Original title: 5 Social Tips for Early Stage Founders

Original author: Ish Verduzco, a16z
Original translation: TechFlow

Last week, I flew to New York City to give a workshop for cryptocurrency founders.

The goal was to provide them with some basic social skills that they can implement immediately.

The following is a summary of my speech.

Why build social influence?

An active social presence can help:

· Increase sales

· Attract talent

· Build partnerships

· Get funding

· Acquire users

· Gather product feedback

· Build community

I was the head of growth at my last startup, and when we first launched our public beta, we immediately got 1,000 downloads thanks to our online presence.

More details here.

I have friends who have raised significant funding, built entire teams, and landed major partnerships using their online presence alone.

If you’re still wondering if it’s worth it, here’s what you can do:

Chris Bakke:

When we were running our last company, I generated over $3M in revenue in 2021-2022 from my personal Twitter account alone (when I had a lot fewer followers).

How do you run a business and still be social?

Time is limited, things are overwhelming, and maybe you feel like content creation isn’t your strong suit.

Here are 5 tips to get you started today:

Tips #1: Focus on One Platform

- Choose the platform where your target audience is most active

- Find 10-20 creators with your ideal audience

- Follow them and study their content

- Set up notifications for the top 5 accounts

- Engage with their content and the people they reply to

- Once you’ve mastered one platform, consider expanding to a second

Tips #2: Schedule Dedicated Time for Creation

- Treat your online presence as part of your job

- People are more likely to follow a person, not a brand

- Spend at least 10% of your time on it

- Set aside a few hours a week to focus on creating content

- Use Typefully or Bluecast Plan your content for the coming week in advance

- Do community management every day

Tip #3: Leverage prompts and daily themes

Example prompts:

“Explain what you do in simple words”

“Share how you came up with the idea for the product”

More prompts can be found here

Example themes:

Monday - Thought Leadership

Tuesday - Community Highlights

Wednesday - Company Updates

Thursday - Product Marketing

Friday - Founder Reflection

Tip #4: Ask your team for support

If you’re stuck, ask your team to:

- Interview you to uncover your story

- Help edit and format your social media content

- Engage actively after your posts are published

Don't

- Let someone completely take over your account

- Overthink. Act first, collect data, then optimize

Tip #5: Empower employees

- Treat employees as “internal KOLs”

- Encourage them to share their expertise online

- Allow them to build their own audience and advocate for the brand

- Leverage employee networks to spread company content

- Set up a Slack channel for company social posts to promote interaction

- Create a positive online culture

Finally, I think a successful founder’s online presence should include:

- Post content regularly

- Actively participate in dynamic interactions

- Share knowledge in the field of expertise

- Don’t sound like you’re always selling products

- Share personal life (such as hobbies or interests)

- Keep a light-hearted and humorous attitude

- Don’t use social media as just a promotional tool

- Show your personal charm

Summary

1. Start with one social platform

2. Set aside time each week for writing

3. Use prompts and themes to overcome writer’s block

4. Use the power of the team to develop your story

5. Encourage employees to build their own online presence

6. Bonus tip: Enjoy the process. This is social media.

Original link

欢迎加入律动 BlockBeats 官方社群：

Telegram 订阅群：https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram 交流群：https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Twitter 官方账号：https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia