Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe would describe my generation as the millennial generation or Generation Y. We were privileged enough to grow up surrounded by technology and have access to everything this crazy giant world has to offer. Channel 4 has just started a series called 'shut your Facebook' about social network junkies and the impact it has on our lives. If you haven't watched it yet, defiantly take a look. Talk about addicted! When starting a business social networking, as the title reads is your best mate. But with everything in life you have your pro's and those annoying cons.
Most of us are on at-least one social network and can't help but showcase ourselves and watch what the next person is doing. The negative side of all this exposure is that we are the perfect target for criticism and stereotyping, and not necessarily from the older generation but from each other... Now let's be honest, we are a jealous bunch and with all that ugly green stuff floating around it's very hard to find support when deciding to do something as risky as starting a business young.
Most likely, your parents are not going to give you the Mexican wave of approval you were hoping for. They are old school, they hear business, and think money...savings..."Honestly Peter, you can barely afford to put petrol in your car, how on earth are you going to start a record label. And clean your bloody room for Christ's sake!" Oh poor naive parents, when will they learn the internet is not just for shopping on Asda and liking Facebook pictures of cousin Sophie's new baby.
It seems so obvious when I say that social networking is a must have when starting a business today but I do believe people still do not yet understand how powerful it really is. I have a handful of people in my personal life that know I am setting up my business. When I tell them to check out my blog, they cannot quite seem to grasp how a blog and a screen printing business have any relation. I believe selling yourself is just as important as selling your product. Now of course there's a massive elephant of a risk when deciding to put yourself on display, people may not like you, they may even hate you. BUT... if you are well received, then the impact it will have on your business could be phenomenal.
I have to say I don't think this theory I have can be applied to just any business. If you are setting up a lifestyle brand, becoming a tattoo artist, maybe a fashion or makeup brand, or something in the music and art industries. Then most defiantly I would say get yourself out there as much as possible, and to a point that you feel comfortable with. The reason it is successful in these lines of work is because these fields create communities, and within communities you can create a fan-base as appose to a 'customer'. It is the kind of work that is ideal for collaborations and knowing the right people really will put you in the fast lane towards success. But let's say you are planning on repairing laptops, or starting a cleaning agency... the idea of selling yourself as a personality just seems extremely unnecessary. Your focus should be selling your product and/or service.
Be warned that if you do choose to abuse social networking as a way to market yourself. Then the time you spend doing it is going to be a lot more than you may think. There's a reason all the best known YouTubers end up quitting their jobs and running there YouTube account full time. So try not to take on more than you can handle, you don't want to get into a situation where you become overwhelmed and begin slacking, you will quickly lose your hard earned fan-base because as they say 'consistency is key'. More importantly you don't want to deprive yourself of the little sleep you have available. The first year of being an entrepreneur will be long hours and hard work so don't stay up til 6am replying to tweets, as addictive as it will become remember where your priorities lay.
My FOUR tips for your social networks
#1: You need to be easy to find - Keep all your names the same if possible, whether you are using your personal name or companies name on your social networks. People don't care enough to play detective just to send you a tweet. If you find yourself unable to use a certain name because it's already taken then after swearing out loud and fighting the urge to punch your laptop, make sure the name you want is incorporated somehow, even if it means using_loads_of_ugly_underscores_ like this...
#2: You are not as important as you think - Remember you are a start up company, and even if you do find yourself gaining a hundred followers a day in the early days. You are not a God. Respect your followers because they, without even knowing it, are one of the reasons you will be successful. So follow people back, reply to compliments, re-tweet a fan showcasing your work, basically don't be a twat.
#3: Know your limits - Again if you are setting up a community driven company, then selling yourself is quite important. But that picture of you throwing up in Camden last weekend probably doesn't need to be on your instagram account. And the racist joke you saw on twitter that had you in stitches, yeah how about you don't add that to your favorites. Be true to yourself of course, but be respectful. I'm not saying you must never share anything controversial, because maybe that's what you are all about but be smart.
#4: Don't sell yourself out - Earlier I used the phrase, 'selling yourself'. But a quick disclaimer, I mean our personality. You absolutely want to gain as much views as possible but don't do things just because that's what people want. You are, for example, just starting a make-up brand and want to get noticed. Is that half naked picture of you really necessary? Maybe you were raised and always have been a faithful Muslim and suddenly just because you're getting a little viral fame, oh now you want to upload pictures of you drinking and with women all over you because, that's what people want. Don't be silly. The reality is that the internet as powerful as it is, is just a virtual world. And just like this blog your fame could be deleted and you will be forgotten about overnight. So remain true to yourself.
OK. So just to recap, the cons of social networking may be trolls, spending hours trying to keep all your accounts up to date and criticism. The pro's are, viral fame, creating a fan base, having access to similar people in your field of work and all round success. I think the pro's outweigh, if its something you think you can handle.
Need some inspiration???
Below I have links to some of my favorite people on social networks and a short description of what they do. Enjoy!
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Miss Tanya Burr!
This beautiful British girl Tanya Burr, born 1989, started off as a fashion and beauty YouTube guru and now has her own makeup line selling in Superdrug! And yes, I love it.
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Coco and Breezy
I have written about these two Diva's before. Aged 19 they packed their bags and headed to new York where they designed and sold sunglasses. Along with their original designs, social networking helped them become the success story they are today.
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Jamal Edwards
I'm pretty sure this guy's best friend is YouTube. Jamal Edwards is the CEO and Founder of SBTV and a role model to so many budding entrepreneurs. He set up his company aged 15, has more then 50million YouTube hits and was the face of Google Chrome. If this doesn't inspire you, shoot me now.
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Susie Bubble
Susie is a British born Chinese blogger.She started her blog in 2006 and now runs her blog full time and is writing for Elle Magazine, The Daily Rubbish and Dazed Digital! Well done girl.
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