Paul Haarman: How to Promote Your Startup Efficiently With Social Media?

You just finished the MVP for your startup, you know that it has potential and now is the time to get out of the coder’s cave.

But how do you exactly do that?
How can you let everyone know about your product without spending too much effort or money on it?

These are some questions that every new entrepreneur should ask him/herself when launching a new product

If You Build It They Will Come…Right? Well, not really!

Yes, it’s true that if you build something cool (and most likely it’s something that people haven’t seen before, at least not in your country) they will probably come to check it out, but this is a one way street with no traffic. You are basically all alone there; friends are coming later when they hear about it from you or the media.

What if you send invites to all of your Facebook friends?

Well…let’s just say that you shouldn’t count on them either.

And what about email marketing?

Doesn’t work really well since most people have spam filters set up these days and you can only have outreach with your closest circle of contacts which obviously isn’t enough for launching a real product.

So what’s left? Social Media!

As per Paul Haarman Social media is probably the most powerful tool that you can use when launching a new product, especially if it’s something cool and out of the ordinary. The key here is to build up anticipation for your product, get people interested in it and make them spread the word among their friends and family.

Let’s start with Facebook since it’s the most popular social network nowadays. Your objective should be to have as many likes on your page as possible before you launch your MVP. The more likes you have, the better because this means that when you post an update about your product, there will be more people who see it which increases the chances of someone asking about it or sharing content from your page. In other words, what you want to achieve is an active community of people who are waiting for your startup’s launch.

Using a Facebook Contest to Promote Your Startup Efficiently

Facebook contests are a great way to get the ball rolling when it comes to social media promotion. The beauty of this strategy is that you don’t even need any special skills in coding or design (although surely it wouldn’t hurt if you had them) since most apps like Wish pond can automate everything from collecting entries, sharing posts and awarding prizes.

All you have to do is go with the app that suits your needs best and set up everything after which you’ll be able to relax and let the autopilot handle everything for you. If however there’s something specific about your product that might need a personalized touch and something that Facebook doesn’t offer you can always use apps like Short stack which is specifically designed for contests on Facebook.

The most important thing about promoting your product on social media with the help of contests is to pick the right prize. And since this prize needs to be shared around as many people as possible, I would recommend that you think outside of the box and go beyond typical giveaways like iPhones or iPads.

Plus, if you are targeting a local audience then it has never been easier to find someone who owns an iPhone or iPad! So what should you give away?

Think about your target audience’s main passions in life…and why not?

Give someone a chance to share their passion with the world by having his work featured on your startup’s website or landing page. Maybe there’s a local artist whose work would fit perfectly on your site and you could give him the opportunity to have his art displayed for your target audience.

Or maybe you can offer a course of some sort? In any case, this is something that people will find more valuable than usual tech gadgets.

Conclusion:

Running a Facebook contest to promote your product is probably one of the best ways to get people talking about it before its official launch. The key here is to offer something that people truly care about since this will make them want to share your giveaway with their friends and family in order to improve their chances of winning whatever you are giving away.

As per Paul Haarman, you can automate everything when running contests on social media using apps like Wish pond but if there’s something specific that requires a personalized touch, then you should use an app like Short stack or perhaps some other tool designed for creating contests on Facebook. Either way, the most important thing about launching a new product is promoting it as much as possible and making sure that as many people as possible know about it.