The Year
2014 has been great for me and my company MidasTouch. We won awards, we got a
chance to work with some amazing new companies and we launched some new
offerings – especially for startups.
Based on
several interactions with startups, I can clearly see that startups not only
understand the importance of social media but also want to do something
concrete and substantial on social media, which can deliver them definite
business outcomes.
There are
some common questions which I hear often. Here I have tried to answer those -
1.
There are 700+ social media platforms - which
one is right for me?
It is quite natural to feel overwhelmed by
the choice of tools and technologies. I see that many founders and startups
feel that it is important to “create a presence” on as many platforms as
possible. A point to note here is “creating a presence” does not mean creating
an account. Having an account which is completely inactive creates a worse
impression than having no account. The choice of platform should depend on the answers
to these questions – a) Where does your target audience hang out? and b) What
do you want to achieve? For example: A B2B software services company, LinkedIn
and Twitter become valid choices. Whereas; perhaps for a restaurant, Facebook,
Instagram and Pinterest will make more sense.
2.
Is content marketing for me?
Content marketing is for everyone. More than “should I go for it?”
you need to start thinking “how well should I do it?”. Lot of companies are not
even aware of the vast knowledge bank which exists within the company itself.
As a starting point for your content marketing strategy, think about extracting
that knowledge and present it in a readable and promotable format. You don’t
need to jump to whitepapers and eBooks in the very first month - blog is a
great place to start with.
3.
Does social media work for B2B?
Absolutely it does! Have a look at my earlier detailed post on this. More importantly, you can derive
ROI from your B2B social media marketing efforts too. The key lies in defining
a solid social media strategy – which includes defining the goals you want to
achieve, selecting the right platforms, defining the right strategy for social
media posts, constantly measuring the results and refining the strategy based
on feedback and results.
4.
Will social media help me get 10 customers?
Why not? Let us consider following examples:
-
Example 1: Recently,
while browsing my Facebook timeline, I saw a friend of mine had liked a post
from a dance class. I immediately dialed the number of the dance class and
joined the batch. Technically, the dance class got a new customer through
Facebook.
-
Example 2: You
are representing a software services company. In one of the groups on LinkedIn,
you noticed an interesting conversation and participate in that. You put
forward your point of view. Through those interactions, you connect with
another member of the group and that leads you to a new customer.
-
Example 3:
You have posted an amazing blog which is liked and shared widely across social
media channels. The blog convinces one of your prospects about your expertise
and that’s how he contacts you.
Do you notice a commonality here? Through social media, you get an
opportunity to facilitate or influence the decisions. That’s how you get new customers.
Don’t compare it with phone calls based or email-based push mechanism.
5.
Should I spend on ads?
The first question you need to really ask yourself is what do you
want to achieve through ads? Ads are available on different platforms such as
Facebook, Google or LinkedIn. Based on your objectives and goals, you can
choose the right platform and decide on the budget. For quicker conversions,
ads are great. Ads also work best for specific things like events, whitepapers
or specific time-bound offers.
6.
How important is the personal brand of
founders?
Based on my personal experience, I can confidently say that till
your startup brand becomes bigger, the brand of the founder is very important –
especially for services startups. The value of services is seen only after it
is consumed. So to create the comfort level in the minds of the customers, it
is important for them to know who are the people behind, their backgrounds, and
why they should trust your company.
7.
Can it help me in hiring the best talent?
First, ask yourself this question – why would someone want to work
with you? It is the cutting-edge technology, your awesome infrastructure, the
people in your company, the learning environment, opportunities or innovation.
Once you know that, showcase that on your social media channels. In today’s
time and age, candidates make a decision about joining a company not only based
on the job description but also based on the overall image of the company on
social media channels. Make sure you create the right impression and hiring the
best talent should not be a problem for you.
8.
How do I define the frequency of the posts or
updates
Very basic but very important question. Should I post 3 tweets or
10 tweets? How many Facebook updates should go every day? How many times should
I post a company page update on LinkedIn? Should I write 2 blogs a week or 1
blog a day? Well, well – again, it depends. You are on social media to engage
with your customers and prospects so you will need to define the frequency and
tone of your communication based on that. If your customers are based in the
US, no point in tweeting 10 times during India time. You need to be aware of
all such nuances. As a thumb-rule, I would say start small but be consistent.
If you decide to post 3 tweets per day- do it every day! Consistency is more
important.
9.
Is it okay to schedule posts?
Why not? As a startup, it is quite natural that you are
constrained on bandwidth and it is also obvious that you can’t be omnipresent. So
you can certainly use tools like HootSuite or Bufferapp to schedule your posts. Just be careful that any time-sensitive
posts should not appear irrelevant because of being posted at a wrong time.
There have been instances when a social media intern posted a scheduled tweet
about a conference happening in full swing when the conference had to be
cancelled at the last moment. Make sure that such things don’t happen with you.
Follow sensitivity on social media.
10.In house or agency?
Nobody knows your business better than you. Do know that you need
to be closely involved with the social media efforts for your startup. It is
not something which you can just hand over to someone and forget about it. To
make it effective, you need to be as much involved in it. If you have the
bandwidth and skills to do it in-house, would recommend going with that option.
But don’t call me biased if I tell the advantages of an agency such as - expert
skills, experience and continuity to the efforts. Just like our body needs a
specialist doctor, probably your startup also needs a specialist to take care
of the crucial aspect of social media initially and once you get a hang of it,
you can take it over in-house.
In case any more
questions come to your mind, don’t hesitate to drop me an email.
This article was originally published on YourStory.
