Your content marketing strategy for your website goes hand in hand with your social media strategy. They work in conjunction, one helping the other and vice versa. But if you have a business that’s just starting up, you may be at a loss as to where to start and how to incorporate social media outreach into your online approach.

It’s true that social media marketing is an ideal way to launch your startup because it’s cheap and effective. Attracting customers through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram starts with doing your homework on just how to go about the process. Here are seven social media tips for startups.

1.    Do the Research

You can’t just fire off a tweet and expect results. You have to do the market research first. Don’t fall victim to “random acts of marketing”…rather, it takes preparation and planning. Focus your research on social media behaviors. The platforms you post on will depend on the nature of your business and the type of customers you have.

2.    Learn the Platforms Used by Your Audience

Think of these factors when determining which platforms to use:

• Location of target market
• Online behaviors of that target market
• Amount of time your audience spends online
• Which social media platforms they frequent
• The frequency with which they interact on social media

There’s no need to sign up with every platform out there. Choose a couple of the most important ones and start there.

3.    Be Consistent

Be sure to use the same handle for all platforms for consistency’s sake. Using different handles confuses your target audience, so it’s important to be clear about your branding, says Social Media Today. There’s too much competition out there, which means you have to be as simple and straightforward as possible.

4.    Craft a Brand Message

As a small pre-revenue startup, it’s important to build a branding message that incorporates what you want to say, how you want to say it and what value it adds for your customers. Choose a message and run with it. You can achieve this by studying your consumers’ language.

5.     Be a Consistent Poster

Once you’ve done all the preliminary research, now you have to hit the ground running and post on a consistent basis. It’s easy to get so busy that you forget. Come up with a schedule and stick to it. You can’t keep your customers engaged if you’re posting once a month, then twice a week, then not for another month. Pick a schedule – whether that’s every day, two times a week or once – and post consistently so your customers have an easier time finding you and learning your brand.

6.    Use Marketing Automation Tools

At this early juncture, it may just be you and a partner running the day to day operations. It can be hard to make the time to post in real time every day. That’s where social media management tools come in, which automate the process so you don’t have to think about it all the time. You can manage everything from one dashboard, schedule your posts in advance, and let the tool do the rest.

7.    Hire a Social Media Writer and Poster

Now, if you don’t even have time to create the posts, let alone schedule them, it’s a wise idea to hire a niche writer who knows your industry and knows what kinds of posts would appeal to your audience. Not only can they craft the posts, they can schedule them for you directly within the platform.

By following these tips, you can become a social media giant right out of the gate.

Contact Content Runner

If your social media strategy needs inspiration, get in touch with us to learn more. We have many niche writers who understand the social needs of your industry and can apply their skills to make sure you’re visible on the right platforms.