Top 6 questions to ask before choosing a social media platform for your startup

startup with social media platforms

Launch your startup with social media platforms

startup with social media platforms

Social media is taking over the world and business owners are keying into the possibilities it offers. These possibilities differ from one industry to another which is to say you, what works for industry A may not work for the other which is why you have to properly check your options.

This post will give you a good insight into questions you must answer as a startup in other to benefit from the large group of hungry audience who are awaiting your arrival in the social arena.

Getting started, launching your startup in the social media world requires you to answer these questions but before we present the questions, Let’s share with you some important social media stats that will help you as you move on.

Key stats from the Global Web Index Summary based on Social Media usage

Facebook: 1.65 billion monthly active users
YouTube: 1 billion users
Pinterest: 100 Million active users
Instagram: 400 Million monthly active users
LinkedIn: 433 Million active users
Twitter: 310 million active users
Google Plus: 300 Million Active Users

Who are you targeting?

 

Person connecting and sharing using social media networks

Knowing your target audience is the key to your success in business both online and offline. Your target audience is determined by your kind of business or industry and every industry has a place (social network) where the movers and shakers are found.
Again I ask who are your target audience and where do you think they can be found online.

Now that you know who your target audience is, (am assuming) the next big question you have to answer is;

What social media platforms do your ideal customers use the most?

In other to launch a successful online campaign for your startup, you have to discover where your audience spends their time so you can lay your trap along that part for an effective result within the shortest possible time.
Previous research has shown that social media platform like facebook has over 40% of U.S. small businesses which means for a business targeting small businesses, facebook may be a nice place to start.
So you have to know where your audience spends their time so you can target them for your startup.

What kind of content and information do you need to create and share on the platform to attract your target market?

Permit me to reframe the above question to; what kind content and information is your target audience currently sharing?
I had to reframe the above question because if you can find out what your target audience are sharing then you too can create something similar to what they already like and use to attract them and turn them into customers.

 

Are there tools available to manage the social media account easier?

You may want to make provision for some tools that can help you effectively manage any of the social media platforms you finally decide to use to promote or market your startup.
There are tons of tools available online today that offers to help you make your social media life much easier and this range from free to paid ones but some are surely better than the other depending on the social media platform you are using and the kind of campaign you are running.

Which of these social media platforms will give you the best return on your business investment? (I.e. leads, engagement, new customers)

Since you already know your target audience and where they spend their time, you also have to find out if these your target audience are willing to do business or even click a link while on any of these social media platforms or not.
You may want to take a look at these stats

Social media marketing concept
Social media marketing concept

Facebook stats:

41% of U.S. small businesses use Facebook (Expanded Ramblings)
More than 1.09 billion people log onto Facebook daily (Facebook)
Facebook users are 76% female and 66% male (Pew Internet Research)

YouTube stats:

YouTube reaches more adults aged 18 to 34 than any single cable TV network (Business Insider)
It’s the second largest social media website after Facebook (Smart Insights)

Pinterest stats:

80% of Pinterest’s users are female and 90% of all pins are created or shared by women (Marketing Land) Pinterest grabs around 41% of e-commerce traffic compared to other social media sites (Jeff Bullas) 88% of all Pinterest users purchased a product they pinned (Hello Society)

 

Instagram stats:

On Instagram, photos showing faces get 38% more Likes than photos not showing faces (Georgia Tech)
Instagram users are mostly women (Pew Data Research) Instagram is considered the most important social network by more American teens (at 32 percent) than any other network (Hootsuite)

LinkedIn Stats:

There are more than 40 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn. They are LinkedIn’s fastest-growing demographic. (LinkedIn)
Professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new members per second (LinkedIn)
45 percent of LinkedIn members are in upper management positions and the platform generates more leads for companies than Facebook, Twitter, or blogs (LinkedIn)

Twitter stats:

Percentagewise, 25- to 34-year-olds are more into Twitter than teens (eMarketer)
63% of Twitter users regard their smartphones as their primary tweeting device (eMarketer)
61% of Twitter users follow small businesses to interact with them and share ideas and feedback. (Market Probe International)

Google Plus stats:

People aged 45 to 54 y/o have increased their Google Plus usage (Social Media Today)
Active Google+ Users Posting 50+ Times per Month (SocialMediaExaminer.com)
Sixty-seven percent of Google+ users are male (Agile Impact)

 

How will you use the social media network to foster relationships with new followers?

Social Media and relationship

 

A good relationship is everything! In fact, if you can build good a relationship with your target audience while on social media then you’ve just won for yourself a new loyal audience and friends.
To build good a relationship with your audience online, you just have, to be honest(my own view) and just don’t make everything all about business because sometimes people want to know you care about them even though you are making money from them as your customer.
Read our tips: how to show your customers you care may help.

Final words

Take time to carry out research about your target audience before you launch your business on the social network and also try as much as you can to avoid negative feedbacks why on the social media because this can destroy your business and image.

As an addition to launching your business on the social media, you may also consider developing apps for your business but that should be after you have read our post on 7 reasons why your business needs a mobile app.

Now am done and is over to you to ask more questions using the comment box below if you want us to do more post on this topic. Also, help your friends out there to benefit from this post by using any of the share options below to spread the words. Thanks

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