Entrepreneurship in Digital and Social Media Marketing

Photo source

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” These words from legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi, represent the determination of entrepreneurs everywhere. Entrepreneurs are doers, they get their ideas done. Entrepreneurs disrupt the market and business status quo by applying themselves to unique and ground-breaking ideas, often incurring significant risks to themselves in the process.

The introduction of the internet, e-commerce, the smartphone, and the invention of social media have disrupted the way business was always done and made the 21st century into a digital age. Entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg leveraged their entrepreneurial ideas to change the world through digital and social media. Follow along as we discover the entrepreneurial mindset and its impact on digital and social media marketing through challenges, innovation, growth, leveraging social media, and emerging trends.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset

The entrepreneurial mindset drives entrepreneurial success more than any one skill. The following are some of the key characteristics fostered by an entrepreneurial mindset, according to HubSpot and MIT.

Self-driven

Entrepreneurs do not exist without a self-drive that pushes them on. Entrepreneurs are solely responsible for their business’ success so they must push through challenges without any direction from others. This does not mean entrepreneurs must work alone, but their employees may never have the same motivation.

Adaptable

Also defined as flexibility, adaptability is crucial to making quick and effective decisions as an entrepreneur. Being adaptable means that entrepreneurs can embrace change and conquer challenges head-on. Entrepreneurs do not fear a sweeping tide of change they and their businesses may encounter when they willingly accept and seek to benefit from inevitable changes; instead, they focus on the mission.

Creative

Entrepreneurs think outside the box. Ideas that disrupt the mold of an industry must be different, or they will not succeed or stand out. Being different captures the target audience’s attention as strategic differences influence customer awareness.

Authentic

Authenticity is huge for entrepreneurs in the social media marketing industry. Entrepreneurs, especially influencers on social media, display their authentic selves for their target market to connect with them as a person and a brand, beyond the professional image they try and display.

Solutions-oriented

Problems can arise in nearly every circumstance. An entrepreneurial mindset is resilient, resourceful, and solutions-oriented — even when the conditions say otherwise. Entrepreneurs seek to solve problems, taking action to find a solution for and with others.

Anti-fragile and Tenacious

For entrepreneurs to keep moving forward, they must pick themselves up from failures. Fragile leaders are not doers, as they quit or get discouraged by critiques, missteps, and obstacles. They determine their minds and emotions to the work and preeminent mission of their company, tenaciously pushing on through challenges.

Navigating Challenges

Photo source

Average conforming business people see new ideas as dangerous, while entrepreneurs seek the sweet reward beyond challenges. The following are some common challenges entrepreneurs encounter when disrupting the mold, as listed by Forbes and Indeed.

Selecting a service or product

An entrepreneur might have tenacity, flexibility, creativity, and other facets of a positive mindset and skills, but they must decide what to sell. Entrepreneurs should lean into what they are passionate about, or identify a demand in their community they can meet. Entrepreneurs can conduct market research to understand their community's needs and meet them with their available resources.

Struggling without long-term strategic plans

Entrepreneurs grapple with the absence of long-term strategic plans, that cause uncertainty and fluctuating business trajectories. The absence of a clear roadmap can demotivate teams, impacting productivity and efficiency. To tackle this challenge, it's vital to establish clear, concise strategic plans, incorporate a SWOT analysis, and seek external advice when needed.

Lack of Profits

Entrepreneurs struggle with a lack of profitability stemming from ineffective sales strategies and undifferentiated offerings. This issue arises from failing to adapt to changing market demands and neglecting to create distinct products or services. To address this challenge, thorough market analysis, differentiated products, and modern sales techniques are recommended.

Expanding the business

After they successfully establish their business, entrepreneurs often want to expand into new ventures for greater success. This stage of managing a business entails challenges of accounting for greater demand, researching new opportunities for strategic partnerships, and reassessing their place in the company.

