class rooms [Web Effect]
BOOTSTRAPPING YOUR STARTUP’S SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY You cannot ignore the sheer numbers out there on the web… By Rajiv Dingra
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ootstrapping a startup is hard work for entrepreneurs. Not only does one have to look into several functions like operations, marketing, sales, finance and Human Resources but one has to also consider the costs of each function and at each step of the entrepreneurial journey. In such a scenario, it could be difficult to divide time between getting new business and managing the business that you have already managed to bring in. This is where a social media focus may be helpful. Social media, the buzzword of today, is a free platform of expression for users to connect with each other and build a following for themselves or their startups or brands. Brands, both big and small, have taken to this medium in one way or the other and this has lead to the birth of several social media consultants and agencies all over the world. If you are a startup, it’s hard to ignore this crucial medium as it directly connects you to your consumers. With 18 million of them on Facebook, 15 million on YouTube and 7-odd million on LinkedIn, it’s too sizeable an audience to ignore. So, whether you are a B2B or B2C startup, it’s important that you have a social media plan and strategy in place to source early business as well as early employees. Now, as a bootstrapping startup, the real dilemma starts with whether to do social media strategy and execution in-house or to outsource this to an external consultant. This dilemma occurs because it’s a choice between time and capital, as outsourcing might be more expensive but
saves the time that you might yourself spend in executing social media strategies.
EARLY DAYS—DO IT YOURSELF! Social media is a very personal and conversational medium and it’s important that whoever handles your startup’s social media understands its core brand identity and USP. Early on, it’s important that you handle social media yourself. Internationally, many web product startups use social media i.e. blogs, Facebook and Twitter, to constantly take feedback and consumer views on their ongoing startup plans even before an official launch. Another reason to handle social media internally, at least in the early days, is to define the objectives and expectations for your startup yourself. If you have an external consultant do this, he/she may not look at your startup in its entirety and may even break things down into sales, human resources and other kinds of objectives too early.
“Outsourcing might be more expensive but saves the time that you might yourself spend in executing social media strategies.”
94 Entrepreneur + December 2010
EFFECTIVE INTERNAL EXECUTION The way to do it internally is to get trained in social media through an external consultant. This is in case one doesn’t have the right resources or skill sets within the organization. Another alternate route is to align or recruit younger employees in your startup who are regular practitioners of social media tools and have the experience and knowledge base from the outset. It is important that one identifies such employees first to initiate social media internally. In case