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How To Announce a New Business on Social Media in 5 Steps

Social media is a powerful tool to help get the word out about a new business to a large audience. Learn how to leverage social media and gain business.

How To Announce a New Business on Social Media in 5 Steps
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After weeks, months, or even years of hard work, the time has come: You're ready to launch your new business. You want to share your exciting news with the world, starting with online communities! Social media is the perfect place to unveil your masterpiece and build hype. Nearly 60% of people worldwide are on social media, spending on average two and a half hours each day. Whether launching a business, releasing a new product, or revealing a rebrand, you need to figure out your social media launch strategy.

Not sure exactly how to announce your new business on social media? Follow along step by step:

Step 1: Define your target audience

Step 2: Choose the social media platforms you want to use

Step 3: Consider running a social media ad campaign

Step 4: Make and execute a launch plan

Step 5: Track your results

1. Define your target audience

Bringing a product or service to market takes a lot of time and research. As you get closer to the finish line, feeling a little impatient is normal. Before you go live, you need to know who you want to sell to by defining your target audience. As you strategize how to announce your new business on social media, having your audience defined will make it easier to plan your content, choose social media channels, and run ads.

If you're not sure who your ideal customers are, start by thinking about the problems your product solves and figuring out who has these problems. First, define your audience by basic demographics (age, gender, career, location). Next, create buyer personas with more personality-based characteristics to discover who your audience is and what type of content they want to see. Once you have your audience defined, you can create a business plan which outlines your overall goals and how you will achieve them.

You can save yourself time with Project Catalog™ and find Top-Rated Talent that specialize in creating business plans for new companies. These predefined projects have everything you need with clear deliverables. Find the perfect business plan for your budget.

2. Choose the social media platforms you want to use

Which platforms are best for announcing a new business on social media? It depends on your business and who your customers are. Globally, Facebook and YouTube are the most used social media platforms. The type of content you want to share and who your ideal customers are will determine your social media strategy.

Statista Social Media Usage

Pro Tip: You can dive deeper into social media demographics and overall usage with the Pew Research Social Media Fact Sheet.

Platform
Pros
Cons
What makes it unique
Tips
Facebook
Pros
  • Can reach B2B and B2C audiences with Facebook ads that have advanced targeting options, objectives, and reporting
Cons
  • Older demographic of users 
  • Tends to have lower organic engagement
What makes it unique
  • Can host an in-person or virtual event for grand openings or product launches
Tips
  • You'll need a Facebook Business account if you plan on running ads (or adding your product catalog to Instagram)
YouTube
Pros
Cons
  • Video-only platform with lots of competition for content
  • Need to create high-quality and engaging videos
What makes it unique
  • 70% of users said they bought from a brand after seeing an ad on YouTube
Tips
Create longer and more informative videos: 
  • How-tos
  • Behind the scenes 
  • Product demos
  • Testimonials
  • Q&As
  • Product launches
Instagram
Pros
Cons
  • If you don't have an existing library of pictures and videos to pull from, creating social media posts for a product launch may be difficult
What makes it unique
  • Allows posts (single image or multi-image carousel) with up to 2,000 words in the caption, reels (videos), and stories (image or 15-second long videos)
Tips
  • Post stories and share only with Close Friends–a smaller group of people that you choose. Perfect for soft launches. 
TikTok
Pros
  • Great platform  for targeting Gen Z and millennials. 
  • Nearly half of users are under 30 years old 
Cons
  • Video-only platform, so creating content may be more time-consuming
What makes it unique
  • According to the platform, 92% of users globally take action after watching a TikTok
Tips
Snapchat
Pros
Cons
  • Snapchat stories are only live for 24 hours, so you will need to post more frequently and save stories to your business’s public profile. 
What makes it unique
  • Businesses can engage with branded filters/lenses and geofilters
Tips
  • Geofilters are great for physical store openings and local product launches
Pinterest
Pros
  • Pinterest is both a search engine and a shopping platform, making it a valuable channel for launches
Cons
  • More narrow audience in terms of demographics and interests
What makes it unique
  • Primarily female audience with  77% of users being women
Tips
  • Most popular content categories are fashion, food and drinks, beauty, home decor, and travel
Twitter
Pros
  • Can post short updates with 250 characters (link to press releases, articles, and blogs) and connect with customers  
Cons
  • Fast-paced platform with many people and brands posting multiple times per day
  • Easier to miss a trend
What makes it unique
  • Popular for news content and company updates. 
  • 55% of users reported using Twitter regularly for news in 2021
Tips
  • Post updates multiple times per day. Twitter is considered a microblogging platform. 
LinkedIn
Pros
  • Professional B2B platform and a powerful tool for networking
Cons
  • Less consumer-facing, so it may not be best for B2C businesses
What makes it unique
  • If you're looking for investors or other brands to partner with, you can connect on LinkedIn to start the conversation
Tips
  • Post links to articles, press, or blogs and follow others in your industry
  • Demonstrate expertise with thought leadership pieces
Reddit
Pros
  • Reddit organizes topics into subreddits, so you can find niche-specific content and engage with your target audience. 
Cons
  • The platform is very strict about spamming. When posting a link back to your website and products, it needs to add value. Subreddits can have strict rules about promotions
What makes it unique
Tips
  • Post links to press releases, blogs, articles, and other industry-related informational content. Reddit is closer to Twitter and LinkedIn than Instagram and is popular for discussions and social news. 

