Top 10 Digital Marketing Tips for Cash Strapped Start-ups

Aisling Brennan, 29-Jan-2016

Content Marketing & Social Media remain the king and queen of digital marketing. So it should come as no surprise to anyone paying any attention to digital marketing trends that start-ups should focus their resources on developing custom and relevant content and sharing it socially if they want to succeed online. In fact, Social is one of the most cost effective ways start-ups can disseminate that custom content, build their brands voice and start engaging with their target audience. But a few tips for newbies to remember:

1. Not all Social Media Are Created Equal.

   Identify the social media platform most frequented by your target audience. There's no point focusing your efforts on Facebook if your target market is on Twitter. Do your research. Identify leaders, start following and engaging with them.

2. Post Regularly & Be Consistent.

   Start to post regularly. Content should be valuable and informative. Don't spam. The tone should be consistent across all social platforms. Best practice is that you shouldn't exceed the following: Facebook 5-10 posts/week | Twitter 5 tweets/day | LinkedIn 1 post/day

3. Social Is NOT About You–It's About Your Customer.

   Don't use it for promotional purposes only. Share information that your customers will find engaging and valuable. It's about opening a dialogue with people.

4. Engage with Your Followers.

   It's a great way to interact with future (& current) customers. What are they saying? Listen first.

5. Don't Shy Away from Social Confrontations.

   Use it as a way to show your, hopefully excellent, customer service skills.

6. Don't Be Afraid to Mess Up

   Your customer wants to know there's a human behind the brand. Be honest and open if you mess up. Simply consider it an opportunity to improve.

7. Identify what your USP is.

   Research and formulate one before you start embarking on content creation. Remember to avoid focusing on your features only -- you MUST SELL THE BENEFITS. This is the first mistake most start-ups make. Remember your customers want to know how your product/service will benefit them, not just a list of the feature-set!

8. Focus on SEO.

   Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) should also be one of your top priorities as it's the most time consuming and can have a huge impact on the volume of organic traffic your website will receive. Make sure your website designer knows the SEO basics so there are no hurdles to the search engine crawlers accessing your content. This is critical for all new websites.

9. Optimise your internal Pages.

   Leverage your Google Analytics data to determine the type of content your audience is most interested in, to ensure you create a more user-friendly experience. Continually add more content that's of most interest to your target market.

10. Share your content.

    Promote it on your social media profiles, email industry experts, post to LinkedIn groups and industry forums. The goal is to become a thought leader in your sector.

If cash strapped start-ups focus their limited resources on building custom, quality and valuable content, and then sharing it on Social Media will help create the necessary awareness to build their brands voice online.

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