For most startups, social media marketing is an absolute. Most companies have already gotten onboard with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. However, few have been truly successful at manipulating social media in a way that accomplishes their business goals.

There are more than 2 billion social media users in the world today. That number is expected to double soon. With so many brands getting into the social media world and constantly competing for the user’s valuable attention, simply having a presence doesn’t cut it.

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As a startup, you must fight a fierce uphill battle with the more established brands to gain exposure.

Putting together an effective strategy that brings your startup into the growth stage is no easy task. If your goal is to become a force to be reckoned with on social media, keep these few secrets in mind to help leverage your brand’s messaging and leave a lasting impression on users.

Success is Unpredictable

First off, this is a concept that all startups need to be well aware of, straight out of the gate.

It’s commonly said that “nothing is guaranteed.” This statement could not be truer when dealing with a social media campaign, regardless of how great it looks on paper.

Every business is unique and has a different target audience and a different competitive landscape. It is virtually impossible to create a campaign that appeals to everyone. Also, social media is an entity that is rapidly evolving and changing every single day. An approach that worked once might be obsolete in a matter of hours.

For those reasons, predictability is perhaps the biggest unknown in the world of social media.

Design Consistency = Branding

Social media is saturated with brand messaging and sales tactics throughout the pages. With that being said, it is crucial that your page is designed with the proper elements that reflect your brand. After all, this is what will be showcased to the world.

This is all the more important in e-commerce, where you need to give your customers a consistent brand experience. For example, see how startup online eyeglasses retailer Firmoo has a consistent UX across Facebook (top) and Twitter (bottom):

Both do a phenomenal job in conveying everything from their brand’s color scheme, all the way to their diverse market.

If your profile is created with impactful elements that show off your business’ unique value proposition, users will be drawn to your page.

Additionally, design can impact SEO as your profile strength plays a vital role in the overall search visibility. A well-crafted page is SEO-friendly in the sense that the search engines are able to crawl and index it with ease to determine a ranking.

Just be sure that your page is comprised with every aspect of your company’s branding and demonstrates the benefits you bring to the table.

Social Media is NOT Free

As much as Facebook assures you, social media marketing is certainly not free. On one hand, it will not cost you anything to claim your business profiles or update them on a regular basis. However, a successful campaign requires lots and lots of hours and as we all know, time is money.

On the other hand, if you do not have the time or expertise to keep up on a social media account, it could cost you a pretty penny to bring in an expert to make sure your accounts are properly managed.

Chances are, as a startup, you will be managing social media on your own. It will take hours to build up your profile, examine analytics, and find ways to alter and optimize. Further, staying on top of updates that social networks routinely make to their platforms, and changing your strategy accordingly is very time-consuming.

When you look at the clock, the cost will become clear.

Mistakes are Inevitable

With an absurd amount of posts being released every single day, there’s bound to be some regrets. This is simply a reality all startups must know before diving in. You cannot please everyone. You will make mistakes. Some will be worse than others. No matter how smart and social media-savvy you are. No brand is immune to slip-ups.

Take Total Beauty for example. They are perhaps one of the most reputable, expert brands in the nearly $200 billion fashion industry.

But, there was one instance where they released a tweet confusing Oprah Winfrey with Whoopi Goldberg.

Oops.

On the flip side of the coin, every mistake you make will be an opportunity to get up, dust yourself off, and learn from it.

There will be some mistakes that aren’t completely obvious. Therefore, be sure you keep up on your social media analytics to find what is working and what isn’t.

Over to You

Like most marketing tactics, social media is a brand project in which the results won’t likely be apparent for some time.

Chances are, you won’t gain thousands of followers overnight.

Think of social media as a relationship. It can take a while to establish trust and demonstrate value. As a startup with your marketing hat on, your main objective is to locate the people who would be a good fit for your product or service, and then make a lasting impact on them.

There is no reason to rush it. The last thing you want to do on social media is come across as desperate.

Keep in mind, you are dealing with human beings. Building relationships requires a great deal of commitment, time, and consistency. Keep at it and the results will come.