Beyond increasing your marketing reach, social media is a great platform to build your brand\’s influence. And amassing that influence can do a lot for your business. Here’s a useful guide on how to establish your startup company as a prominent brand on social media.
Why Social Media Influence Is A Must For Your Startup Company
To better appreciate the effort that goes into building social media influence, you should understand how it can help your business. An important thing to be familiar with here is social proof. This refers to the tendency of people to respond more positively to an action based on the number of other people doing the same action or the influence of the ones doing it.
For instance, consumers are more inclined to see a brand as good if they see many others praising it. Additionally, they can also perceive your brand as being more authoritative simply by that. All of these can contribute to the buying decisions they make in the future.
The Types Of Social Proof
There are several types of social proof that people rely on. These are:
- Expert: A prominent industry expert recommends your products.
- Celebrity: A popular personality endorses your products.
- User: Current customers recommend your brand.
- The wisdom of the crowd: A large number of people are saying good things about your brand.
- The wisdom of your friends: People in your close circle recommend a brand.
- Certification: This social proof comes from official recognition of your brand.
By studying your audience, you will be able to have an idea of which type they best respond to. Using multiple types of social proof can further boost your influence but you need to be strategic in how to use each.
With social media, you can easily take advantage of all these types of proofs. The wide reach of the different platforms means that you can get a larger audience in front of you to capture. And the global nature of these platforms will let that influence spread faster than in any other channel.
Building Brand Loyalty
Another important way that social media can help you increase your influence is that it helps build brand loyalty. It provides you with a platform to more closely engage with customers. Additionally, you can address their concerns faster.
People best respond to brands if they feel that they are being well taken care of. That brand loyalty is more than just getting return purchases. When consumers become loyal to your brand, they are more likely to recommend it to others. This increases your social proof and increases influence.
Building Your Startup Company’s Social Media Influence
A big question when boosting social media influence is how you are supposed to do it exactly. After all, a small startup company like yours doesn’t have the built-in leverage of big brands. Here, you want to start by looking at your social media audience from a different perspective.
Instead of seeing them as simply the people you want to reach out to, think of them as being integral to your success. Thus, their satisfaction becomes your main priority. You would also need to think about how you can further reach out to them beyond the usual methods.
Beefing Up Your Startup Company Online Presence
When developing online influence, you should also have a clear picture of your current presence online. Audit all the social media platforms you are on and see which ones are attracting the most activity. Also, know any areas where you are lacking.
For that last part, be ready to ask your audience directly. As mentioned above, people become more receptive to your efforts if they feel like they are involved in your brand. Simple poll questions make it easier for you to get these opinions.
Another important thing to know here is the best way to influence your audience. Do a quick review of your content and see which kinds of posts are getting the most activity. You would also want to see what kind of response you get. Building upon the positive responses is an effective way to persuade people to your side.
Crafting And Spreading Your Content
An effective content strategy will serve as the foundation for building the influence of your startup company. Explore the topics that people are most invested in and create engaging content for these. You can also tackle timely or trending topics. Make use of the different content types to make your discussions on these topics more interactive.
https://twitter.com/LEAHisKNOBLER/status/1354188957702098945
Additionally, you would want to spread your content further. This is where creating shareable content is an effective strategy. A useful move to increase the reach of your content is to outsource some of your social media strategies. This will give you additional hands for posting on different platforms and increasing content visibility.
Engaging Your Community
Active engagement also plays a big role in building your startup company’s social media influence. Don’t limit yourself to just answering questions from the audience. Be more proactive and start these conversations yourself.
There are a variety of ways that you can start these engagements with your community, such as:
- Making polls
- Creating contests
- Doing regular/Weekly activities
- Featuring community members
While these are simple activities, they help you connect further with your community. In turn, that gives you a greater opportunity to exercise your influence on them later.
Collaborate With The Community
Remember what we mentioned earlier about getting your audience more involved with you on social media? You can take this a step further by collaborating with them. Encouraging and sharing user-generated content is an effective tactic here. People will become more attached to your brand if they see you sharing the work they made.
https://twitter.com/StarbucksMY/status/1463087881543512071
While you are doing this, establish more meaningful relationships with your audience. Reach out to those who have shown great interest in your brands. This group will be your most ardent supporters, increasing your influence on their circles.
Besides your immediate audience, you would also want to reach out to prominent personalities in your industry. Associating with these popular figures will give your own popularity a big boost. Of course, you need to show them what you can provide in return for them to help you out.
Turn Your Startup Company Into An Influential Brand On Social Media
One last thing that you need to remember is that building your influence on social media will be a long-term effort. And to get the most out of that effort, your startup company needs the right partner. Sign up with us and we will help you achieve that goal.