Maintaining confidence

After an initial success, entrepreneurial leaders may come upon hard times in their business. Nonetheless, an entrepreneur must maintain the confidence it takes to start their business to push forward and seek continued success.

Case Study

Photo source

Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, exemplifies resilience in entrepreneurship despite facing challenges. According to Business Insider, Donaldson began his YouTube journey at 13 years old in North Carolina and struggled to find the right content that YouTube viewers wanted. As a teenager, he experimented with various trends, including video games and discussing other YouTubers.

Donaldson's breakthrough came in 2017 with a video of him counting to 100,000, leading to his full-time commitment to YouTube as told by Newsweek. He funded his ventures through brand deals and employed childhood friends to execute ideas, showcasing his dedication and ability to push through obstacles. Now, at 25, he's one of YouTube's highest-paid creators.

The Role of Innovation

Entrepreneurship does not exist without innovation. Innovative practices in digital and social media marketing are especially important for market-disrupting entrepreneurs. Practices like collaborative innovation, data-driven decision-making, and customer-centric campaigns are the result of unconventional and innovative entrepreneurship in the digital space.

Collaborations create mini-strategic alliances between brands. These innovative short-term partnerships increase audience appeal and often offer unique limited-time products that generate buzz on social media. A great collaboration that incited incredible buzz on social media was Starbucks and Stanley’s team-up for a limited edition cup as reported by CNBC.

Data-driven decision-making is quickly becoming the standard among top businesses. According to a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives conducted by PwC featured by Harvard Business School, “highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data.” Effective entrepreneurs make educated decisions through data, not simply based on intuition and a vague understanding of their mission and business strategy. Data-driven results begin with market research, which is more accessible now than ever through social media and web analytics tools. Tools that track viewers, engagements, and reach of digital content, paired with features like A/B testing allow entrepreneurs to test and discover what works best for them.

Customer-centric campaigns are another innovation in marketing across digital platforms. Entrepreneurs and their businesses can put customers at the center of their promotional campaigns through social media. Competitions, giveaways, and posts with call-to-action features naturally create user-generated content. User-generated content strengthens brand reliability and accessibility, an incredible amplification of the once-limited word-of-mouth promotion.

Growth Strategies

Photo source

It is often said that in business, you are either growing or dying. Digital and social media marketing entrepreneurs create effective growth strategies that utilize scalability, customer acquisition, and long-term sustainability to survive in a turbulent business landscape.

Scalability

Scalability is the overarching goal of a growth strategy. Businesses have nowhere to go with their growth if they don’t scale effectively. Scalability starts with assessing the firm’s current market position and identifying potential growth opportunities, such as expanding product offerings and entering new markets. Entrepreneurs can also drive growth through strategic partnerships. Partnering with other firms can provide access to new markets, resources, and opportunities to gain customers.

Customer Acquisition

Entrepreneurs who desire to grow their businesses need new customers to do so. Therefore, acquiring new customers is a key driver of market scaling. Michael Weare recommends “implement targeted marketing campaigns across various channels such as social media, search engines, and email marketing to reach and engage your target audience.” Keeping current customers engaged and potential customers aware of your offerings fosters customer relationships more possible through digital means than ever before.

Long-term sustainability

When developing growth strategies, entrepreneurs need a vision with measurable objectives and milestones to understand where the business is and needs to be. Additionally, putting together a team of talented and knowledgeable workers is another important step in creating a sustainable growth strategy. Quality employees ensure further alignment of team goals and firm goals, that should stem from the overall mission and growth strategy.

Technology also empowers entrepreneurs to grow quickly and sustain it. Leveraging the technology of software focused on customer relationship management (CRM), automated repetitive tasks, and streamlined project management leads to improved efficiency and saving time and additional resources.

Leveraging Social Media Platforms

Photo source

The influx of social media platforms creates new opportunities for potential entrepreneurs to begin a business. Today, entrepreneurs can use social media platforms for growth, branding, and customer engagement.

