We're a start up procurement business targeting corporates for print spend and the like - without much of a Social Media budget! Any tips on how to increase our exposure quickly - and cheaply!? Heard people saying we can 'buy' followers, but not so sure about that.

Don’t buy followers – they won’t be worth anything to you because they won’t care about your business.

One tip can be to set up a Twitter Search for keywords relevant to your business, and follow everyone who talks about those topics on Twitter. Some of them will follow you back, and if you live up to your promise and tweet about things they care about, you will be well on your way to building a robust Twitter channel.

Founders who are talking

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We have a great product but we're struggling with how to brand ourselves - including how to come up with a name! Any suggestions on how to approach this?

Answered by Jen Evans – Founder, Sequentia Environics

Oh, the great naming deb ate ... I'm of two minds about names. The first is that the name itself isn't the thing that matters, it's how you promote and build a brand around... (more)

How did you find Kevin Rose (or vice versa)? You guys seem to have built a great relationship that has turned into a lot of business success. Any tips on how to find that s...

Answered by Daniel Burka – Co-founder of Pownce and Milk.

Kevin actually hired silverorange to work on Digg, very near the beginning of Digg's existence. I lead the design project, which was successful. So, we continued working to... (more)

We've been gaining considerable traction over the last 3 years, but have been struggling with how to effectively (and consistently) monetize. Any tips on how to monetize a...

Answered by Benjamin Yoskovitz – Partner, Year One Labs

I don't know enough to really say. If it's a niche around a category (dogs for example) there may be very specific advertising or sponsorship opportunities. Affiliate sales... (more)

Hi Tim, I have a new startup with a friend doing software development. Contemplated forming an LLC but to keep costs down (we're located in CA with an $800/yr min franchis...

Answered by Tim Berry – Founder of Palo Alto Software

The first step is to shop around for an attorney yu can trust, with real world experience, who has a good answer to this question. The right answer is a series of follow-... (more)

I am trying to get my web product into customers hands and am wondering about limited time trials or limited functionality etc Do you have any insight on how to give people...

Answered by Tim Berry – Founder of Palo Alto Software

This changes so fast, as the market changes, that it's hard to predict. There was a time when system software and utilities had a lot of success with free trials, while exp... (more)

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