Love your competitors? You might think I’ve got a screw loose, as this doesn’t sound like the mantra ambitious startups need to become market leaders.

But hear me out, it’s not as absurd as it sounds.

Instead of spending your time obsessing over competing businesses doing better than your company, take the time to analyze what exactly they’re doing right. Once you’ve identified that, you’ll find the space and the methods for your own business to grow and prosper.

And how do I know? Because that’s exactly what happened to me.

Flashback to the early days

First, let’s take a walk down memory lane. Truth be told, I haven’t always believed in ‘loving’ my competitors. Putting my business on the map was a grueling learning process, a tale of high ambitions, long working hours, good faith, broken trust, and even envy of other successful businesses — well, yeah, I’m only human.

When Tara Kaboli and I co-founded Wesual in 2018, we’d been working several years as freelance architecture photographers for local real estate agencies, and companies such as Airbnb.

At one point, I found I had more work coming in than I could execute myself, and that’s when I decided to launch a platform that could connect businesses with the right professionals who could provide photography and videography services in their region.

In this business model, Wesual would be the middleman, connecting the parties and guaranteeing quality output through an in-house team of post-production experts.

(Spoiler alert: we’re doing great now, with plans to expand to several European countries, a solid investor base, and growing numbers that reflect the hard work we put in.)

S elf-made founders

In the early days though, all we had was an idea and the drive to make things happen. We had no prior business experience or know-how around what it took to launch a startup.

There were no external investors, which led to continuous cash flow challenges. We were photographing during the day, and doing post-production — on other photographers’ work for Wesual clients — at night. It was downright crazy!

Sure, there was a romantic feel to it, but was it sustainable? No, not in the slightest.

Turning things around

After a while, we decided it was time to leave that way of working behind and professionalize by entering an acceleration program. Through that acceleration process, we learned what we needed to turn Wesual into a prospering startup company.

We learned to delegate and keep an overview of the business. We learned to form a multi-expertise team around us, and to validate ideas and strategies in-house. We learned to develop a strategy for the future and stick to it.

Dive into your ‘blue ocean’

One of the biggest challenges for us was realizing that the market needs competitors. They helped us find our blue ocean — the market segment Wesual could focus on to grow.

By identifying and analyzing the strategies implemented by other businesses, we were able to assess market interests in segments already tested by our competitors. It helped us to develop a successful go-to-market strategy for our own company.

Embrace the competition (and 2 other key takeaways)

I guess the bottom line is: don’t see successful challengers in your industry as obstacles on your way to success. Learn from them and tailor your strategy accordingly. Analyze their lessons learned and take an agile approach to incorporate them into your business plan.

Oh, and make sure to gather a team of specialists to bridge gaps in your own skillset. It will help you to grow faster and develop a better product. Don’t do everything by yourself, but learn to delegate. And if you can’t find the right expertise in-house, make sure to seek it out there — through an acceleration program, for example.

It’s the only way you and your co-founders will learn to stop doing everything yourselves and create a team that can grow a successful business. And don’t forget to love your competitors! If you look closely, they’ve done quite a lot of groundwork for you.

Automating your social media posts could hurt your startup’s online presence

It’s the 21st century and automation sits on the brim of just about everything in business — customer service, development, and of course, marketing.

But is more automation always a good thing?

Social media automation helps social media managers be more efficient in their job. You can bulk-schedule your content. You can cross-post quickly and easily. With a bit of code, you can probably do a whole lot more.

But while you can do all this, it is important to avoid overreliance on automation tools.

If you want to grow on social media, your strategy cannot simply consist of creating content, scheduling them in as posts, and then forgetting all about them. Without human involvement, you’ll miss out on various critical aspects of social media, because automation couldn’t help you there.

Let’s dig deeper into a few of them.

1. Automation won’t help you make use of precious real estate

Cross-posting is a popular feature on social tools that allows you to quickly post (or schedule) the same content across a bunch of different platforms. You write one thing, and it can go out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook all at once.

The problem with cross-posting is this: every social platform has its own little nuances that make creating content for each of them a slightly different challenge.

Most importantly, they have different cut-off points or “preview” windows for the captions you write. Check out this comparison of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram:

These few lines or words that show up by default is prime real estate. It is your first and foremost chance to grab a passing reader’s attention! But because this space varies, the exact same couple of lines may look different when posted across different platforms.