Growth

According to a study from Smart Insights, as of 2024, there are 5.04 billion global social media users. Leveraging these platforms offers entrepreneurs access to a much larger audience beyond their local market. Rolling Stone highlights Theo Von, a stand-up comedian and entrepreneur who has experienced significant growth through social media. Von began the podcast, This Past Weekend, and saw short-form-video clips of his stand-up and hot takes increase attention and grow sales for his stand-up world tour.

Branding

Entrepreneurial marketers replicate their business’ tone of voice, image, iconography, and other branding assets from its day-to-day in-person operations on social media. According to a podcast from Founder’s Journal, Morning Brew, a business news organization targeting Millennials, founded by entrepreneurs Alex Lieberman and Austin Rief, has elevated the use of consistent branding. Morning Brew’s news stories, particularly its short-form video content, have a consistently serious but humorous style of delivery that resonates with its audience.

Customer Engagement

Social media has transformed customer engagement. Entrepreneurs can now speak directly to customers around the world, as a genuine personal connection beyond customer service. Entrepreneurs can also incentivize customers to generate content using their brand. An interview from Patricia Esswein of Kiplinger highlights Chris Ruder, the founder of Spikeball, and his team’s perfection of social media customer engagement. Spikeball’s roundnet game has gained worldwide popularity by implementing customers in its marketing. Through an insider club, customers are rewarded for playing Spikeball and promoting it on social media.

Ethical Considerations

Every decision that business leaders and entrepreneurs make has consequences. Entrepreneurs are known for taking risks and calculating greater rewards than negative consequences. Throughout these choices though, entrepreneurs must consider the ethics behind their choices. Entrepreneurs have to maintain integrity towards their employees and in their business practices.

Ethical treatment of employees contains several factors such as fair compensation, a safe work environment, legal compliance, and respectful behavior. Employees deserve to work for a fair wage in a safe place, that respects their skill and worth as a person. Businesses that meet these criteria have no issue with the law and foster a positive work culture that breeds success.

Ethical business practices cover a large scope of business operations. Most importantly, entrepreneurs must ethically purchase materials, obtain new customers, create products, manage supplier relationships, sell products, and promote their products. Poor ethics in these areas can occur when entrepreneurs cut corners to get cheaper materials, make unnecessary and unethical products, treat partners and workers harshly, or use sleazy sales techniques. Truly successful and industry-disrupting entrepreneurs work to comply with the law and create truly useful products and business models.

Emerging Trends

Some emerging trends that are shaping entrepreneurship in digital and social media marketing include the rise of social commerce, influencer marketing, social search, SMS text marketing, and short-form video.

Social Commerce

Recently, some product transactions are taking place directly on social media platforms. According to Osmos Cloud, this sales channel is becoming popular for its ability to reach large audiences, offer personalized shopping experiences, and track key performance indicators.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is growing on social media, where brands collaborate with online influencers (celebrities and opinion leaders) to promote their products or services. Osmos Cloud states that its advantages include reaching larger audiences quickly and benefiting from influencers' trusted endorsements.

Social Search

Social search is when consumers look for brands on social media instead of search engines. According to Martina Bretous of HubSpot, younger generations prefer visual-rich platforms like TikTok and Instagram, businesses leading businesses to optimize their accounts by including relevant keywords and hashtags, ensuring easy findability across accounts.

SMS Marketing

In SMS marketing, businesses connect with customers directly and effectively through text messages. According to Alaina Brandenburger of Constant Contact, this tactic is often alongside push notifications and email marketing. Customers receive short, short, personalized messages such as promotions and coupons directly to them, with the opportunity to opt out.

Short-form Video

Short-form video is a booming trend in social media marketing. Martina Bretous of HubSpot predicts this trend to continue growing in 2024 Gen Z and Millennials favor its format for learning about products, and 54% of marketers already use it.  33% plan to invest more in it than any other social media post format due to its effectiveness.

