7 growth hacks to make social media work for your startup

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If content is king, viral content is definitely the emperor. Everyone’s striving to crack the secret code, and despite some awkward winners, the jury agrees that it’s one of the most effective growth boosters available for startups, or entrepreneurs.

The problem, of course, is decoding what all that noise on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and other channels means. After all, there are 2.5 quintillion (that’s 18 zeros, by the way) bytes of data created each day in the world currently, enough to completely fill 10 million iPhone 7 Plus phones, says Christel Quek, Vice President, Asia Pacific, at Brandwatch at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2016.

How do startups, with their limited budgets and resources, sift through that sea of data to use the power of social media to their advantage?

Christel and Raj Sunder, founder and CEO, video engagement company Wootag, have a few simple rules of thumb to share:

1. Opinions, not buzz

Social media is a big black hole of all kinds of noise. If your startup is on various platforms, you’ll be trolled and see commentary in all forms. Christel says the trick is in focusing on opinion, not buzz. “Instead of asking how many times did your brand get mentioned on a channel, ask how do consumers describe my product? What are people saying when they mention you?”

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2. Find one message

When you distribute your videos or other content, write down the single objective you want to achieve, advises Raj. “Say your product is a shoe. If you want people to like the brand, the channel will be different from if you want people to buy that shoe. In the latter case, plug the content on Facebook, and get some friends to share that content. Then increase viewership by spending money.”

3. Don’t be silo-ed

“Data in silos never ever work,” says Christel. That means you cannot fruitfully use data if you are only looking at metrics in isolation, or even if you are only looking at your own Twitter or Facebook metrics. The secret is in also listening to your competition and figuring out what the customers want from the industry as a whole.

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4. Don’t waste money

Expensive gadgets do not a viral video make. “Use your phone camera to make your first videos and distribute them,” Raj says. “Do as much as you can for free. Learn, and then spend money for maybe a paid boost. Don’t spend money on learning.”

5. Behaviors last, campaigns don’t

Christel compares these two trends with sunshine and a lightning strike. The latter is more striking, but sunshine is more enduring. It’s the same way with flashy campaigns. They can get you some new users in the short term, but a long-drawn strategy to hook them will get you loyal followers.

6. Use tool-driven metrics with caution

7. Not every negative mention is a crisis