11 Social Media Automation Business Success Stories [2024]
Here are some real life success stories of starting a social media automation business:
1. MeetEdgar ($4M/year)
Laura Roeder, the founder of MeetEdgar, came up with the idea for her social media automation tool after realizing the burden of managing social media accounts and creating new content across multiple platforms. With her background in teaching social media marketing and her own online course business, she saw the need for a tool that could handle the grunt work of social media management. By validating the idea through her course, she decided to create MeetEdgar and launched the software in 2014.
How much they make: $4M/year
Current team size: 11
MeetEdgar, a bootstrapped social media automation tool founded in 2014 by Laura Roeder, has grown to $4 million in annual recurring revenue and more than 5,000 customers, with a team size of two dozen, achieved through content marketing, social media marketing, and organic search.
2. Needls ($3M/year)
Justin Hartzman and his co-founders came up with the idea for their business, Needls Media, when they realized that people were asking for things on social media. They developed a script that would monitor Facebook for keywords and alert them to potential clients. After achieving sales of 300 times in the first quarter, they knew they had a winning concept that solved the challenges faced by small businesses in social media advertising, leading to their current success as the Internet's first Robo ad agency.
How much they make: $3M/year
Current team size: 11
Needls Media is the first-ever robo ad agency, using AI and data science to automate social media advertising and generating $1.7 million in revenue in their first year.
So... can you actually make money with a social media automation business?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
3. OneUp ($1.2M/year)
Davis Baer, the co-founder of OneUp, came up with the idea for the social media scheduling tool after experiencing the dissatisfaction and boredom of working in the corporate finance world. He wanted to create a tool that would automate time-consuming tasks and help businesses increase visibility on social media. Baer used unorthodox marketing techniques, such as creating a spreadsheet comparing 90 different scheduling tools, to attract and retain customers.
How much they make: $1.2M/year
Current team size: 4
OneUp is a social media scheduling tool that helps businesses make more money by automating time-consuming tasks, allowing you to schedule Google My Business, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts, with the unique feature of allowing for posts to be set on repeat automatically.
4. Instoo ($360K/year)
Rohan Arun, the Founder of Instoo, came up with the idea for his social automation service after writing a viral article in 2017 about building Instagram bot farms. The article gained a lot of traction and ranked #1 on Google, giving him insight into the automation market. Inspired by this, he launched Instoo to automate business growth on social platforms, which now has thousands of global active users and generates an average monthly revenue of $30,000.
How much they make: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 3
Instoo Founder Rohan Arun raised $3.9 million through his previous startups before launching Instoo, which now has thousands of global active users and generates $30,000 in average monthly revenue through its social automation service.
So... can you actually make money with a social media automation business?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
5. LinkHelp ($48K/year)
a risk-free way to try out LinkHelp and see if it meets their needs.
Referral Program We have implemented a referral program that rewards customers for referring others to our platform. This has helped us in acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones through word-of-mouth marketing.
Customer Support We prioritize excellent customer support and provide timely responses to any queries or issues our customers may have. This level of support helps us in building trust and loyalty with our customer base.
Continuous Product Improvements We constantly listen to customer feedback and make regular updates and additions to our product based on their needs and suggestions. This helps us in providing a better user experience and retaining customers.
In terms of marketing, what has been your most successful strategy? Our most successful marketing strategy has been content marketing. We create and share valuable content through our blog and social media channels, focusing on topics that are relevant to our target audience such as LinkedIn lead generation, networking tips, and business growth strategies.
This strategy has helped us in establishing ourselves as a thought leader in our industry and attracting organic traffic to our website. It also helps in building brand awareness and credibility among our target audience.
Additionally, we have also leveraged partnerships and collaborations with industry influencers and experts to reach a wider audience and increase our brand visibility.
What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced and obstacles you've overcome? One of the biggest challenges we faced was building credibility and trust in a competitive market. As a relatively new player in the LinkedIn lead generation space, we had to prove ourselves to potential customers and differentiate ourselves from established competitors.
To overcome this challenge, we focused on providing exceptional customer support, consistently delivering a high-quality product, and leveraging customer testimonials and case studies to showcase the positive impact LinkHelp has had on businesses. Building a strong online presence and actively engaging with our community on social media also helped in building trust and credibility.
Another challenge we faced was acquiring customers without a large marketing budget. We had to be creative in our marketing efforts and leverage cost-effective strategies such as content marketing, referral programs, and partnerships to attract and retain customers.
Overall, we have learned that perseverance, adaptability, and constantly listening to customer feedback are key to overcoming challenges and growing a successful business.
What advice do you have for aspiring founders who want to build their own business? My advice for aspiring founders is to always focus on solving a real pain point or problem for your target audience. Understand their needs and challenges and create a product or service that provides a valuable solution.
Additionally, surround yourself with a strong team that shares your passion and vision. Building a business is not a solo journey and having a team with complementary skills and expertise can greatly contribute to your success.
Don't be afraid to start small and iterate as you go. Test your ideas, gather feedback, and continuously improve your product or service based on customer needs.
Lastly, be prepared for challenges and setbacks along the way. Building a business is not easy, but with perseverance, determination, and a willingness to learn and adapt, you can overcome obstacles and achieve your goals.
How much they make: $48K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
Current team size: 3
LinkedIn lead generation and relationship-building tool, LinkHelp, used by entrepreneurs and small-to-medium businesses across different industries in more than 90 countries, boasts a diverse user base and an ARR of $50k, with a pricing model that's economical compared to competitors.
6. Tweet Hunter ($2.64M/year)
These two founders worked on launching a product every month. And every time, the tech co-founder brought in a few early sales because he had a small but high-quality audience on Twitter. The marketing founder tried too, but failed.
At the time, they had built up a database containing thousands of tweets that they were using for another product. So he thought he could maybe use the best-performing content as inspiration for his own tweets.
The tech co-founder made a very quick prototype, and… it worked! Writing became better and quicker, and he achieved a higher engagement.
That was the first version of Tweet Hunter: a searchable library of high-performing tweets.
How much they make: $2.64M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 0
French co-founder of all-in-one Twitter tool, Tweet Hunter, discusses how his personal marketing experience and passion for solving his own problems led to their successful launch and current $60,000 MRR in under 10 months.
So... can you actually make money with a social media automation business?
Of course. There are millions to be made in this industry.
But how?
- Research real, profitable businesses and see exactly how much money they make.
- Study exactly what works, and what doesn’t.
- Take action, because now you have the roadmap.
Join Starter Story and build your next big thing:
7. FlowChat ($1.2M/year)
How much they make: $1.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
Current team size: 14
- 4,818 founder case studies
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- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
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- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings
