Creating public interest about startup companies is important to the success of a new business according to Devin Graham, a former BYU-Hawaii student and famed YouTuber known as Devin Super Tramp. Starting with a simple advertisement and now having millions of subscribers on YouTube, he said, “Embrace all platforms: Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook.”
According to Graham, in order to generate sales to your newly owned business, you have to let people know that their partnership is welcomed. Graham added, “Your peers are not your competitors, they are there to help you. Together you can do so much more than you could do alone.” Graham said involvement of assumed “competition” can actually provide a boost to your company’s voice.
Although Graham’s advice is to use every platform possible, Corey Blake, a digital marketing professor at BYUH and digital marketer for MWI, a business that helps companies market their service or product, advised, “Narrow it down. Choose a medium that will yield the best growth, and then use social media to push that [growth].”
Blake mentioned using blogs, websites, and channels to initiate a base for your company, and then let social media be a way to advertise your original site. Blake added, “It depends on the product or service that [you’re] trying to put out there,” but “a basic rule of thumb is content is king.”
According to Blake, no matter what your startup company is providing for its customers, it is important that your content is in style and includes information that is important to the sales of your product or service.
Brandon Turner, a VIP contributor to Entrepreneur Blog, wrote in a blog post, “Don't start something you won't want to do in five years. Because if you are successful, you'll still be doing this in five years.” In agreement with Turner, Blake said, “The first thing to ask is, ‘What’s the purpose? Why am I doing this?’”
According to Blake, you have to know your goals with the company you create. “It might be that ‘I'm doing it for me,’and if that’s your purpose, who cares about the revenue or platforms. If your purpose is to make money and to monetize [your business], then I would take a hard look at what it is that you’re trying to sell. I’m a big believer in looking what other people are doing and validating your purpose, and then mirroring that and making it better.”
Stephanie Burns, a contributor to Forbes, reported, “For every good idea you have, there are hundreds of people out there who have the exact same idea.”
Graham, who started with a simple advertisement that went viral and got millions of views, shared his advice to anyone just beginning: “Put yourself out there, and the opportunities will start happening.”
Writer: Hannah Jones