New business announcements on social media examples:

Pressed™ announced a new store opening with a local Facebook event.

Pressed

Apple's iPhone 13 Pro YouTube announcement is a great social media launch example.

biom, a recently launched eco-friendly cleaning wipe brand, set the tone for its launch on Instagram by color-blocking its profile to create an even larger image. This creative approach turns simple images into compelling content, which is perfect for new businesses short on imagery.

biom

Graza, a fresh olive oil brand that features a squeezable bottle, announced their product going live on Instagram in a fun way that requires very little existing imagery. You can create graphics like this (even if you're not a graphic designer) using Canva or Visme.

Graza

AHA Sparkling Water celebrated the launch of new flavors with a branded filter on Snapchat  that chooses a random flavor for the selfie once the user sticks their tongue out.

AHA

On promotes their running shoes with a simple ad on Pinterest.

Pinterest

Rebrand announcement examples:

Upwork Rebrand

3. Consider running a social media ad campaign


Even if you create fantastic content and optimize it for each platform, getting the organic results you want can be challenging at first. Building up followers on a new account takes time. Running a paid social media campaign helps your posts reach more potential customers and increases brand awareness. Before setting up an ad campaign, decide what platform to use. After you've chosen a platform, you can figure out your budget, audience, and goal for the campaign.

Pro Tip: Create a couple of posts (if you haven't been posting regularly already) and fill your profile with organic content before running an ad.

If you're an established business and are launching a new product or rebrand, you'll want to choose your social media channel with the highest engagement (ideally conversions) to focus your budget on. Deciding which platform to run ads on as a brand-new business can be a little more challenging.

The cost of social media ads

Most ads can have a daily budget or a lifetime spend. You could choose to pay five dollars a day or $500 for the entire month. You get to set the price of social media ads based on your objective: impressions, conversions, clicks, leads, video views, or follows. You may decide to spend up to $0.50 per website click or set a max bid of $0.08 for a keyword. The flexible cost of social media ads is part of what makes them so appealing to businesses, especially new or smaller ones.

The best platforms to run ads on

Instagram

Instagram is an ideal platform for businesses looking to sell products and services directly to customers. You can also run the same ad on Facebook; your target demographic will determine which of these platforms (or both) is best for your business.

Because Instagram is a visual platform, you can create engaging graphics for your selected target audience. Choose to boost a post that's performing well or create a new picture or video for the ad. Set your audience or let Instagram automatically target individuals based on your profile.

TikTok

TikTok is a powerful ad platform built on videos, with a younger audience demographic. Video content is perfect for businesses with unique physical products that look great behind the lens in a short clip. Creating TikToks for service-based companies or more ordinary-looking products may be more difficult. If you have a trendy product and want to reach Millenials and Gen Z, Tiktok is an appealing option.

Facebook

While Facebook may initially be seen as a B2C platform, B2B companies can have great success because of its comprehensive audience targeting options. Facebook B2B ads emphasize quality over quantity. These ads may have a smaller reach, but you can narrowly target the type of businesses you want.