On Facebook, it may be attention-grabbing enough, but on Instagram, where only the first two lines or so are revealed, it may not. Consequently, your content may attract people on some platforms, but not on others.

Other than the precious attention-grabber “real estate,” each platform’s caption character limit and recommended length also differ:

While you may not always write to fill up the whole character limit, the ideal length of a social media post is still something worthy to take note of when creating content.

By relying on cross-posting, you’re missing the chance to attract as many people as you can. Don’t let it do that to the content you’ve put lots of time and effort into creating. Personalize and optimize each social media post for each social media platform as much as you can.

2. Automation perpetuates human error

Here are some other ways relying on automation can jeopardize your posts, based on how platforms differ:

Links

Instagram is notorious for not having clickable links in their captions. Hence, you’d want to remember to put Link in bio on your Instagram post caption to direct your viewers to your content, instead of cross-posting something like Check it out here: [link] everywhere.

Also, remember to manually update that link in your bio if you’re not paying for something like a link tree.

Usernames

More often than not, the same account’s username varies slightly across different platforms. By cross-posting everything, you risk not tagging some of the people you meant to on certain platforms.

Directly involving others in your social posts is one of the most surefire ways to get noticed. Make sure you do it right!

Hashtag best practices

It’s easy to assume that hashtags are well encouraged across all social media platforms. But research from Hootsuite and Buffer shows that the optimal number of hashtags to use actually varies for each platform.

What might be the most interesting to note is that on Twitter, engagement drops by 17% for tweets with more than two hashtags.

And on Facebook, posts without hashtags actually fare better!

You might also think that you know the most popular hashtags for your topic, but are you sure they the same across all platforms? Instead of blindly cross-posting the same text everywhere, do some research to find out the best mix of hashtags to optimize visibility across all channels.

As a quick rule of thumb, it’s good to use a mix of semi-popular hashtags (more) and mega-popular ones (less) to boost visibility.

Format and features

The format and features of posts from platform to platform also differ slightly.

On Twitter, you can create polls, Moments, and threads — all of which can only be done organically. On LinkedIn, you can publish articles. Currently, none of the existing social media tools support scheduling these forms of content. So if you rely on scheduling, you are actually limiting the types of content you produce.

There are also different optimal media dimensions, file sizes, and video length limits across platforms. If you cross-post and just use one image size, your social media tool will proceed to upload it as long as it fits. The result? Your content is paired with an ill-fitting image. And as it is a well-known fact that multimedia posts get more engagement, it’s worth getting your visuals right.

Post relevancy

If your social media strategy relies on scheduling posts in advance, you’re going to miss out on real-world events and trending topics that happen as they do. Arby’s social media team probably knew that when they tweeted Pharrell during the Grammys (and got a reply!):

You might also risk posting things that are no longer relevant or correct if you forget to go back into your social media scheduler to edit them.

All the social media tools I’ve worked with (Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Later— to name a few) do not filter out these types of human mistakes. Of course, you can schedule some posts. But to fully optimize your content, posting organically is still required.

3. Automation also does not produce engagement

A Sprout Social study found that social media users expect quite a lot out of a brand. They want brands to be honest, funny, friendly, and helpful, to name a few. As Neil Patel puts it, they want something real.

Today, users want real interactions with real people that form real connections . They know when it’s a Twitter bot, and they don’t want that.

This means that it is crucial for you, a human, to engage on social media. Other than giving your audience what they want, engagement also comes back to help you. It is what pumps up your post, shows it to more people, and keeps the content alive on feeds and timelines longer.

How will automation help you here?

Social listening may help you keep track of engagement better — including those not directly tagging you — but other than that, it’s up to you to roll up your sleeves and actually get your hands dirty in the social media world.

You can’t just rely on bulk scheduling content and leave it at that.

You need to come back on the platform and use your human wits to engage back with users in a way that feels authentic. After all, it’s what users want.

Fast food queen Wendy’s knows how to do this best:

Wendy’s being Wendy’s on Twitter

And here’s them just replying back all day:

It’s literally somebody’s full-time job.

