Leveraging Social Media for Startup Growth

Social media has steadily grown ever since its initial establishment during the late 1990s. Social media has become more than a place for people to create friends and get in touch with loved ones from around the world. As these platforms continue to receive popularity, many businesses have used it to increase their brand awareness. Therefore, to gain an advantage in the market, you should consider leveraging social media to better endorse your startup.

Social media is an essential step to growing your startup and to your marketing goals, as it helps consumers find your product and grow familiarity. In fact, over 75% of social media users research brands through social media. Moreover, based on algorithms, social media exposes its users based on their recent searches, likes and shares, as well as other more nuanced algorithmic influences. For example, if you have a sports clothing business, social media users who often like, search and share sports clothing or sports related posts, may come across social media profiles like yours, because of the core algorithm. Through this, it is likely that you will attract customers based on advertising to develop your brand.

Although social media is a great way to create brand awareness, many startups often do not make the ‘first impression’ it needs to build its target audience. It is vital to understand what you need to do to utilise social media effectively.

Target audience

It is arguably not enough to just post about your business, you need to know who your target audience is. For example, if your target audience are teenagers, then it is important to keep up with trends, such as TikTok trends. This can help you create the right social media imaging and branding to endorse your profile. It is important that you have a group of people to focus on creating and improving your profile. Engaging your customers, whether via replies and posts, can create customer loyalty, thus creating a connection. Through customer satisfaction, this can allow customers to recommend your brand to their friends and family which helps your business grow further.

Influencers

Influencers can also help startups establish their brands. So, it might be beneficial to invest in or even collaborate with, influencers. Furthermore, influencers can help provide social proof and increase your connection to your customers.

Social media performance

It is important to continuously analyse your social media performance and to keep watch of when your target audience is online. Being aware of this helps to ensure that your content is being viewed by the right audience. This could help to increase customer awareness and engagement in your business.

Overall, it is crucial to utilise and leverage the emerging technologies and platforms becoming available on the wider market. This will help your startup in increasing its competitive advantage against possible competitors.