What you need to know to set up your social media strategy

1. Know your brand

A strong brand identity is crucial for startups establishing their social media presence. Clearly articulate your startup’s values, mission and unique selling proposition (USP). Develop a consistent brand voice, visual aesthetics and messaging across all social media platforms to build recognition and trust among your target audience. In other words, align your brand identity with what your audience wants to see and experience. This enables you to stand out from the competition and create a lasting impression with your viewers.

2. Know your target audience

With so many social media platforms out there, how are you going to know which ones to use? The answer is straightforward: social media is built around the audience, and what you must do is find out which social media platforms your audience uses. Conduct thorough market research to identify the demographics, interests, pain points and online behavior of the people you want to reach. By gaining insights into their preferences and challenges, you can tailor your content and messaging to resonate with them. It’s the personal touch that matters.

3. Create strong social media content

Consistently provide valuable insights, share industry knowledge, and use storytelling to position yourself as an authority within your niche. Also, be aware that each social media platform comes with its own set of features. For instance, TikTok is all about short videos catering to especially Gen Z while LinkedIn is a professional networking platform and allows various formats to be uploaded, from videos to PDF documents.

-> Here is our approach to LinkedIn. We hope you like it and become a follower.

In the meantime, Instagram is perfect for showcasing products thanks to its photo and video sharing features. YouTube is home to long and short videos, making it ideal for tutorials, e.g. from Xelplus founder Leila Gharani about improving productivity with tools like Excel and other Microsoft products. It’s also ideal for product presentations and reviews, customer testimonials and many other categories.

Have you seen “promoted” or “sponsored” posts in your feed? You can also boost your content with ads. Ads can be expensive, so plan and tailor your ads very carefully if you make them part of your strategy. As your startup revenue grows, consider setting aside funds for paid content to get more eyes on your posts. Taking it step by step is essential.

Finally, ask your audience what they would like to see on your social media channels. This way, you can work with facts instead of assumptions. You can create a brief questionnaire for free with Google Forms.

4. Manage your social media content

In order to plan your posts neatly, you can use an Excel sheet as a basic editorial calendar. Some social media platforms also allow you to schedule your posts in advance for free. Tools like Buffer, Hootsuite and several others offer the possibility to manage all your social media profiles from one place. Their free plans can be enough to cover your social media needs in the beginning. Later, you can look into paid plans.

5. Interact with your audience

Posting regularly is only one part of your social media strategy. Active engagement and interaction are vital for creating a community. Respond promptly to comments, messages and mentions, demonstrating that you value people’s feedback and opinions. Encourage conversations, ask questions and seek feedback to foster a sense of community and authenticity. Share interesting posts and make sure to tag people or organizations where due. Also, when you’re networking with people at events, mention you’re on social media and ask if they would like to connect. Nice to know: on LinkedIn, you can send out invites to your connections so they can follow your page.

6. Use AI for social media with care

AI is all the rage today, especially with the advent of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Many people are typing in sensitive information to create website posts and social media content without realizing how this data is being handled and processed. Set down in your social media policy (each company should have one) which information you can run through AI tools. Also, keep up-to-date with how Switzerland or the EU are planning to regulate the use of AI.

Finally, while you can use AI to create your social media content faster, double-check the output carefully: fine-tune and polish it so that it sounds authentic and fits what your audience wants to see. Quality is key and your social media guidelines should be there to ensure it.

7. Perform social media audits

Check your social media statistics regularly. Can you see posts that performed outstandingly? How many people have clicked on a link in your post? In addition, Google Analytics will tell you how much traffic to your website is coming from your social media profiles.

Have you also checked what your competitors are doing or not doing on social media? Create a competitor analysis sheet and think of what you can do better than them.

In other words, go over your social media numbers and adjust your social media strategy accordingly.