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In my hometown I see a lot of Startup Businesses open … and like many towns I see a lot closing less than a year later

The official business failure statistics vary depending on which report you read but range from Theo Paphitis stating “50% of all small businesses fail in the first couple of years” to figures as high as “eight out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses will fail in the first 18 months”

Whilst there are many variables in reasons a business fails, marketing in its many forms plays a large part in a business’s success

Here we look at the classic Social Media Marketing fails of Start Up Businesses

the-tortoise-and-the-hare
THE HARE
You may remember the story of the tortoise and the hare

The hare is one of the many flawed personality traits of a start-up business

You’ll hear about the business ran by the hare – because they go ALL IN a few weeks before the business launches

The signs often look like the business will be a major success and then the moment the business opens they get tired, drop their pace down after the early significant sprint and start to lose that earlier traction

Remember the hare never did win the race – consistency counts – so look at the skill set of the tortoise

Late Starter
THE LATE STARTER
The late starter knows the importance of Social Media, but doesn’t have the knowledge or the inclination to start using it when they are launching their business

They say to themselves Social Media is something that they will look at in a few months after the business has launched

They tend to have the belief that word of mouth will work organically and when that doesn’t work they tend to go down the traditional route of newspaper adverts. When that doesn’t work immediately, they will oftengo down the discount
voucher route

By the time it comes around to trying that “bolt on” of Social Media they often find it’s too late to make the turn around before the 2nd big rent and rates bill comes in
No Audience
THE POOR DISTRIBUTOR
The Poor distributor is a relatively new character on the startup scene

The Poor Distributor actually has a great content – they understand what works in terms of content from how they use social media on a personal level.

In many ways they understand the nuances of the social media platforms and understand what sort of images and text updates work across each platform

What they suffer from is generating that traction with an actual audience and months later you look back and think – if only this business had 700 quality followers rather than 70 followers 6 months after opening the business would be a
huge success

Quality is key for social media – but having an audience is terribly important. Build it!!

Busy Fool
THE BUSY FOOL
The busy fool likes to be hands on with everything and therefore social media marketing is something that comes under their control

They might not understand the marketing intricacies of social media. But like the admin, the HR, the accounts, the PR, the front of house customer service – they like to be hands on and run the social media themselves

They share many of the personality traits with the hare in that from the outset it looks like all is well and they’re going to be a shining success

When the doors open however they’re overwhelmed with everything in the business and Social Media becomes something put on the back burner

They’ll still keep their hands in on social media – but it will be something done after everything else has been done – in the early hours of the morning when most people won’t see their updates

DO YOU NEED HELP?

At Altrincham HQ we specialise in Social Media Marketing and help businesses avoid the pitfalls of the Hare, The Late Starter, The Poor Distributor and the Busy Fool

We understand the importance of launching a business well and also how consistent Social Media marketing can help after the buzz of the launch stops

If you’d like to chat about Social Media Training or Outsourced Social Media Services call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

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Alex McCann

Author Alex McCann

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