You’ve been planning and dreaming of starting your business for years. Now you have finally taken the leap and walked away from the regular monthly payslip. So how can you now tap into free tools in order to elevate your brand and reach the masses? This is where social media comes in. Let us tell you how to use social media for your start-up business.
Social media is also sometimes called SMM – ‘Social Media Marketing’ just a handy hint in case you know nothing about social media. We don’t want you wondering what on earth people are talking about. SMM spans all forms of social media. Your business and the blend of the social channels appropriate depend on the product or service your business is offering.
Remember that these are in essence free tools. However they do take preparation, effort and work in order to utilise the tools effectively and have a positive impact on your brand.
The starting point
Before you get going you need a social media plan. Those brands that are great on social media follow a strategy. It may seem effortless when you look at your favourite brands Facebook wall but the chances are a marketing practitioner has spent many hours planning
A calendar is a good starting point and you can plan what to post and on what channel each day. The number of posts depends on your product or service but a good starting point is Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you are a service and selling into businesses then it may be more appropriate to blend Facebook and Twitter with Linked In as Instagram works better with consumer brands as it is a picture sharing network.
Develop goals
Just as your business plan will contain financial goals you need to set social media goals. It will give you something to work towards for each of your social channels. Again you can use a calendar format to record those goals.
Next Steps
Get started. So often people put off starting something they are a little unsure of but there is no time to wait. Digital media moves daily and there is no time like the present to get started.