Wendy’s isn’t even the only one. Elon Musk is pretty good at keeping things real, too:

Now you might be thinking, you don’t even get that much engagement, so what’s there to reply to anyway? You’re not Wendy’s. Scheduling posts and leaving them is fine because you’re not missing out on anything anyway.

The answer to that is: are you planning to stay that way?

Because here’s another thing automation won’t do for you.

4. Automation will not open up opportunities

Starting off, Wendy’s-level engagement may seem like a distant dream. However, it is definitely not impossible.

If you’re not getting any engagement, consider if it may be the time you tried making the first move.

Make friends on social. Show your work to others who you think would enjoy them. Social is social — it’s not meant to be conquered alone.

Tactfully promote your works in conversations, comments, and other avenues that you see fit.

Join Twitter threads, comment on LinkedIn posts, and maybe try to get a leg up by writing for a relevant Medium publication that has more readers first. Just make sure that whatever you’re saying adds value.

Second, you need to do some research. For example, look up the keywords you are targeting. Are you using the terms people search for?

Go through what other players in your industry are doing. Study what other “successful” social media personalities are doing, and think of how you can tailor it for your own company. Take on Reddit and search up relevant threads. Get the opinion of your colleagues, or take your research a step further and ask your customers.

Research should be the foundation of your social strategy. You can’t just assume what you’re doing right, or wrong, or ways you can improve, you need to know.

By doing this, you might get ideas on how to improve your content, copy, and cadence. You might find people you could potentially collaborate with. You’ll get both inspiration and lessons, and you’ll gain something new.

So if your social strategy is simply on the automation tool level, you risk letting your low engagement stay that way. You’ll miss out on finding new opportunities gained by making friends and doing research — which have to be done by you.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying “Drop all your social media automation tools now.”

They do help speed up work. What I’m saying is don’t rely on it. Simply cross-posting, bulk-scheduling, and then forgetting about your posts is not enough. You still need to put in the time to use and learn social media organically.

So know what to automate, but realize that you yourself also need to get involved. Overreliance on these tools takes away the time-tested success formula to social media — being social as humans.

This article was originally written by Tricia Aurelline Atmadja for Better Marketing , a publication providing advice that works and covering digital and social media marketing, tools, and case studies. You can read the original piece here .

How to generate buzz in a buzzless industry

One of the toughest challenges young startups face is getting the buzz they need to generate media attention, user interest, and VC backing. Even if you know your solution is set to change the world in some way, trying to generate a buzz can sometimes feel like shouting in the middle of Times Square during rush hour.

Now, what if your solution is so niche, that only a small portion of the population will ever use it? Add to that solutions that are so heavy in scientific research that only someone with a PhD understands how they work.

Sound familiar? Not to worry.

We scoured X-Europe ’s startup accelerator program to find the best examples of startups that, despite the challenge of having an extremely niche solution, are finding ways to get the attention they need.

In the end, we spoke with one poultry sex reassignment startup, one data analysis company specialized in crop science and metagenomics, and one smart beehive maker. It can’t get any more niche than that.

Here’s what they had to say:

Focus on the wider impact your industry has on society

No matter what industry you’re working in, there will always be something that makes it interesting for a wider audience. Your best bet is to look at the big picture. How do developments within your industry impact people in their daily lives? How do they impact the causes or issues they care about?

With a very specific customer base (farmers, governments, and others working in the agricultural sector), AgriTech hasn’t always been the sexiest industry. The potentially low public interest and readership levels meant that, in the past, journalists weren’t necessarily clamoring to cover new industry developments.

Computomics , a data analysis company that offers custom services for next-gen sequencing projects from crop science to metagenomics, knows this all too well.

But as Managing Director, Dr. Sebastian J. Schultheiss, told Growth Quarters, growing public consciousness about the effects of climate change, food security, and the conversation around sustainability have completely changed this perception.

Simplify complex solutions by focusing on added value

Now imagine that you’re not only operating in a niche sector but also have a niche solution within that sector.

For Yael Alter, CEO of egg sex determination startup Soos , this was a big challenge.

“There are difficulties in growing while associated with the AgriTech sector. Solutions are complex and heavily dependent on science which requires intense research and the industry demands a 100% complete product before going to market,” Alter explains.

