Hi All,

I was wondering what strategies you would recommend for a start up business selling a service (not a physical product).

As it’s a start up, they would have no social media presence at all, no followers / likes etc.

What would you do?

@samscholfield @mwwazup I, too am in a services startup.

Understand that first you should have an overall marketing strategy, and your key value proposition defined. You should also have identified your ideal customers.

As a startup, decide which networks will help you a) reach your prospects and b) grow your reputation. Since I don’t know if your are B2B or B2C, realize that I come from B2B, so that is my focus.

In services, your reputation is important, and likely it will be a major part of your brand. Here a blog helps, and Twitter is a good way to promote your blog posts, and also to find and follow other thought leaders in your market. Not only will you learn from them, you will likely find inspiration for a blog post of your own, which you can use as you comment on their post and link back.

If you are B2B, I recommend LinkedIn, but you must actively grow your network. Join groups and participate in relevant discussions. Listen to what prospects are asking and providers are saying.

Get your website in order, and content you can share via your social networks and blog.

It takes time to build an online reputation, and as I am learning, a lot of work goes into getting a business started. If marketing, is not your strong suit, there are many people (epecially on this forum) who can help you get your plans together.

Remember these are broad tips, and there are a lot of subtleties involved.

@samscholfield Everyone starts their social media presence with no fans, no followers, no connections, no likes…nothing. The first step for a startup is to draft a statement of benefits and solutions they provide (answering the future client’s “what’s in it for me?” question). This and a good picture will be the basis of all social media profiles, although you’ll have to shorten it for Twitter. There’s no better time to start getting to know people online AND letting them get to know, like, and trust you.

@samscholfield The postings by  @joanmuschampfagnani,  @kc_kreative, and  @debbielynnava are definitely filled with great points. My addition would be speaking to what I have done to help my mom expand her reach as a local fitness instructor/class provider. She had a few clients to start but no idea on engagement beyond this base. A big lead generator began from setting up her social media pages and then following other related pages and putting comments and likes. It doesn’t grow a following overnight but it has helped in building awareness of her business as well as generate new clients. I am hoping to get her going in blogging general fitness tips that can be shared on social media as well. That part is still a work in progress

I very much agree with Alexandra. Reach as broadly as you can through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn by sharing content but not by trying to sell something. Also, I recommend being an “early adopter” on Google + and perhaps others like chime.in and pinterest. Stay ahead of the curve and get people interested in who you are!

@debbielynnava Thanks Debbie! And what  @jay_rombach said is right, sharing content without “selling something” can add another layer of legitimacy to the business as well as attract new followers. Ideally that content will appeal to followers and they will share with friends who then may continue sharing. It all then links back to the original post.