Start ups need money. Just because you are two guys, in your parents basement, out to change the world with your killer product or service doesn’t mean you can ignore the bottom line waiting for the investment fairy to come bless you with capital. Attracting investors is sure to be high on the priority list for any entrepreneur, and with a little social media marketing your job might be made a little bit easier.
Let me ask you this. What is more attractive to a potential investor? A groundbreaking, feature packed, application that’s going to change the game, or a groundbreaking, feature packed application that’s going to change the game, which has been “Liked” by 2,000 people on Facebook?
Obviously the later. Yet so many entrepreneurs either ignore the tools right at their disposal to create a raving fan base, which will look impressive to potential investors or they view it as a second thought rather than a vital part of their investment case.
Here are three ways to use social media for your start up.
Start an Image Blog
The benefits of blogging have been blogged about to death. As a founder of a start up though, you are busy enough getting your business up and running, who has time to blog? Committing to a daily regimen of cranking out 500 words before breakfast might not be high on the priority list, despite the fact that blogs are a proven way of generating sales leads. Rather than tossing the blog idea completely away, think about starting an image blog.
An “image blog” is the term I use for a blog that falls somewhere between a photo blog (commonly used by artists or photographers to share their portfolio) and a regular blog chock full of words. The idea here is to convey the image of the company by giving site visitors a glimpse into the lives of the founders
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Real entrepreneurs have a compelling story to tell: they are trying to solve a problem that matters to people, often using methods and means that “the big boys” aren’t nimble enough to implement. It’s the classic David v. Goliath story (or Little Mac v. Mike Tyson) and who doesn’t like to root for the underdog?
Some simple ways to get started on an image blog:
- Register for a catchy domain name on WordPress and use the Coraline theme – it’s clean, versatile, and a great starting point if you don’t have time to play around with design
- Start snapping daily photos of your experience in getting the start up going with your iPhone (yes – I’m assuming that all great entrepreneurs have an iPhone). Upload them to Facebook using the FB App, and then use the image URL to create photos on your blog. Add a paragraph (no more than 5 lines per post) about what’s going on in your business (try to relate this to the photo)
- Create killer headlines. The whole purpose of this blog is to rally followers and investors to your cause. People rarely read past the headlines of posts, so if yours sucks or doesn’t catch their interest, then even the shortest posts in the world won’t get them to click. Take some time to understand what makes for great headlines, and practice writing them (Twitter can be a great place to test these, especially when combined with Bit.ly which lets you track click activity very accurately).
The image blog is meant to show the world the reasons why your product or service matters. If it saves them time, show images and write about what it means to you to have more time. Remember, you are selling the dream, not the product.
Build a Community on a Facebook Page
Pages on Facebook are easy to set up. If marketed well with a great ad campaign, they provide a level of visibility and reach which you won’t get anywhere else. Of course setting up an effective page is not so obvious. Here are some tips for building a raving fan base via Facebook Pages:
- Create an effective landing page. Facebook Pages are all about the Likes. An effective landing page should help make the decision for a page visitor within the first 3-seconds on whether they are going to click that button or not. Pages default the landing page to the Wall, but you can change that by installing a FBML Tab on your page. Once that is done, use Power Point to create a compelling word/image and use that for your landing page. You can make regions of this image clickable, but remember: the ONLY think you want people to do from your landing page is click Like. Images that point to the button explicitly are very effective.
- Mirror your blog in the Notes. You’ve gone to the trouble of setting up the image blog I suggested above. Now let it work for you. Rather than having to go in and add content to your Facebook page, an application like Networked Blogs can pull it into the page for you.
- Update the Wall status three times a week from your iPhone. With the Facebook App installed, you can make Page updates right from your phone. If you go to Friends in the main menu, you will see a tab on the bottom for Pages. While it looks like any comment you add to your page will have your profile stamp on it, if you are the Admin of the page the comment renders as coming from the Admin. Again, this is a quick and easy way of keeping your page fresh. Try status updates that ask questions of your Fans and seek feedback – the point is to generate comments and attract more likes.
Estimates for what a Facebook Fan is worth are all over the map. The real value to a start up in having a Facebook Page with lots of fans, however, is it demonstrates that there are a large number of people out there who believe in your product. If you can cultivate this community and keep them interested in what you are doing, investors will see them as potential customers and be more likely to believe in your product.
Use Slide Share to Create a Compelling Presentation
Most business presentations suck. Power Point has conditioned the average user to believe that “compelling” means using some geometric text boxes to frame your 10 bullet points on each slide. The rule of thumb for presentations is images tell and stories sell.
As a start up you are going to need a presentation that you can show to potential investors to get them interested. In his book Reality Check, Guy Kawasaki says if you can’t tell sell your company or idea in 10-slides then you are screwed (he puts it more eloquently than that, but you get the point). The attention span of most people looking to “get you” is not too long, nor are they interested in digesting all the important technical information that you are so proud of. What they do want to do is be infotained.
Infotainment is a great tool for any presenters, and for start ups seeking investors, if you can entertain the people you are pitching while giving them the information they need to make a decision, you will have created a real connection that will be remembered. It will distinguish you from all the other yokels who went into that office talking about the “robust features” of their “suite of tools” that had “no competition” and would clear the bank in the first year (if you haven’t guessed, I’m being sarcastic here).
Here are my quick six pillars of Power Point that every budding entrepreneur looking to create a kick ass presentation should follow:
- Plan on paper – as digital as a guy as I am there are some things that just work better old school. When I plan a presentation, I break out the legal pad and pen. Sketches, ideas, lists, run on sentences, you name it – I toss all that junk on the page and let it exist. I spend at least a few days out of the software letting the greatness percolate and reveal itself for turds. When I can boil it all down to a really solid outline that just flows, then I’m ready to get on the keyboard.
- Images tell and stories sell – I know I said it already, but it bears repeating. Stay away from the temptation to load your slides with bullet points, graphs, charts, numbers, etc. Think of the story you want to tell about your product. Why did this thing need to be created? Whose problems were you solving? How will a customer’s life be made better by using what you have and who are these people? Tell that story and do it with pictures and minimal text . Let your mouth do the talking and use the slides to create an impression that burns into the memory of everyone you are showing it to.
- Create a custom background – this is easier than it sounds. You can use a stock background, but creating something custom just gives your slides more umph. Here’s what you do:
- Select File > Open on the menu to start a new blank presentation
- Choose your options from the dialog box – I like to use the photo option, which I then make at least 50% transparent – this gives your presentation some unique personality
- Select View > Master > Slide Master to open the master for all slides in the presentation other than the title page (to change this use the Title Master)
- Change the Background by selecting Format > Background
- Click Apply
- Use large font and few words – when you’re first planning your presentation you probably have a lot to say. Spill it. Write that junk out. Don’t censor. It’ll make good fodder for the notes and who knows, you may even be able to spin it into an article, blog post, or ebook?
- Practice your presentation – the worst thing in the world next to giving a presentation that you never practiced and have to read from is to listening to one. The whole point of presenting is to get your ideas across and sell someone to your way of thinking. To do that you need to connect with them. There is no way to connect with someone if you are glued to your computer screen or podium. Read through the presentation, out loud, at least 3- times. If you can do more, great – if you are an entrepreneur giving this as a pitch to raise capital, chances are you will give it a bunch of times before someone bites – this is practice too! The best thing of course is to practice with slides in front of an audience so you can see everything that might go wrong.
- Include humor – I work with a lot of professional types who believe that being taken seriously is mutually exclusive from anything funny. While I’m not advocating making a joke out of your product or presentation, I am screaming at you to find those places where you can get a laugh out of your audience. This creates an instant connection, puts people at ease, and makes them more willing to listen to your ideas.
Once you’ve got a presentation that doesn’t suck, upload it to Slide Share. Doing this will allow your presentation to be seen by anyone you forward the link to and by the community of users that frequents the site. If you’ve done something great with it that generates thousands of views and positive feedback you will have another form of social collateral to impress investors with. Finally, and here’s the big kicker, you can embed the presentation into your Facebook Page which will show up on your News Feed. This can be a very powerful way of communicating ideas to your fans on that page.
That’s it for now. What other methods have you found that work for marketing your start up?
