If you are saying goodbye to your full-time position, a great salary, your promotion prospects, and wonderful colleagues, you probably can’t wait to launch your startup.
Venturing into the world of entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. You need to be committed and willing to put in the long hours initially to search for that perfect work-life balance.
However, while you are excited about your money-making venture, you also have a business plan to write and a whole host of new responsibilities.
While you may be concerned about funding and finances, it’s vital that you don’t overlook the need for a strong online presence. This is where your reliance on social media kicks in.
Take a look at why your new business needs to harness social media in the most effective way.
Communication
Social media is a fantastic tool to help you communicate with your potential customer base on a more personal level. You no longer have to use a stuffy corporate tone and you can be more conversational and informal in your communications.
If a customer has a query or they ask about a particular product on Twitter, make sure to reply politely and promptly. This is a public forum that any of your followers can view.
You want to craft a positive reputation for customer service on social media. If you do receive a complaint (however rare this may be), you need to address it immediately, especially if someone has left a negative review on Facebook. Get it sorted. Otherwise, it can linger and sour your otherwise glowing reputation.
Branding
Having multiple platforms online will help direct traffic to your website. Alongside excellent SEO linkbacks, you need to make sure that your website is fully SEO enabled. This is why you may want to use a managed SEO services company who can formulate a digital marketing strategy with you to enable your website and social media feed to appear high on the Google rankings.
Profits
A business is only ever as good as its financial figures. It is vital that you can utilize your presence online through your social media channels to encourage sales, not merely hits. Just because you are directing traffic to your site, doesn’t mean that you convert this traffic into cold hard cash.
Do research on the types of posts that you make to Twitter and Instagram that result in a direct sale. You can utilize Google Analytics to try and spot trends within your clientele. As a forward-thinking business, you need to adapt your sales and marketing strategies to maximize check outs on your shop page.
Venturing into self-employment can be fun and fulfilling, but it also takes work to be successful. Follow this guide and harness the power of social media.
Recommended Resources
Missinglettr
A web-based platform that grabs your new posts, magically creates social content from them, and schedules them to be posted on connected social accounts.
Stencil
Easily make blog feature images, social images, ebook covers, and graphic overlays for your videos.
Ecamm Live
Broadcast live stream videos on Facebook, YouTube, and Periscope. This inexpensive app lets you share your screen, bring in guests for interviews, play a pre-recorded video, and add graphic and text overlays. (Mac only)