Startup Bootcamp, Part 12: Get Social
Ready to press publish on your perfectly crafted landing page and meet the guys for Taco Tuesday? You’re forgetting something, amigo! Before you launch, we recommend establishing your social media presence. Before we buy any product or service, we scan the company’s website, social media platforms and read any available reviews. If you don’t have a social media presence, your target audience may be skeptical.
We know you’re muttering to yourself, “Now I have to make content for and manage 15 social media platforms? Will I ever eat Carne Asada tacos again?” Fear not, you overachieving entrepreneur; that’s not what we mean. First, don’t forget that we’re still in the MVP phase. It’s a waste of time to establish a presence on every social platform for a product or service that you may have to pivot or abandon. Second, you have limited time and resources. Rather than doing a mediocre job of managing six platforms, focus on the two that will net the highest return right now. Once you’ve proven product/market fit, you can increase your footprint.
Where is your target audience active? Cross reference the target audience profile you developed against the audience profile of each social platform and select the ones with the largest concentration of your audience.
68% of US adults are active on Facebook. 81% of 18- 29 year olds and 78% of 39-49 year olds are active on the platform. Plus, they’re engaged. 44% of users check Facebook several times per day. Even if this demographic seems to skew too old for your target audience, its robust ad platform and huge user base allow you to target content to your audience.
59% of the 800 million users on the platform are 18-29, and 60% of all users check the platform at least once a day. If your product or service is highly visual and your audience skews slightly younger, Instagram may be your platform. Plus, its use of hashtags makes interacting with influencers and people who may be interested in your product or service very easy. Like Facebook, even if you don’t deem Instagram a key social platform to start, keep Instagram in mind when building your paid strategy. If you have a Facebook business page, you can serve ads on Instagram without having a profile.
29% of online adults use LinkedIn, and it has one of the largest percentages of users aged 30-49. If your target audience is highly educated with high household incomes, tapping into LinkedIn users via LinkedIn groups and direct messages might make strategic sense for you.
The majority of Twitter users are younger, urban dwelling and highly educated. While Twitter is a great platform for timely, breaking news and for engaging directly with influencers, the nature of the platform makes it challenging to ensure users see your message without some paid spend.
41% of all adult women online use Pinterest, with 36% of users aged 18-29 and 34% of users are 30-49. If you’re in fashion, food, home goods, art or anything that lends itself to highly visual content for women, consider Pinterest. Plus, The Pinterest Buy Button makes it easy to convert a lead to a sale.
Snapchat
78% of Snapchat users are under 24, and 49% of Snapchat users check the platform multiple times a day. If millennials comprise your target audience, get your selfie game up and make a profile.
Build your profile
Take advantage of the tools you used to develop your landing page to quickly and easily build your cover/profile photos. Tools like Canva do the heavy design lifting for you and size your imagery to the exact dimensions for each platform. Don’t forget to include your bio and link to the landing page you developed.
Source followers
Now that you’ve selected and built your platforms, you need people to like your page or follow you. This is roll-up-your-sleeves work, not “Field of Dreams,” “if you build it they will come” work.
Follow influencers in your industry. Comment on their posts, send direct messages and tag them in your posts. The key is to engage!
Search for relevant hashtags. People are self identifying what they’re interested in with hashtags. Search for hashtags relevant to your idea and follow them, send them direct messages so they engage and follow you and comment on their content.
Find popular groups and contribute to active conversations. Groups of like-minded people with similar interests are low hanging fruit for new followers.
Leverage trending topics. Is there a natural way to insert yourself into a popular conversation, movement or event? Don’t force it (it’ll look desperate), but if the topic is right, try it.
Still need followers? If you’re still having trouble building your following, sites like Fiverr can source followers for you to give you a head start. While no one wants to follow an account with no posts and no followers, use this option as a last resort.