10 Social Media Tips And Pointers For Start Ups

This article is written by Niall Harbison in business . I brought it for your consumption because I want you to succeed excidinly in online business. Sit back and enjoy this valuable information. He said:

It’s a fairly logical step to start promoting your start up through social media because most entrepreneurs will have a decent personal network anyway so getting the message out to them is a next logical step. I wanted to share 10 of the top tips that I have picked up about using social media for start up businesses…


1.     You Have Incredible Freedom

As a start up you have the incredible luxury of being able to push your message out and engage in the way you see fit with very few limitations. Embrace that freedom and share useful information that big competitors can’t........

2. It Won’t Be A 3 Month Quick Win

 Building a network takes a lot of time. It’s only after a year or two of networking online and building relationships that you start to see the real value. Most start ups and businesses jump in to social media thinking it will solve all their problems only to be disappointed by the results and leave.......

3.  Social Media Won’t Help Your Traffic That Much

Too many start ups I see use social media purely as a function to drive traffic to their website. Special offers, discount deals, pointing to blog posts with awards or just coming in with the hard sell will never get you anywhere. You need to find an angle. I love small start ups that share stats for example or give me a glimpse behind the scenes of what they are building. I like to know about the personalities behind the company.......

4.  Ask Yourself Will It Actually Drive Sales?

Business is fairly straight forward if you need to bring more money in than you have going out. If you have set out to market yourself using social media then you need to set some goals. I’d have very clear established goals as to what you want to achieve from your social media activity as a start up and I would plan for them over a long period of time.......

5. Don’t Get In To Thinking Social Media Is Work

I cringe at the amount of time I see some people involved in startups on Twitter every day. I was guilty of it myself in the early days but it’s important to remember that twitter is not work. Sure you can use it in some of the ways above to get a little bit of leverage for your business but sitting on there all day reading links and talking to people is not actually working........

6.  Compliment With Traditional Marketing

Social media is great because it doesn’t cost much more than your time. Having said that I don’t think it can service all your marketing needs. I’ve seen a lot of start ups be scared to invest money in traditional marketing. When I say traditional marketing it could be print ads, TV, direct marketing, mail shots, radio etc etc. It can seem daunting to spend a few thousand on marketing out of an already small budget and many instead focus on trying to get free PR or using free tools but I’d urge start ups to spend a little more on traditional marketing as well. .....

7.  Your Friends Are not Your Customers

I’ve fallen in to this trap way too many times. People I know through the online world or friends and family will tell me they love my product or would use it all the time as I hand them out freebies and sit back and lap up their praise. This is false praise. Of course they love what you are doing, they don’t want to hurt your feelings and the chances are they really want you to succeed, Would those same people buy from you? If they can buy from you now have they ever done so? Probably not. Your friends and family are simply not your target audience so don’t get sucked in to taking what they say too seriously........

8.  Help Other People, It Really Works

It is very easy to get caught up in your own world when you are in a start up. Nothing matters apart from that next release, hiring that next person or getting that payment in to pay the wages and you can lose track of what is happening in the real world around you. Out of everything I have ever done that has been effective it is always helping others that has worked best. Go out of your way to do something that will help another person and the chances are it will come back to you 10 times over.........

9. Platforms Come And Go But Blogs Are Forever

Remember Myspace? Bebo? The list goes on. Nothing is more sure than there will be a new platform poke it’s head up soon that everybody runs off and starts using. It’s a cycle and people spend huge amounts of time on platforms that are not their own. I am a huge fan of investing that time instead on your own blog or website. The content you create on your own website will be there forever..........

10. Use Social Media To Shape Your Brand

Building a brand from scratch is tough, It’s very different to building a business and usually takes a lot of time, effort and money. With social media you have a unique position to build a brand from scratch and shape your business to appear much bigger than it actually is. All you really need is a logo and some good copy to make you start sounding professional and looking like a big business......... Social media affords you the opportunity to compete with bigger companies on a level playing field and really put your start up on the map.

This article is written by Niall Harbison in business. If you want to read the full version of this important blog post click here.

Olufemi