Personal Reflection

There are many new opportunities for individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit to jump into starting a business. The rise of social media and digital e-commerce has lowered barriers to entry by connecting and automating so many menial tasks. As a future business leader, I love the idea of starting my own business. Nonetheless, I am hesitant to act due to my heavy aversion to risk. Like many others, while the prospect of profitable business excites me, the fear of losses deters me from beginning a venture.

My research into the topic of entrepreneurship in digital and social media marketing challenges my view that only certain people can be entrepreneurs. While specific qualities make great entrepreneurs, particularly a willingness to make difficult and even risky business decisions, innovation is the biggest factor for success in entrepreneurship. Creating and committing to an innovative idea while holding some qualities of an entrepreneurial mindset is the start of a great business opportunity, whether or not I am completely prepared for every challenge.

References

Abbey, A. (2023, April 27). Theo Von Is Taking Over Your TikTok FYP. He’d Rather Not. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/theo-von-comedy-tiktok-1234711587/

Asarch, S. (2019, April 3). How YouTuber MrBeast pulled off a Real-Life battle royale in three weeks. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/mrbeast-youtube-interview-how-did-youtuber-make-money-battle-royale-airsoft-1383921

Brandenburger, A. (2023, November 14). Digital marketing trends that should be on your radar. Constant Contact. https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/digital-marketing-trends/

Bretous, M. (2024, March 18). 11 Social media trends Marketers Should watch in 2024. HubSpot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-predictions-2017

Chaffey, D. (2024, May 1). Global social media statistics research summary 2024. Smart Insights. https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/

Esswein, P. M. (2017, June 22). Small-business success story: Spikeball Inc. Kiplinger.com. https://www.kiplinger.com/article/business/t049-c000-s002-small-business-success-story-spikeball-inc.html

Founder’s Journal. (2023, January 3). Co-founders Austin Rief and Alex Lieberman on Building Morning Brew. https://foundersjournalpod.morningbrew.com/co-founders-austin-rief-and-alex-lieberman-on-building-morning-brew/

Fuchs, J. (2023, June 16). The Entrepreneur Mindset: How to unleash your potential. HubSpot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/entrepreneur-mindset

Indeed Editorial Team. (2022, November 30). 11 Challenges entrepreneurs face and how to overcome them. Indeed Career Guide. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/challenges-facing-entrepreneurship

Leskin, P., Varanasi, L., & Delouya, S. (2024, February 18). Who is MrBeast? Meet the 25-year-old YouTube star who’s famous for giving away millions of dollars to strangers and says he’s not rich. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/mrbeast-youtube-jimmy-donaldson-net-worth-life-career-challenges-teamtrees-2019-11#as-mrbeast-attempted-to-game-youtubes-algorithm-3

Osmos Cloud. (2023, October 25). The future of digital marketing: Emerging trends to watch. Osmos Cloud Blog | Sales Are Easier With Osmos CRM. https://www.osmoscloud.com/blog/the-future-of-digital-marketing-emerging-trends/

Rodriguez, J. L. G. (2023, August 30). Common problems entrepreneurs face, and how to solve them: Part one. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2023/08/29/common-problems-entrepreneurs-face-and-how-to-solve-them-part-one/?sh=5c9761985d2f

Somers, M. (2022, November 23). 3 Traits of an entrepreneurial mindset. MIT Sloan. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/3-traits-entrepreneurial-mindset

Vega, N. (2024, January 5). The limited edition Stanley x Starbucks Quencher is now selling for hundreds on eBay. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/05/the-stanley-x-starbucks-quencher-is-now-selling-for-hundreds-on-ebay.html

Vince Lombardi quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/vince_lombardi_125250

Weare, M. (2024, March 28). Scaling your digital business: Strategies for growth | LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scaling-your-digital-business-strategies-growth-michael-weare-wj4de/