Before investors are really going to dump a pile of cash in your lap to build your business, they are going to want to see some traction and customer acquisition.
We asked three startup companies what they did to acquire customers through social media and stretch their dollar to gain the attention of target markets.
Develop Different Campaigns
Creating an effective social media campaign means you can’t use the same cookie cutter method for all platforms. Chase White, founder and CEO of Loom said his company approached social media with a scientific approach.
“We created three different campaigns (sponsored posts preferred) and ran each of them to three different audiences for a comparable amount of time. Upon completion, we revisited the campaigns to see which content worked the best and which audience had the highest conversions,” Chase said.
“My advice is that once you’ve identified the audience, hone in on them with three more versions (knowing what you learned on the previous tests) to continually make your campaigns more potent with each test. Ultimately through repeating this process, you’ll end up with social campaigns that stretch your dollar and result in significantly higher conversions.”
Word-of-Mouth Is Key
There’s no price on customers telling their friends about a great product. For any company, the word-of-mouth is a critical part of marketing efforts. Anthony Chow, CEO of igloohome said a good social strategy is to target a certain location and build a customer base.
“I recommend to building a strong word-of-mouth within a given geographical region first before expanding to another. This will ensure that you do not spread your limited resources too thin in a bid to acquire customers,” Anthony said.
Be Personal
With over 70 percent of Millennials being daily social media users, and mostly on their smartphones, brands are going to have to be creative to get their attention on social media. Crystal McDonald, founder and CEO of Acrew said to attract customers be as authentic as possible.
“It can be difficult to find a voice for a young company, so focus on promotion through your personal brand and team members. It can feel counterintuitive to tell the world about your small team, but more often than not, that’s what interests people and keeps them engaged,” Crystal said.
Looking at a company’s product on a post is one thing, but if customers get to know the company on a personal level they will gain a sense of connection.
“People are naturally turned off by sales-related posts. I recommend sharing more about the business instead and behind-the-scenes happenings. This helps to make people feel more engaged,” Anthony said.
Stay Scrappy
Startups have a lean budget and when they decide to put dollars towards marketing efforts, they need to maximize the ROI.
“The temptation is to immediately spend funds on marketing initiatives to grow the business. My advice is to avoid spending any more ad/marketing dollars than is needed to learn key findings towards attaining product-market fit (PMF). Only after you’re 100 percent sure you have attained PMF should you spend any additional funds on ads and marketing. Great products that fit the market naturally attract great customers (and hopefully you are resource-efficient enough to get there),” Chase said.
In the End Your Product Has to Deliver
You can do all the social media marketing in the world, but in the end if your product doesn’t deliver, your potential customers will hear about it.
“You can be a public relations master, but if your product sucks, you will have a leaky bucket that doesn’t produce results. Stay strong in building a simple product that resonates with customers and you won’t have to ‘hack’ your marketing,” Chase said.
Read more about creating a strong social media campaign on TechCo
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