Social for Start-Ups: Where Do We Start?

Ahh, #startuplife. There’s the product development, the team building, the “do we or don’t we” investor conversations, growing pains, scalability issues and God willing, some stock options. But it doesn’t have to all be 5am alarms and 9pm cry sessions. When you have the right partners, the challenges can be fun.

OK, I might have exaggerated that last bit.

At Matchstick, we’ve worked with our fair share of start-ups (get the scoop on our startup program called Firestarters). We’ve learned a thing or two over the last few years and we want to share them.

This is how you know your startup is ready for social:

1. Your website looks great. (Not sure? Here are the things you need for a great site.)
2. Your product is available or launch is imminent.
3. Or, if you’re a brick-and-mortar, your opening is planned.
4. You have a clear target demographic.
5. You have a sales and follow-up process.
6. You have a process for handling customer service–or you’re ready to develop one.
7. You have clear, outlined business goals for the first year.
8. You have a list of competitors or other brands you like and hate.
9. The brand voice is clearly defined–or you need some help refining it.
10.  You have an advertising budget.

Yes, those are the 10 things you need. It’s not to say that we can’t help you create one or all of these things–that’s what Firestarters is all about. But having these 10 checked off will ensure that you are giving us a lot to work with so we can develop a social marketing strategy that adds to your bottom line.