“In addition, these solutions are usually restricted with heavy regulation and require mass amounts of capital to fund. The biggest difficulty is being in the livestock sector, as the number of investors interested in animal husbandry is substantially lower.”

Soos’ groundbreaking technology makes it possible to determine and change the sex of eggs before they hatch. But why should anybody not working in the poultry industry care about such a niche and technically complex solution?

Alter laid it out in a way that’s straightforward, easy to understand, and easy to remember.

“We manage to get people excited about our product via the noticeable benefits our solution provides. Here is an example of a term we coined, ‘The 4 P‘s’, showing our added value:”

Poultry – Our solution has an obvious animal welfare benefit which is saving male chicks from culling. Every year, 7.5 billion male chicks are killed just after hatching.

Planet – Today, the industry expends many resources such as electricity, water, feed, etc., that are wasted due to the production of male chicks. With our technology, these resources won’t be used in vain due to the production of more female chicks.

People – With a growing population and nutritional security a rising issue, our solution will be able to increase egg supply, thus providing a valuable source of protein, especially in developing countries. The human population is estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050 and it is our duty to plan ahead for sustainable production and nutritional security for the next generation.

Profit – The egg market is currently marked at $220 billion. The male-chick culling practice is the industry’s largest pain point as they have a 50% capacity loss and additional expenses that are associated with the culling and regulation. Our solution can provide an estimated $1.5-$2 of added value for every male that is altered to a functional female. This means that our solution can add up to $15 billion of value.

Consider how your product advances a particular tech sector

Of course, not every solution will have such a clear and direct social impact. Instead, consider how your product fits within the current tech trends. As Schultheiss explained:

Alter agreed:

Choose the right outlets

Consider what your goals are. While making it into a top-tier publication may seem glamorous, if your goal is lead generation, reaching a global audience may not be worth the effort.

“We’ve found that staying true to your niche is very important,” Alter tells Growth Quarters. “You would be surprised by how specific some niche outlets can be. The specificity doesn’t stop just at agriculture or even livestock, but we have various poultry/chicken media outlets and conferences/events. This allows us to reach our consumers without having to go after very general events/outlets.”

“With that being said, we still believe that you need to spread your efforts to reach a more general audience. While looking for poultry farms to adopt your solution, a niche poultry magazine would probably be your best bet, but not so much if you’re looking for investment for example. Our PR and Business Development team try to find the right balance of effort allocation between niche and non-niche outlets,” says Alter.

Soos itself has been able to get coverage in both Poultry World and The Guardian. Alter shared that the key is knowing what types of stories to pitch to different publications. While the readers of Poultry World may want the nitty-gritty details behind their solution, a wider audience will be more interested in the impact it has:

Focus on your community

But is spending time in gaining media attention really worth the effort for niche startups?

Ru Wikmann, CEO of BeeSage , isn’t so sure. When he met his co-founder, Girts Kagis, (whose father is a beekeeper) and their advisor, Janis Kronbergs (an avid beekeeper himself), at an IoT hackathon, it was fate. Wikmann and Kagis soon created Beesage, a company that’s developed smart beehive scales to better monitor and maximize honey production, was born.

While Wikmann admitted that press can help with things like word of mouth, SEO, and positioning, he explained:

Get networking

While gaining media attention may not be a priority for every niche business, attracting investment is.

“Very few investors understand hardware and they often regard it as being riskier,” Wikmann explains. “What helped us get the initial funds for starting were some accelerators suited for our overlapping micro-niches, namely, EIT Climate-KIC and Buildit. X-Europe has been a great program too in many aspects.”

Both Computomics and Soos have also greatly benefited from joining accelerator programs and startup competitions. In fact, Soos’ first international pilot was mediated through an accelerator and, in 2020, they won a $1 million investment at the Grow-NY competition.

Computomics has made the most out of the EU’s various funding opportunities by participating in grant proposals and partnering up with research bodies, universities, and other industry players to apply for joint grant applications.

Another great way of creating visibility is by joining business networks. Computomics, for example, is a member of the University of Hohenheim’s CANNABIS-NET, CyberValley, and the International Seed Federation (ISF).

The one golden rule for generating buzz

If after this list you’re still having trouble finding the right channels, not to worry. Sometimes the best strategy to generate external attention is simply taking a deeper look internally. As Wikmann explained: