If you have a brilliant idea for a new business or startup, whether it’s a healthy, gluten-meat-everything free bakery or the next million-dollar app, you will sooner or later need to think about your social media strategy. We think sooner is better than later, because the more people you can reach and attract before or during your launch, the better. And with social media, your business is right in front of your audience.

Watch out for these common mistakes

Startup and small business founders usually understand the need to have a social media presence. What they often forget is to create a clear and effective social media strategy. This is no easy thing, especially when you are starting up and most likely won’t have staff to delegate tasks to.

Another common mistake – which is directly linked to the above – is to jump into all social networks and create hundreds of profiles for your startup. Do your potential customers hang out on all those networks? Who will manage your activities on ten or twenty channels?

Start with a social media plan

The earlier you sit down and think about your social media goals, the better. We’ve seen with multiple clients the benefits of implementing your social media strategy before you launch your product or service, like collecting leads and raising pre-launch brand awareness.

Your social media plan should include short and long term goals and objectives and the key metrics that are valuable to your business.

Choose your networks

We will always advise against creating profiles on every social network. Despite the fact it would take ages (this list covers the major networks only), it would be rather ineffective because, certainly, you would be able to manage them all. Not to mention your audience won’t be on all of them.

Think about your audience and where your potential customers can be found. Consider the target age group of your audience, the location of your business, and the nature of your services. Is it Facebook or LinkedIn? Instagram or Snapchat? Select 2 or 3 social networks and create killer profiles!

Before you start growing your followers, make sure you post 5 to 10 updates, so when they visit your profile they will find some useful content.

Pre-launch brand awareness 

If your business is brand new, your close friends and family will probably be the only ones who know about it. Include a pre-launch strategy in your social media plan to tell the world what you are working on and get them excited about your product.

Invite friends and friends od friends to follow your page and post great content that will make them want to share it. When launch date gets closer, invest in some social media advertising (check out our infographic about how to run a Facebook campaign).

Add social media icons to your website and email

Build a flawless journey for your visitor by linking your website, social media channels and email together. This will improve the chance someone else will find out about your business.

Great content makes the difference

Nurture your social media profiles with quality content and regular updates. That could mean blog content, podcasts, videos, presentations, infographics, etc., created by you or by others. Make good use of a content plan and editorial calendar and, when possible, automate with tools such as Buffer or Hootsuite.

Test and measure

Social media is a fantastic tool to experiment with. Test new campaigns, different content and audiences and measure results.

Don’t forget to engage with your audience

Social media is about creating a conversation between your business and its customers. It’s not a one-way conversation and your audience expects you to be there to engage with them. Be there!

If you need support or advice to build the perfect social media strategy for your startup or small business, get in touch.