Facebook Ad Targeting

Part of what makes Facebook the leading platform for running social media ads is the different targeting options. When targeting an audience, you can make it as broad or narrow as you want. Choose your audience based on demographics and interests or create a lookalike audience based on your top customers.

If you’re launching a rebrand or a new product, the custom audience lets you target people who have already interacted with your brand. These custom audiences are more advanced but can make your ads highly targeted and effective. You can use email lists, CRM, and even the contact information you collect in-store to create your audience.

The Facebook Pixel tracks website visitors and the actions they take. Ads that use existing user data are called retargeting ads. These types of ads often have great results because they're shown to people who have already expressed interest, encouraging them to take action.

Pinterest

Businesses can create dynamic ads on the platform. Pinterest ads have similar retargeting features as Facebook if you have the Pinterest tag installed on your website. Because Pinterest also functions like a search engine for content, you can choose a new audience based on interests or keywords and establish a max bid.

YouTube

YouTube has a broad user audience and is another option for B2B and service-based business announcements. YouTube ads tend to be more like a commercial compared to a short and trendy TikTok.

Ad options:

Discovery ad. Appears at the top on the homepage.

In-stream ad. Shows before or during another video and can be skippable or not.

Pop-ups. Seen as a small text pop-up at the bottom of another video.

Youtube ad

LinkedIn

LinkedIn may be the best platform for B2B new business announcements or product launches but is not a likely choice for businesses looking to market directly to consumers. In addition to promoting specific posts like your press release or blog articles, LinkedIn offers unique ads that can be helpful for gaining B2B leads and visibility.

Dynamic Ads. These ads use the profile information of those you're targeting and create personalized ads. Ads may include the job title or name to attract their interest.

Sponsored messages. These ads go directly into your audience's inbox, facilitating one-on-one conversations, which is great for leads. This alternative to email marketing can feel more personal since it goes directly to their LinkedIn messages.

Creating an optimized ad on the right platform that maximizes your budget and content reach can be time-consuming. Many social media platforms have advanced options that let you narrowly target your audience and determine your budget. Still, unless you specialize in social media advertising, you may face a steep learning curve.

You want to make sure your budget stretches as far as it can and your ads are effective. Get help with exactly what you need and explore Social Media Advertising in Project Catalog. Find the right projects for everything from ad planning to analytics and tracking.

4. Make and execute a launch plan

As you start thinking about officially announcing your business on social media, coming up with a written launch plan can help you stay organized. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or have an entire team working with you, an official launch plan keeps everyone on the same page and lets you know what to work on next.

First: Define your goals

What does a successful announcement look like to you? Your goals will determine what metrics and analytics are the most important. The goal of your campaign could be user engagement, brand awareness, increased sales, or lead generation.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Where do you want your traffic to go? This could be your homepage, landing page, or products in-app
  • What do you want your audience to do? This is your call to action (CTA)

Second: Create a launch timeline

When announcing a new business or product on social media, you’re dealing with three critical times: before, during, and after the launch. The launch content you design should fit into one of these three categories:

  • Before. In the days and weeks leading up to the launch, you want to build hype and excitement. Keep your audience engaged with teasers and hints before the official launch. You want them to be on their toes, frequently checking your profile and anticipating the big news.
  • During. Be ready to engage with your audience and quickly respond to questions, comments, concerns, and messages to show that you're online and that you care.
  • After. Keep the ball rolling after the launch with continuously engaging content—like blog posts, articles, and customer testimonials—to keep your new followers interested.

Third: Choose your social media channels

Decide what social media channels you want to focus on for your new business announcement. You don't need to push content on every social media channel; creating customized content for your top platforms is better. Consider your target customer, and then figure out what platform targets them best.

Fourth: Create brand guidelines

Having a set of social media brand guidelines maintains consistency, especially when multiple people create content for a single brand. Your social media style guide should include

  • Brand voice: What does your brand sound like e.g. friendly, helpful, casual?
  • Caption lengths: How long will the captions be on each platform?
  • CTAs: What call to action will you use in posts?
  • Hashtags: What are the best hashtags for each platform?
  • Colors: What brand colors can be used in posts?
  • Fonts: What fonts will your brand use?
  • Templates: What will templates look like for different types of posts?

Fifth: Create and schedule engaging content

Posting on social media takes time, but you can create content in advance and either wait to post it on the day of or use a scheduling tool and plan for automatic sharing. Outline your content in a calendar and plan what type of content you want to post and when.

Types of launch content:

  • Build anticipation: Create teasers, coming soon, countdown
  • Giveaways: Host contests, freebies, coupon codes, discounts
  • Blogs: Create blogs and articles on your website and promote on social media
  • Ads: Pay to promote certain posts or run ad campaigns

Sixth: Engage with your audience

Once you announce your business on social media and start posting consistently, responding to comments, questions, and direct messages is important. A simple interaction on social media can turn into a positive brand experience and lead to a sale. Make sure you assign someone to have access to all of the social media accounts with notifications turned on so your team can respond as quickly as possible.

Helpful launch tools:

  • Canva: Make a brand kit with templates and create content for each social media platform
  • Hootsuite: Manage all of your social media platforms and schedule content in advance
  • Sprout Social: Respond to customers across different platforms and save their information through the CRM
  • CoSchedule: Create a marketing calendar and organize all of your different content
  • Loomly: Schedule posts in advance and collaborate as a team

If creating and implementing a social media launch plan seems too time-consuming, let a social media management expert lend a hand and do what they do best. You can get the help you need at any step in the process, whether you have a detailed plan ready for implementation or need assistance creating the plan first. Independent professionals on Upwork are highly specialized and passionate about what they do.

5. Track your results

Social media analytics allow you to track your results to see what's working and what isn't. While there are many best practices on social media and guidelines about what to post, figuring out the type of content your audience wants to see can require a lot of trial and error.

Each social media platform has its own analytics built in when you create a business account. Some platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and TikTok have tracking pixels that you can add to your website in its code for deeper and more accurate analytics. A Facebook pixel added to your checkout page will let you know if someone clicked on your ad, put an item in the cart, and then followed through to the checkout page.

Pro Tip: Social media analytics tools like Sprout Social and HubSpot let you see all your different platform analytics in one place. These tools are great for comparing platforms and content to see what is performing best.

Tracking timeline example

The metrics you focus on will change as you progress in announcing your new business on social media. You'll start by making sure as many people as possible see your content and then move towards conversions and actions.

Week 1: brand awareness

  • Reach: how many people saw your content
  • Impressions: how many times your content was seen (If impressions are higher than reach, people are watching your content multiple times)
  • Video views: how many views your videos are getting

Week 2: engagement

  • New followers: how many new followers
  • Interaction: how many comments, likes, shares, tags, and reactions (may vary from platform to platform)
  • Profile visits: number of people visiting your profile
  • Link clicks: number of clicks your link received
  • Response rate: how quickly you respond to messages on average

Month 1: conversions

  • Sales or leads: Did your posts lead to any actions? (adding a tag will increase accuracy)
  • Cost per click: How much are you spending per action on your ads?

Social media ads let you set your own budget, but it's up to you to monitor the analytics and make any adjustments. If you're running ads for the first time, you can try A/B testing and split your budget between two or more ads to see which performs better. You could try a video vs. an image, or use the same image in each post, then two different captions or calls to action. If you're running an ad that uses keywords, see which keywords are performing best and have the lowest cost and put your budget toward those.

Work with a social media expert for the best results

Social media is a powerful way to reach your future customers right where they are: on their phones. It's fast-paced, with new content constantly posted by users and brands every second of every day. Getting your posts seen by the right people requires engaging content along with the knowledge of each platform's algorithm and best practices. Unless it's your passion, creating and optimizing content for social media can be more than what you signed up for as a business owner. You've put in the hours bringing your business to life; let an independent social media expert make sure everyone knows about it.

If social media is your passion, find clients on Upwork looking for independent social media experts to help them launch their businesses on social media.

Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this article. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.

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Author Spotlight

How To Announce a New Business on Social Media in 5 Steps
Cassie Moorhead
Content Writer

Cassie is a storyteller and content creator with over eight years of experience helping brands communicate to their customers through different channels. She enjoys finding new coffee shops to work from and spending time in nature with her dog, Sweeney.

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