6 Most Important Marketing Tips for New Entrepreneurs During the Pandemic

The last 12 months certainly disrupted the peace all around the globe. As a result of COVID-19, the job market has become a bit of an unknown landscape with several companies either temporarily or permanently closing up shop. However, from these closures, a new wave of creativity and inspiration has been born. In fact, many of us seem to have been thinking of starting our own businesses and becoming our own independent owners and bosses.

This is the dawn of a new wave of entrepreneurs, and history tells us that during adversity, many wonderful stories emerge. In the great financial crisis, AirBnB, Uber and Mailchimp emerged. There is an incredible list to explore here.

Which amazing businesses will emerge from this challenge?

While the pandemic has created a growing number of new entrepreneurs hoping to begin their own business, a majority often experience many hardships while starting out. Well, besides the uncertainty of demand due to the pandemic, there is also the challenge of starting a new business that takes time to build. Often, for new entrepreneurs, getting off on the right foot can come down to a solid understanding of the right marketing strategy. So, while there is an endless amount of information on YouTube ads alone to get you started on ‘easy tips to get your marketing strategy working’, we have jotted down our thoughts on 6 things we want you to know, specifically about your social media tactics, to help get your business off to a great start.

So without further ado, here are our 6 important social marketing skills for a budding entrepreneur!

Right off the bat, if you are a new entrepreneur in this day and age, you probably are starting off on a low budget as a small business. And adhering to that low budget is made even easier by utilizing social media for most of your marketing!

1. The big 6 platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, Tik Tok)

Facebook is a casual/formal highly conversational platform with an older demographic. Instagram is a casual platform for trendiness with a younger demographic. Twitter is a casual conversational platform with a neutral demographic. Youtube is a casual platform to show off your products in long videos with a neutral demographic. Linkedin is a formal platform for making professional connections and getting potential sponsors, with a neutral demographic. And Tik tok is a casual platform to show off products in short videos with a younger demographic.

It’s up to you if you want to use all for your brand, but we highly recommend sticking to 2-3 that best suit what you want to achieve with your marketing and who you’re trying to reach.

2. What to post

The most obvious, like images, stories, videos, text, etc. But here are some tips- Most social media users respond more to carousel images and stories so utilize those features. Post short videos often, as users respond well to those too.

3. When to post and how often

Some studies have shown that people respond best to posts made on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, only 2-3 times a week, across all social platforms. But here’s a tip- experiment on your own! Make posts first and monitor your engagement (likes, video views, follower increase, shares, comments etc.), then decide over time when and how often you will post based on what gets the most response.

4. Maximize your posts or pages

SEO (Search engine optimization) makes it possible for your post or page to be found by users on social media or the entire internet. So make sure your posts or your social media pages’ SEO are on point by including key words in the text of your posts, social media page descriptions and website descriptions, and using popular hashtags that are relevant to your brand. Use tools like social media advanced searches, Google analytics and trends, Yoast, etc. to find the best keywords to include.

5. Set achievable metric goals

Whenever, you start a social media campaign (basically, a particular amount of niche posts or ads to promote a product), you need a KPI (Key performance indicator) to keep yourself on track and tell if the campaign is working. And how you do so is by setting metric goals within a realistic time period based on what your campaign is supposed to achieve. E.g. If a new retail brand wants higher brand awareness, so they start a campaign to reach more people, a suitable KPI would be an increase by 200 followers in 2 weeks.

6. Non-organic marketing (paid ads and influencers)

Before paying for ads, give organic marketing a try- basically, encourage followers in your posts to spread the word about your brand by, for instance, asking friends and family for a bit of support by promoting your business, using a unique hashtag, posting customer testimonies, making more comments, rewarding customers for posting photos of themselves with a product, tagging your brand or using a hashtag, etc.

But if you still want to go the non-organic route, most social media have paid ad programs. Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok seem to be the most effective, based on the large number of users and thorough ad system they have. You could try all or try one, it’s up to you- just pick the ones that best suit your marketing. As for influencers, they are across all social media. Perhaps, because of your low budget as a small business, start off with 2-3. And reach out to influencers you can pay with a tight budget or with gift cards, discounts, and lesser known influencers (e.g. student journalists or bloggers, new Instagram models, new and young Tik Tokers, etc.) through their emails or by simply sending them a DM.

These are just a few quick ideas to help get budding entrepreneurs started with a basic social media strategy. There is a whole other world of marketing to explore, such as branding, DIY research, content creation tips and more. Follow along as we continue to release ideas to help get your business up and running.

‍

Written by Jane Diokpo