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When you launch an LLC startup, you have the opportunity to build your brand from the ground up. This can be daunting and exciting in equal measure. The decisions you make in brand building can have long-lasting effects on how your company is perceived by customers, partners, investors, and even potential hires.
One of the greatest areas of opportunity you’ll experience when it comes to an LLC startup is building an online presence from scratch by mastering social media tactics.
Again, starting with a blank slate can be either a blessing or a curse, simply depending on how intentional and effective you are at building an audience and establishing a clear identity.
Make Social Media a Foundational Component of Your LLC Startup
When formulating an LLC, entrepreneurs tend to have a few basic questions. For instance, what’s the best place for an LLC startup? And how long does LLC approval take?
You should also ask questions, early and often, about how to enhance your standing on social media. This is a foundational activity for any new business, LLC Startup or otherwise, as it can help you establish a clear brand identity right out of the gate.
Start developing your strategy for social media engagement sooner rather than later.
How to Build a Social Media Presence from the Ground Up
Consider some of the top strategies for developing your startup’s digital presence, and specifically your presence in the social media ecosystem.
#1 Know Your Audience
Effectiveness on social media isn’t just about you. In a lot of ways, it’s primarily about your customers. Start with a clear sense of who you’re trying to reach in your LLC startup, defining your target audience with a well-constructed buyer persona.
Knowing the values, needs, pain points, and objectives of your audience will inform the rest of your social media activity.
#2 Choose the Right Platforms for your LLC startup
It’s simply not feasible for any business to be active on every single social channel, with the exception of enterprise-level brands like Google or Coca-Cola.
Rather than spreading yourself too thin and diluting the effect of your social media strategy, decide which three to five platforms you want to start with. This decision should be driven by your buyer personas.
#3 Develop Goals
What’s your ultimate goal with your social media activity? Driving traffic to your LLC startup? Increasing conversions? Simply establishing an online presence and cultivating an audience?
Set clear objectives, defining what constitutes a successful social media campaign for your startup.
#4 Set KPIs
This point goes hand in hand with the previous one. As you define success, make sure you determine the metrics you’ll use to understand the progress of your LLC startup.
Remember that the best goals are measurable, and social media analytics provide endless opportunities for quantification.
#5 Develop a Statement of Identity
As you post and interact with people on social media, it’s important to maintain a fairly consistent understanding of your brand’s mission, voice, and values.
Having a written statement of mission can be a helpful frame of reference, especially if you have multiple employees who might be contributing to the social media campaign.
#6 Create a Social Media Calendar
For building and retaining an audience on social media, nothing matters more than consistency. Going days or weeks without posting can cause your fans and followers to lose interest fast.
The best way to maintain a consistent presence is to develop a social media calendar, planning and scheduling posts well in advance.
You can still create more timely posts on the fly, as needed, but your social media calendar can prevent you from having radio silence during busy seasons.
#7 Invest in Video Content
Generally speaking, it’s wise to have a broad range of content on your social media feeds, ranging from images to plain text. With that said, video is increasingly ubiquitous and essential for sustaining the interest of your audience.
Start getting comfortable developing high-quality video content, perhaps even experimenting with some short, live updates and Q&A sessions.
#8 Use Hashtags
Hashtags are an important way to help users find your content and provide a quick shorthand for what your posts are about.
Make sure you have a good working list of industry-specific keywords but also try to think of some unique, branded keywords that are just for your business.
#9 Practice Social Listening
Remember that social media isn’t just useful for promoting your LLC startup. It’s also a good tool for listening to your consumer base, and finding out what people are saying about your products, services, or brand.
Be vigilant in monitoring your social media pages, but also set up alerts so that you have some awareness of when people might be talking about you on other accounts.
#10 Invest in Automation Software
There’s a lot of important creative and strategic work involved with social media marketing, but also some tedious tasks that can be automated to save you time.
Automating when your posts are published allows you to block off just a short span of social media time each week, as opposed to requiring you to log in to post every single day.
#11 Run Some Experiments
When your LLC startup is first starting out on social media, you may not have a clear idea of the kind of content your users will like. (Although, your buyer personas should provide some insight, and social media can help you with fine-tuning.)
It can also be effective to experiment with different post formats, lengths, and topics. Take note of the kinds of content that seem to generate engagement and those that do not.
#12 Track Metrics
To that end, it’s critical to have some tools in place to help you track your metrics. Social media analytics are essential for:
- Helping you identify which topics and which platforms are most helpful.
- Evaluating your overall engagement levels.
- Tracking progress toward your overarching social media goals.
Make sure you’re running analytic reports each and every month, and using that information to adjust your goals or to fine-tune your campaign strategy.
#13 Experiment with Paid Ads
An age-old question in social media marketing: Is it better to focus on organic reach or on paid ads? Increasingly, the answer is both. Social media algorithms make it difficult for your content to break through unless you pony up for some ads.
But it’s through organic reach that you nurture your existing customer base.
One of the great things about social media advertising is that it’s very scalable. You can get started with a lower budget and, once you start feeling comfortable, you can increase what you’re spending.
#14 Collaborate with Influencers
Influencer marketing is a major way to expand your audience. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need a celebrity to endorse your product.
On the contrary, micro-influencers, who have dedicated followings within a particular niche, can be invaluable allies as you seek to build the presence of your LLC startup on social media.
Also Read: top influencer marketing platforms and marketplaces
#15 Demonstrate Thought Leadership
You will want to use some of your social media content for direct selling, but you should also devote plenty of posts to educating your users about your industry, niche, or area of expertise.
Remember that you’re trying to establish your knowledge, authority, and ability to help. Credible, informative content can be invaluable in this regard.
#16 Optimize Your Profiles
Your individual posts are certainly important but don’t forget that your social media profiles also provide prime real estate for articulating your brand’s vision and values.
Make sure you take the time to fully optimize your profiles on each social media platform where you’re active. Review and revise them regularly, especially if you need to change basic contact information about your LLC startup.
#17 Try Stories
A number of social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, have shifted toward ephemeral content, called Stories. Stories can be great for off-the-cuff content, or for building a sense of urgency. Try out different Story options for your brand.
#18 Be Responsive
Remember that social media is primarily about communication, and that communication is a two-way street. As you build a presence you’ll likely find more and more users asking questions or interacting with your content.
Having internal systems in place to monitor and respond promptly can help encourage further engagement.
#19 Use Social Media for Customer Service
Along the same lines, be aware that today’s customers increasingly prefer to handle customer service inquiries over direct messages and live chat, as opposed to phone calls.
Training your customer service team members to use social media can be a great way to provide a great consumer experience.
#20 Highlight User-Generated Content
When people leave you rave reviews or say nice things about your products on social media, you should always consider ways to promote them. Get permission from the original poster, and then share that “social proof” with your followers far and wide.
Review and Revise
It can’t be emphasized enough that social media branding is a fluid, organic process. You’ll need to constantly monitor your progress, specifically via measurable metrics and analytics, and to amend your strategy as the needs of your LLC startup evolve and change. The “set it and forget it” approach to social media just isn’t an option.
