In this fast-paced modernization era, entrepreneurs must adapt to the ever-evolving technological perks for their venture to remain relevant and gain traction. Social media marketing through influencer marketing, advertising on Facebook and LinkedIn has enabled businesses to attain optimal visibility, increase lead and sales, and expand their outreach.

There are more opportunities for businesses to build their community, enhance their brand, and communicate with their target audience. This is especially true through social audio, an emerging digital tool in the current golden age. 

Social audio is relatively new and yet a powerhouse in the marketing realm. Presumably a fad after its launch amid the pandemic, the phenomenon has surpassed expectations. For instance, social audio pioneer Clubhouse advanced from a promising startup to a multi-billion dollar valued company within a year. 

The popularity of social audio has since continued to soar. This trend continues to grow as millions of people come together on platforms such as Spotify, Reddit, Discord, etc. Moreover, powerful platforms such as Twitter have introduced an audio space, Twitter Spaces. Undoubtedly, social audio is the next big thing and the future of marketing. 

So, is the latest social media innovation an ideal fit for your startup? And importantly, how can you leverage social audio to propel your venture to the next stage? 

What is social audio? 

As the name implies, social audio integrates social media into an audio experience. As a result, individuals can connect and share their thoughts throughout the listening experience through social audio regardless of their locale. 

It’s somewhat similar to a group voice call. In addition, unlike podcasts, which are a one-way broadcast medium and aren’t live, social audio is real-time audio that enables listeners to participate in a dialogue actively. It operates on a similar principle to podcasts, only that it’s better since audiences can chime in and share thoughts. 

Another attributing cause to the success and popularity of audio-based social media that makes it a potent marketing tool is that it offers a depth of contextual understanding unavailable through texts. The human voice is thorough and engaging. Also, unlike virtual web conferencing tools such as Zoom, where users have to be wary of their appearance and background, social audio offers the perfect blend for individuals to connect. 

How to use audio social media for your start-up

Unfortunately, investing your brand-building time into a new social media platform can be pretty overwhelming, and to a greater extent, if it’s a state of the work concept like social audio. 

So, how can your startup leverage audio social media for optimal results? 

1. Opt for one

As highlighted, there are several audio social media platforms such as Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, Instagram, Facebook Live Rooms, etc. This number continues to skyrocket. When starting, settle for just one platform to help you reach your target audience. Even better, if you have an amped-up following on any media compatible with social audio (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram), it would be best to focus your efforts on them instead of starting from scratch on another medium. 

2. Be consistent

Akin to any social media marketing strategy, consistency is paramount when building an engagement strategy. Therefore, be uniform in the timing, regularity, and the message you rely on your followers. Share insights, advice, and your journey as an entrepreneur. 

Also, you can schedule panel discussions whereby you invite experts to discuss impactful topics in your industry. For example, clubhouse broke the internet when they hosted Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg, contributing to their prodigious success. 

3. Amplify customer voices

Fostering collaborations with your clientele is ideal for collecting feedback, responding to customers’ queries, and enhancing your startup’s customer experience. Social audio makes it practical to listen to your target audience, clarify their concerning issues, and collect relevant feedback. Therefore, dedicate time to catalog and interpret voice memos and understand what they mean to gain an upper edge against your competitors. 

4. Make some noise

Hosting an abrupt audio space, your followers know nothing about will receive minimal or no attention. Therefore, make some noise to alert the target audience of your presence on social audio and a scheduled space. Have influencers talk about how they are eager to join your upcoming audio room. Also, advertise your sessions through email to your newsletter subscribers informing them how to find your channel and that you are looking forward to their engagements. 

5. Set objectives, measures, and iterate

Unfortunately, most social audio platforms aren’t yet integrable with measurement tools. As such, it’s vital to measure your efforts, set goals and analyze the effectiveness of your live sessions. Track key metrics such as the number of people you intend on reaching and how your followers’ number changes after every session. Monitor engagements during live sessions and note the number of people who stay for the broadcast session, how many leave, and when. Importantly, are there any trends, and how can you maximize the reception?

How social audio can boost your Startup

Social audio offers the perfect strategy to personalize the customer experience. It provides conversational marketing that enables you to build relationships with your target audience and enhance your startup’s credibility. Other benefits of audio in your startup’s social media marketing are: 

1. You can reach a global audience. Social audio’s organic reach is high, making it an ideal medium to reach vast audiences. 
2. Social audio offers enhanced bandwidth communication. As already outlined, it’s the perfect medium that allows users to express emotions you wouldn’t be able to through texts or blogs, without the downsides of videos. 
3. Not many organizations have capitalized on social audio since it’s a relatively new concept. As such, the competition isn’t stiff, and yet, the audience interest is high. This could be a life-changer for your startup, giving it an upper edge over your competitors and the chance to be your market’s leader for years.  
4. The ability to interact with your target audience allows you to receive feedback that improves your products/services immensely.
5. Ads haven’t yet infiltrated social audio. YouTube and other platforms have several ads between and during videos, making it challenging for consumers to focus on content. On the contrary, since social audio is relatively new, there isn’t ad saturation yet. Therefore, you can capture your audience’s attention without unwanted disruptions. 

Final Thought

Social audio enables your target audience to connect with your brand’s voice. Therefore, it’s paramount to take caution on how you communicate since a wrong utterance can be detrimental to your startup’s health. Appointing professionals to take control of the live sessions will go a long way in ensuring the success of your marketing game. 

All in all, social audio is the next big thing, and it’s only reasonable for your startup to capitalize on this potential wave to propel it to scalable heights.