: What is YOUR goal for your business startup?

I cannot stress enough the importance of knowing the answer to that question. A defined goal helps your team plan strategic & measurable steps; while, in the process, you also keep resources in check as you strive to reach it.

It can be used as a tool to achieve either of these goals:

• increased email subscribers
• grow profitability
• get leads
• more website traffic to your website
• improved customers service
• increased brand awareness

…and more!

Understand that each goal may have different actions or call it tactics, if you will, that your team might need to develop. That is why with the reality of having stringent resources and the desire to have to scale it, you have to be clear about what you want to achieve. One way to do this is by determining your key performance indicators. You can take a hint from Facebook to establish what may be your preferred key performance indicator or KPI to reach a marketing objective for your business success.

Facebook has the following, as an example:

1. Book Now – For if you would like people to book appointments with your company;
2. Use App – This is ideal for technology startups who would like people to try your app;
3. Contact Us – This is if you would like people to contact you directly if they have any question. Get a live link to your website’s “Contact Us” page.
4. Shop Now – This is a perfect option if your startup business has an e-commerce site where your fans can purchase your product or service;
5. Sign up – This is if you would like to get more subscribers and if you are building your mailing list. Did you know that 50% of site visitors NEVER return to your site? So if you are paying ad to drive traffic to your site. The best bang for your back is to marry that up with your mailing list.
6. Play Game – This app is perfect if you have a game that you have developed.
7. Watch a video – This is perfect if you like to increase visibility about your product and services.

Determine who you are selling your products or services to | Tip #2

While everyone can be potentially your client, not everyone is a customer. You may have several segments of your audience, or just one. It can be by geographic location, age, job, title, etc.

Why is identifying audience is important?

One reason is that different age groups have different habits, expressions, and social media platform preference.

comScore released this social media networks demographic. What it is telling us is that the various groups hang out in different platforms!

Age Distribution of Top Social Networks | Who’s in what?

Another reason is, depending on resources and extent and depth of your approach in marketing, you may need to prioritize which social media tool you have to be on first or spend more time on.

Know your audience.

Know the language they are using, the type of social media message they like to follow and content they like to read. Some social networks give you the ability to get a glimpse of what they like, what they are reading and in some instances info can be granular.

Marketing to an identified group with a targeted approach can potentially help cut costs, and yield better results because you can manage and focus your efforts more efficiently.

Tip for your Success: Go and find your ideal audience and engage with them. Add value to the conversation. If you are uncertain on how to jump in on a conversation without appearing like a spammer, check these tips on how to join social media conversations from pros.

Invest in a social media monitoring tool | Tip 3

There is no such thing as perfect social media monitoring tool, but there are useful tools out there. Determine what you like to monitor and see if any of the solutions out there has all, if not some, of the features you need for benchmarking.

I would suggest you to try either of these Hootsuite, SproutSocial or Buffer. (I am not an affiliate of either).

Measure for success | Tip 4

From the Social Times:

“Measurement provides marketers with results to iterate and evaluate business decisions. By continuing to learn from measurement results, you can more effectively inform your campaign strategies, whether those strategies are more tactically driven or strategic to the brand.

It is always great to have a benchmark. It is not just about showing up every day. You’ll find that soon enough if you start benchmarking your efforts. You can argue and reason that data shouldn’t be so, but numbers don’t lie. Numbers are great indicators of what is working and what is not.

Take stock of what the data is trying to say, and use that information to develop appropriate strategies or change existing ones to achieve your marketing objectives.

Be consistent | Tip #5

I posted a tip on consistency on Instagram, which I later shared on Twitter. That brought up the question above from one of our Twitter followers.

Be consistent with your message. Keep your posts on-topic You don’t have to be in social media from sun-up to sun-down. Mix up your posts without straying from your objectives.

Aside from your message, be consistent with your relevance, make posts appealing to your audience.

Be consistent in engaging with your audience. It is “social” media, remember? Respond to relevant conversations.

Be consistent with your presence. Don’t show up one day and then gone the next. Be there regularly.

Every click, every mention, every retweet, every share will add up to your reputation as a business. Everything you do is like raindrops; rain makes puddles. If the rain is non-stop, that could cause a flood. In a way, your digital activities are like that. You will reap fruits of it in due time.

Be tactically strategic | Tip 6

With the so many digital distractions surrounding target audience nowadays our efforts should be not only tactical but also strategic. For ANY tactic to be strategic, it has to meet a particular goal. Begin by understanding who you are as a company, what you want to become and how you will achieve it.

Ask yourself: “Why am I doing what I am doing?” As an example, “Why am I posting this [breakfast]?”

 Really.

Your growth may correlate with what you are putting in social media | Step 7

If you want to go slow, do it the organic way. Expect to spend plenty of man-hours to achieve satisfactory results. If you wish to scale growth, pay for ads. I recommend that you do a combination of both. If you don’t have time to “experiment” this get a consultant who knows what he/she is doing and is not learning on your dime. Whether you choose to grow the organically or by paying ads, both aren’t free.

Grow slow, organic; grow fast, pay ads.This is assuming you have a clear goal, AND objectives in place.

Posted by Your Social Success on Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Social media is not a silo | Step 8

Social media on its own can be hit or miss.

According to JD Power in 2013, “67% consumers use social media for customer service and 66% stopped doing business with a company due to poor social customer service.”

Social media touches other facets of your business. Use it not just as a vertical but with a wider lens. You can use it together with your other marketing investments to attract, engage and acquire customers. Therefore, it is necessary to map your social media objectives back to your business goals.

Ask business start-ups for tips | Step 9

Elizabeth Dodson, the co-founder of HomeZada, a cloud-based home improvement, and organizational software startup company, is sharing these tips to startups like HomeZada.

HomeZada stumbled when it first launched its social media presence due to a lack of knowledge about the platforms and lack of understanding of what mattered to their audience. After carefully reevaluating and educating ourselves on social media, we understood what needed to happen in order to embrace and support our followers. For any startup looking to build a social media presence, I would recommend that they first do their research about the platforms and what will interest their audience. Second, I would suggest understanding the time allocation needed to commit to social media and determining what time is available to manage this initiative. Moreover, finally, I would look at the social media platform or platforms that most resonate with your business. If you are a B2B organization, then LinkedIn might be your best forum. If you are a B2C, then maybe Facebook or another platform. Once you secure your platforms, understand what information is valuable to the audience on each platform. Republishing the same pieces to all the platforms may not resonate with your audience of one platform, but may resonate with your audience of another.

Hire a social media consultant or get a coach | 10

Each social media platform is different. As such it has different audience and nuances. There is a learning curve involved in the process. That includes trying to catch up with the constant changes that go on with each platform.

If you want to manage it, get an experienced social media coach, *cough* we do that, whom you can check in regularly about what you are doing if you’re on track – or not.

If you don’t have time to run social media yourself, hire a social media consultant who is not learning it in your dime. Stay clear from anyone who’d promise a quick result. Social media does NOT work that way!

What would be your tip to build a killer social media presence? Leave it below.

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Letting Your Personality Shine Online: The Guide to a Genuine Voice And Presence

Author and blogger, Susan Campbell Cross, joined us for #bufferchat to share about how to let your personality shine through your social media posts and blogs.

See the full recap here. And continue reading for all of Susan’s tips on being genuine, defining a voice, and more.

What does it mean to be genuine online?

From Susan:

• Be yourself! What you post online shouldn’t be anything you wouldn’t say/share among friends offline.
• Oscar Wilde said it best: “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.” (& Shakespeare, “To thine own self be true.”)

More great advice:

• “In my opinion, being genuine means being yourself no matter what the consequences, unless you’re running a brand. Be honest” @shanericka
• “Being genuine on social media is about finding the right balance between professionalism and expressing personality.” @rebeccalouiseee
• “Produce content that creates, establishes or compliments a community rather than marketing only yourself” @FlyingPTDigital

How would you define your voice?

From Susan:

• What you see online is what you get off. Well, I curse more offline! Read#TheFabYOUList & u’ll REALLY know me (warts & all)!
• Try to balance being honest with not alienating/offending people. Gotta watch that if building a brand/audience!

