In our modern digital world, social media has become much more than just a popular way for people to get and stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues and share leisure and entertainment. Yet, it is also an outstanding opportunity for businesses to market their products and services.

However, those companies that are making only their first steps in the turbulent business world and haven’t reached high popularity on digital platforms, often struggle to build a solid social media presence. Whereas for big established companies with a long history and a huge number of regular customers having an active media strategy is still a necessity, for a startup or small business it is a must – and sometimes it’s really a live-or-die case.

The present day’s marketing is an actively expanding profitable business by itself that offers multiple advertising solutions for businesses. The problem is that not every startup can afford hiring a professional marketing agency. The good news is that there are many things you can do on your own, and they really work.

Start with the Platform That Suits You Best

LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat all have their specifics in terms of content, user demographics, user preferences etc. Ideally, you need to have your brand’s accounts on each of them. Yet, in the real world it does not always work like that. It’s vital that you find the platform that you fit in the most and stay up to date with it by focusing all your efforts on this particular media.

For example, recently a growing interest has been observed towards audio-only platforms. Maybe, that’s exactly your element? If not, try to do your best to spot the very variant that’s most efficient for you. If it means trying several social media and focusing on one later – that’s perfectly fine. With time, after you’ve gained some practical experience you can consider working with other platforms as well.

Be Cost-Efficient

Launching a business from scratch usually requires a lot of financial resources which, in all likelihood, you have in quite limited amounts. The only solution applicable here is to save money when and where possible. Luckily enough, today startups have many different options on how to cut their expenses without compromising the quality of anything related to the brand, its products or services.

For example, on Coursera you can find a lot of extremely useful free courses on budget management, marketing, project and product management, soft skills for dealing with customers and many more. When it comes to graphic design, there are ways to save money here too.

With the help of special graphic design software you can develop your own designs for social media, even if you have never done it before, meaning you won’t have to hire professional graphic designers. To make sure you really can do it – take a look at VistaCreate tool that delivers ready-to-go solutions such as Instagram story template, and develop your first design today!

Build a Community with a Mission

For a startup, nothing is more important than attracting new customers and turning them into regulars. And though it’s definitely easier said than done, it is also doable. To be successful in this respect, you should tap on the potential of a like-minded community with similar requirements and concerns. Just think of it – your customers are real people of all ages coming from different countries.

Encourage them to share their stories, tips, lessons, comments about favorite products/services in order to establish closer interpersonal relationships between your brand and the audience. When a brand’s social media strategy relies on a community and company’s mission and values rather than purely selling content, this is a very efficient approach that your customers will quickly notice and appreciate.

Define Your Message

It often happens that businesses get so carried away with perfect execution of their social media marketing activities that they leave out their essential messaging strategy and fail to identify precisely what they aim to communicate to their customers.

It’s crucial that your brand messaging align and be consistent with your ultimate goals and objectives you want to achieve. From the practical perspective, it’s always a good idea to have a few central messages in your marketing strategy plan, which you should stick to and promote throughout all your activities. To ensure your message is consistent and clear, focus on 1-2 core themes.

Impeccable Customer Support

Promoting your brand and connecting with the audience are not the only functions social media can assist you with. Many marketers believe that to use social media as an additional channel for customer support was one of the best marketing decisions over the past years. Many people prefer to reach out to the brand via social platforms before making a purchase.

Summing Up

A carefully-planned detailed digital strategy will significantly enhance your marketing efforts, increase sales and boost the overall performance. However, to succeed you need to employ data and research-driven planning with a detailed step-by-step action plan. And of course the main rule is – believe in yourself!