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Home Business Are startups harnessing social media correctly to benefit their brand?
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Are startups harnessing social media correctly to benefit their brand?

by Uma Rajagopal
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Andrew Trotman, CEO and Founder, KOMI Group, the award-winning social media marketing, talent and content licensing agency who, as well as providing exceptional service to clients, own its own social media brands such as It’s Gone Viral.

Whether you’re an established brand of more than 10 years or a start-up, social media presents us with a huge opportunity to get brands in front of lots of eyeballs in a way that other methods of outreach just can’t compete. 

In many cases, social media is among the first out of the marketing toolbox for entrepreneurs preparing to launch a brand or venture. But are start-ups using available social media channels in the best way to launch and develop their brand?

Well, some are doing it better than others.

You can argue that start-up may be looking to gain traction on a concept quickly. Entrepreneurs will want to grow their start up with accountability for output and swift results. So, how can social media be used to make these early strides with their concept?

To social or not to social?

In the ten years or so since social media has been a significant part of people’sday-to-day lives, brands have been developing new and innovative ways to reach their audiences through this channel. 

At one point, the question was, do we need to be on social media? Now the question is, ‘how much of our budget, marketing strategy and time do we need to allocate to social media?’ and ‘Which platforms are right for us?’ A pertinent question particularly for start-ups looking to maximise their time spent and investment into growing an audience and raising awareness.

And it’s the brands that have embraced these channels as a crucial part of their communications strategy to reach audiences that have done/do well.

Highway or destination?

So, for SMEs that know how great social media can be for them, the next thing they need to look at is content and platform choice, which support eachother. There are two key ways that social content needs to considered:

On channels like Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, users are scrolling fast and not looking to find anything in particular. The greatest aim for brands here is to grab their attention in the first 5 seconds. This is what we call highway content. 

But YouTube for example, is a destination platform and users sit and engage for far longer periods of time. 

So, start-upsneed to look at where their audience is (and therefore how they interact with their social platform of choice), what their budget is and then plan for which platforms will be right for them.   

With all this said, and if I had to answer where you willget most bang for your buck then I would sayit’sTikTokat the moment. It’s newer and isn’t saturated with adverts, so content is going viral quicker and you can arguably reach more people versus adverts.  

Creativity has no limits on social, but let’s remember who is watching

The great thing about social media is that the opportunity for creativity has no limits and we’re seeing some really exciting content from creators breaking through. The challenge for brands is to harness this creativity and use it to raise awareness and build a loyal following, something we at KOMI specialise in doing. 

For businesses looking to maximise the impact of their content and social channels whilst keeping creativity at the forefront, I would say…

  • Focus on your audience and not for yourself and what you think looks good. This will strengthen brand loyalty with your audience. It doesn’t have to be about you, make it about them!
  • Be results focused. Look into the underlying metrics of a campaign. They will tell you what is working for your audience. Double down on what is working and scratch what isn’t. Particularly important during a launch. 
  • Don’t be scaredto try things. Once you interact with a company on social media, you’re 60%-70% more likely to affect your buying habits. You might be trying to find your audience establishing who they are, so trying new things can play a crucial role in this. 

Potential challenges

Social media is an ever-expanding world. It can be advantageous for start-ups to explore new and emerging platforms. Audiences taking up these platforms are likely to be open to new concepts and ideas. While new shiny things can be very tempting, try to be selective with which new things you take forward, ideally you want to avoid having a full or overflowing roster of platforms to nurture.  

The big danger with being everywhere all the time is spreading yourself too thin. Being on each platform because you think you should be and then simply replicating your content across all channels will not be very effective and probably a waste of resource. Don’t wash the same creative across all social platforms (or even other media platforms), – reach out to the likes of us, at KOMI who can help elevate your core content to fit perfectly with your social platforms of choice, or can even make you bespoke content and strategy.

What’s next for social? What is the next shiny thing?

BeReal has made a real impact on the social platform space this year. A platform still in its infancy but already proving to have a genuine impact on the market and fast gaining in popularity, at speed and scale. It has the potential and opportunity to sit beside the social platform elite and time will tell if it succeeds. 

So, are businesses using social media in the best way to develop their brand? The short answer is, some are! I would love to seestartups embracing their creativity and applying it across social channels to build their message, gain traction on their concept and drum up support to gain brand loyalty.  There will always be examples of those doing it well, and those doing it poorly. Keep your audience at the centre of your strategy and you’ll be 100% on the right track. 

 

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