More great advice:

• “Combo of (past) knowledge & experience, combined with current research (& subject experts) filtered thru (strong) opinions” @jgombita
• “An #inclusive voice able to resonate with our audience that define our soul and our purpose” @makevuy
• “A reflection of culture and values as if someone were in your office OR your own voice if a personal account.” @chmsant

What advice would you give to those working on finding their voice?

From Susan:

• Being self = EZer said than done! I didn’t fully know self til I was in my 40’s (I share this in #TheFabYOUList
• Ask yourself before posting: If my mom or best friend read this, would she know it was me saying it?
• Only post what you’ve read! Rookie mistake online—reposting things w/out reading them can backfire & confuse your followers.

More great advice:

• “Your voice = your business goals + your audience + your principles and purposes (mission) coded in ‘human’ messages” @makevuy
• “Never seek the acceptance of others in order to feel good about yourself. Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” @jaananystrom
• “If you’re trying to “find your voice” just tweet. Eventually, you’ll find it on your own. No one can find it for you.” @alexismedina

What are some tips to let your personality shine?

From Susan:

• Posts should reflect who you are & your message. Don’t get it when people put “RTs are not endorsements”. Why RT what you don’t agree with?
• Balance “give people what they want” w/being yr true self. If people don’t like who that is, GET NEW PEOPLE!
• I like me. So if other people like me 2, it’s nice! But not necessary.

More great advice:

• “Write about what scares you. Only publish what you yourself would want to read. Take a stance and go all in. Take chances.” @aboundlessworld
• “This will come through in how you structure your form & voice. You will know you are there when creating is like breathing.” @bukowski33
• “Find influencers and others that share the same personality as you & share their content. Offer your expertise & opinions.” @directom

How do you help encourage others to feel comfortable being themselves on social?

From Susan:

• I try not to judge. I don’t like everyone, & not everyone likes me. But we ALL deserve to be respected.
• It’s fear of judgement & criticism that prevents people from being comfortable expressing themselves honestly.
• So good to let people know you see them, you hear them, you support them, & value them.
• Think you are weird? Remember…everyone is weird! Some people are better at hiding it is all! #BeYOURSELF You are AWESOME!

More great advice:

• “Taking that first step is terrifying, but the more great people you meet, the better it gets.” @nlbctim
• “Favorites, retweets and joining their conversations all send a positive message and encourage!” @lhultin
• “1. show, don’t tell. 2. Create space for people to try it out: we’ve done it on a small scale and so far so good” @blowndes

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8 Ways To Spruce Up Your Brand’s Social Media Presence

Running a profitable operation presents its own set of challenges for small business owners. And if they’re not in an industry that’s appealing to the masses, chances are they’ve struggled at some point or another to successfully market their unique products or services. Fortunately, social media presents the opportunity to increase brand awareness in a fun and engaging manner.

Here are some ideas to consider along with ways in which certain companies have used social media to expand their reach.

1. Post Useful Content

Your followers are crunched for time, so you must post content that captivates their attention and adds value to their lives. Otherwise, they will simply overlook future posts or unfollow your company page. Identity theft protection, for example, isn’t necessarily a sexy industry, but LifeLock has a sizeable social media following because their posts provide useful tidbits of wisdom regarding identity theft and ways to protect yourself. And with identity theft rates on the rise, who wouldn’t want to have access to this pertinent information?

2. Skip the Sales Pitch

Consumers dislike the idea of being sold. Instead, they prefer to be in charge of the purchasing decision and move at their own pace. But if you’re constantly shoving sales pitches down their throats via social media, they may become irritated and take their business elsewhere.

3. Encourage Feedback

Even if you’re in an industry that may not be exciting to the average consumer, loyal supporters take pride in knowing you value their opinion and want them to be a part of the conversation. In fact, Starbucks has taken the solicitation of customer feedback to another level by creating @MyStarbucksIdea, a Twitter page solely dedicated to customer experience.

4. Switch It Up

Not only should you avoid posting identical content across platforms, but what you post should also be diverse. Some followers prefer videos while others take a liking to infographics. The idea is to provide a little something for everyone. And don’t forget to share useful content from other pages.

5. Mascot or Spokesperson

It doesn’t take a massive marketing budget to implement a mascot or spokesperson into your branding strategy. To effectively do so, consider creating a Twitter and Facebook profile for your new symbol and infusing it with a dose of humor so your followers can connect with it. Just think of Mayhem from AllState, who not only serves up a good dose of amusement via television but has his own Twitter and Facebook pages where he keeps the laughs going.

6. Infuse a Little Humor

There’s not much one can say about toilet paper beyond its texture, but that didn’t prevent Charmin from creating a strong social media presence. The clever Twitter hashtag, “tweetfromtheseat,” has soared Charmin’s following to new heights and changed the way consumers nationwide view toilet paper.

7. Product Giveaways

Host a contest or giveaway to attract new customers. But remember, the key is to get participants to spread the word about your brand as a condition of entering to win. Encourage customers to do so through a testimonial, product review, or simply by sharing the company page with friends.

8. Consistency is the Key

If you’re crunched for time or considering ditching your social media efforts altogether, take a step back and develop a posting strategy. Once you’ve done so, use a social media management platform like HootSuite to Tweetdeck to schedule your posts in advance to ensure you remain on schedule. It may take several months to see results, but the effort and hard work won’t be in vain.

What are your ideas for sprucing up your brand? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me @suereynolds. I’d love to hear from you.

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Should You Hire A Social Media Manager?

If you've tried to tack social media management on to your job, then you already know how difficult it can be. It’s hard to make it a priority over customer phone calls, sales, accounting and staffing (the list goes on).

If your online presence is a crucial part to your overall marketing strategy, then finding help is key to keeping your social media engagement consistent.

When it comes to hiring someone to take on your social media presence, deciding the best way to handle it can be a challenge.

Do you hire someone or outsource it?

Ask yourself these questions first:

• Is social media a very important part of the marketing strategy?
• Do you consider yourself very savvy with social media marketing, but simply do not have the time to maintain it?
• Do you have time and energy to train and maintain another employee?
• Can you provide the equipment they need to get the job done?

If you answered “yes” to the all of the questions above, it’s likely that hiring someone to be a part of your organization is the best fit.

Hiring A Social Media Manager In-House

There are a lot of benefits to having an in-house employee managing social media that can’t be matched by outsourcing. First of all, an actual employee of your company is going to be more involved with the daily operations and have a better opportunity to find interesting content. Engagement online is much higher when you share photos of the inner workings of your business. Only an employee can really show off that company culture.

Your in-house social media manager is also going to be more agile and in-tune with your ever-changing marketing program. He or she can write and post in real-time from a company event. He can be more aggressive on a daily basis, posting more often if you’re trying to promote something heavily. As you have last-minute ideas, an in-house employee is more able to make those happen quickly than outsourced help.

What To Watch Out For

The biggest thing to be wary of is your own bandwidth and knowledge of social media. Low-wage managers or interns need a lot of guidance, training and hands-on management. If you can afford a good wage, then you can find someone with more experience to help you. If your position is part-time however, be prepared for turnover. If you’re thinking about asking an existing employee to help, you still need to budget extra hours to ensure your social media is handled properly.

Outsourcing To A Social Media Marketing Agency Or Freelancer

This tends to be the best fit for business owners. Agency and freelancers have a lot of experience managing social media for clients, and they’re going to pass that knowledge on to you when you work with them.

In addition, working with agencies takes the headache out of hiring help, managing turnover, training, paying payroll taxes, etc. Agencies tend to have pretty easy-to-follow onboarding program for their clients and systems in-place that make outsourcing much more affordable than hiring a part-time employee.

What To Watch Out For

There are two big things to look out for when researching which agency or freelancer you want to use. First, you want to make sure they have a track record of happy customers and can demonstrate up-to-date knowledge on the every changing world of social media marketing. You don’t want to hire someone that can’t prove to you that he or she is going to be in business in a year. And, there are a lot of fly-by-night social media companies out there. Do your research before you hire them.

The second thing to watch out for is larger agencies or businesses focused on selling you a generic package without any customization. There are a lot of options when it comes to social media automation and you can feel too far removed from your online marketing if you hire a large company that doesn’t offer a personal level of service.

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