Improving your crowdfunding chances through social media
Improving your Crowdfunding Campaign through Social Media
I’m often asked what crowdfunding is so much hard work. Most of your time is spent with social media and it is so easy to get it wrong. So I thought I would ask an expert, Debora Barbosa from Racefields, for her top tips - three things to do and three things to avoid. Follow Debora on Instagram .
It is a known fact that social media has taken the world by storm since platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and many others have been created. When it comes to been known around a certain industry and a target audience, the use of social media becomes crucial in the process. Through its many platforms one can share content, engage with others, market a product or service and much more. Nevertheless, there must be some research and speculation before anything is shared out there specially when it comes to a crowdfunding campaign. At Racefields we have a professional team of experts who deals with such aspects in order to ensure the best social media profiles you can get.
Let’s take a look on 3 thing you should be doing when launching your crowdfunding campaign on social media:
Identify your audience
The first thing one must take into account, is what kind of business and service you are providing and which social media platform would fit your interests best. Different social medias work in different week and in order to take the best advantage you must know if you will be more interested in sharing only visual content (ex: picture) or informative content (ex: articles) and so on. After this is stablished, you’re ready to start sharing your campaign to the world.
Stay focused
Once you’re found your crowd, you must gather as many likes and follows as you can! The only way of doing this – without spending any money – is to make your profile professional (by posting lots of interesting content) and sharing it with different communities who have the same interest as your campaign. This is a daily job that must be constantly worked on – at least at the beginning – so you can build a strong foundation for your profile. You must also interact with as many users as you can by following users, liking and commenting on their posts and this takes quite a lot of time and effort.
Be professional
Many people tend to look at social media platforms as a way of updating what is going on in their lives only thus not being careful with what they share. When you’re posting as a business, you must be twice as careful than the average user. When investors see your crowdfunding campaign, chances are they are going to google your business and look through any social media profiles you have. Therefore it is extremely crucial to pay attention to laws and regulations – what you can and not post – and also watch out for your personal social media accounts since they tend to be somehow linked to your professional ones. For your crowdfunding campaign account, only shares things that are professionally linked to your business and that do not interfere with any regulation.
After you understood these three key points, you should be all set to launch your crowdfunding campaign on social media. Nevertheless is always good to keep in mind what not to do as well.
Here are three main things you should NOT do when using social media for your crowdfunding campaign:
Grammatical mistakes
Something to be very careful of is double checking spelling before you hit the button “share” on social media. Investors who look at your profile might not feel as confident to invest if they find silly mistakes on your articles or regular posts. Therefore always double-check and when in doubt google is a great tool.
Overposting
When people follow your page, they are interested in staying updated on whatever your company does or offer. However, if you fill their newsfeed with not-so-important information that might cause some followers to feel “annoyed” thus unfollowing or “unliking” your profile. Posting on a daily basis is necessary and recommended, however make sure you establish a goal and do not pass it by uploading over 3 contents a day.
Spending hundreds of pounds with ads
It’s often tempting to pay in order to advertise your page to a large group of people. However, as previously explained, you can do the same job for free – just need patience and focus. The only time I would recommend this sort of advert is when you need a large amount of followers fast – yet I do not see the need for this on a crowdfunding campaign. Usually the people attracted to your page through this are “ghost followers” meaning they don’t really care about what your business is. Once your content is interesting and your page grows, the social media profiles will basically advertise themselves as more people liking the content means more views. Nevertheless if you do choose to pay for an advert make sure you do it once you have a strong profile already.
For beginners who are still not sure on how to get your crowdfunding social media campaign going, we recommend seeking professional help as there as many companies, such as Racefields, who do all the work for you.
Here is an example of campaign run by Debora https://www.facebook.com/waggystale/ a movie about George Best.
Debora Barbosa is a Brazilian Business and Management student at the University of Salford, currently on a placement year at Racefields. Before attending university in UK she has also studied in USA and Germany. Her background in marketing is spectacular as she has worked inside Manchester United marketing department at the young age of 19. Débora develops Racefields’ social media platforms and ensures our business reaches as many potential clients and investors as possible throughout the country. Her focus is on the marketing of the Racefields brand and the development of the business through social networks.
Racefields Ltd is an FCA-authorised corporate finance house that specialises in advising businesses and entrepreneurs seeking funding. As well as working with all sorts of funds, we are also specialists in alternative finance such as crowdfunding and peer to peer. One of our goals is to make alternative finance more accessible to businesses and individuals looking to become a success in this highly-competitive industry. We offer services to companies seeking funding as well as investors who are interested in investment opportunities. Racefields Ltd is a member of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.