social media entrepreneur

1. Get the World Needs to Know You Exist

It’s fantastic that you’ve created an amazing product, service, or business, but if you want to keep that momentum going, you’ll need to go where your customers are: on social media. Don’t make the mistake of putting social media on the back burner and getting left behind. Social media helps you increase your brand awareness and your messaging. It’s the chance for you to showcase what you stand for in the public eye so people understand not only what your company does but also what it stands for.

Action Step: Research the top social channels your audience is on (find out what channels you should be on) and create social media accounts on those networks.

2. Get Quick Feedback on Your Products & Services

If you really want to move fast with your company, what better way than to ask the customers trying it? Do you need to test a new product? Find your beta testers on social media and get feedback at rapid pace. Not only will they give you feedback, but you’ll also cultivate a loyal following from the beginning by involving them and providing great customer service along the way.

Action Step: Post a comment on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram asking your online community for feedback on something you’re working on.

3. Monitor Leads & Potential Prospects

Wouldn’t it be great if you could find key influencers in your industry and create relationships with them? Well, you can through social media. You can findinfluencers and monitor tons of online conversations by searching for keywords and by observing negative or positive sentiments. For example, if someone is having bad experience with a competitor’s product, you can swoop in and offer a solution. Check out these social media tools that can help you monitor and manage your social media.

Action Step: Login to Twitter and type in a competitor’s name with the keyword complaints and see what people are saying.  Then see if you can join the conversation. Do the same for your company and see how you can help your customers.

4. Create Connections to Make a Huge Business Impact

Need referrals or business partners? Well, by building your social media network, you’ll have more access to these potential collaborators. Social media gives you the opportunity to expand your influence and to reach even just one potential investor, brand advocate, or future employee that could completely change the game for your business.

Action Step: Find and follow the top potential business partners, investors, and customers in your industry and start conversations with them on social media.

5. Find a Supportive Entrepreneurial Community

Let’s face it: Being an entrepreneur is no cakewalk. At some point, you’ll want to get advice and support from other entrepreneurs going down the same path.  Social media is the perfect place to create these connections. What’s better than finding mentors or startup support groups online and turning these into real life relationships? You can join Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups and even join Meetups. It’s easy to use social media to search for other entrepreneurs by city location, especially on Twitter.

Action Step: Login to Twitter, go to the search bar, click “Advance Search,” and type in your location and keywords to find startups in your area.

No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, having a presence on social media is crucial. Social media holds a vast treasure chest of benefits for entrepreneurs, and taking advantage of these benefits can completely revitalize your business.

Want more social media tips? Check out The 10 Ultimate Productivity Hacks for Social Media Management.

This post originally appeared on Startup Grind.

Social media has made the world much more transparent in the last decade. Beginning as a platform where you post pictures of yourself and share experiences with friends and family, social media now engulfs a major part of our everyday life – including how we learn and get inspired.

The opportunities for inspiration and knowledge are so vast and accessible that anyone can learn with a computer and internet connection. Not only will this help accelerate the learning process in young children and adults, but people will be able to feel inspired from mentors or “heroes” through social interactions on sites like Twitter and YouTube.

If you’re looking for inspiration and advice in the eCommerce and internet start-up space, the following social media accounts often provide an opportunity for you to meet and learn from the best minds in the business – and have a little fun in the process.

Top Five Social Media Accounts You Should Follow

Tony Hsieh This CEO and start-up entrepreneur is known for his work as founder of Zappos.com, but Tony was successful even prior to the inception of the well-known shoe company. If you are interested in learning how to run your eCommerce business on an executive level, as well as understand how to please customers, Tony Hsieh is your man. This CEO is much more than a salesman – he is the inventor of proper customer service for internet commerce (along with Jeff Bezos) and the creator of logistics efficiency with eCommerce product distribution. If you want to know how to grow properly and manage your company, Tony is a great friend to have on Facebook or Twitter.

Jeff Bezos You cannot talk about eCommerce entrepreneurship without mentioning Jeff Bezos, who is the current CEO and founder of Amazon.com. Driving across country with nothing but a pad of paper and pen, Jeff came up with a brilliant idea on how to serve customers. After Amazon.com was born, he perfected customer service and production efficiency with distribution centers across the country to fulfill product orders without long wait times or expensive shipping. In addition, he is also a funny guy and always has interesting Twitter posts every day on his account about innovative new products or business models. If you like entrepreneurship, you should keep this guy in mind.

Guy Kawasaki Although Guy was never an online entrepreneur or eCommerce CEO (at least for a major brand in the industry), this entrepreneur and investor  is one of the most inspirational people in the business. Starting off at Apple, Guy made his mark as a product evangelist and serial entrepreneur. He is best known for his entrepreneurial books, especially The Art of the Start. This guy is witty and just good ole fashion fun. His Tweets have been known throughout the eCommerce community as some of the best in the business.

Jack Dorsey Interested in understanding how making money from a business model that originally had no opportunity to make money? Well, you need to follow Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter. As awesome as Twitter is currently for the modern social indulging citizen, there was a time when Twitter was evaluated at over a billion dollars, but barely had a $100 in the bank. Aspiring entrepreneurs today have access to great start-up eCommerce entrepreneurs like Jack Dorsey (who also founded Square mobile payment processing system). As the founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey has one of the best Twitter accounts to investigate and should be a destination for all entrepreneurs and like-minded people.

Tim Ferriss You need to check his guy out if you have not already done so – he is awesome and crazy at the same time, but also kind of a human encyclopedia. Tim Ferriss is well-known for his 4-Hour books where he discusses streamlining online businesses, improving body composition, and learning how to cook in different environments. Categorized as the “Superman of Silicon Valley,” Tim Ferris is definitely someone you know to follow as an owner of eCommerce businesses.

 

About the author:

Matthew Hall is himself aspiring to build up a site in the hopes of becoming a massive success, and uses advice from the pros to help him get started. In order to make sure people feel safe doing business with him, he makes use of the online payment platform provided by FastSpring. You can learn more about Matthew on Google+.