So you have a terrific product and you’re all set to bring it to market. There’s just one problem: Your buyer has no idea it’s coming. This problem is nothing new; every product since the dawn of time (all right, since the dawn of marketing) has been launched in much the same way: by getting the word out via advertising.
The Internet has afforded marketers numerous new avenues for getting the word out over the years. Can you believe that most of us have already been online for a good 20 years? A lot has happened since then, particularly the advent of social media.
Social media not only opened a new door for marketers to take advantage of immediate (and relatively cheap) advertising, it has practically necessitated its own use by virtue of the sheer number of users the various networks have amassed in a very short time. How do you get your message in front of a large number of people at one time? You go where the people are (it’s just plain old-fashioned common sense), and where they are is on social media.
So now that you know where to find your prospects, it’s important that you go about getting your product in front of them the right way. Here are six things you should be doing when launching any product on social media.
1. Leverage Twitter with Shareable Tweets
One thing about social media is that you can get your followers to do a good bit of your advertising for you. The trick is providing content they’ll want to share.
Begin by speaking to your audience, not at them. Here’s the difference:
Bad tweet: Our upcoming product is ready for launch! Watch this space for more info.
Good tweet: Once you see what we’re launching this week, you won’t know how you lived without it. Just 72 hours to go!
Note how in the second example I’m speaking directly to the audience. That is extremely important. The next day I would probably follow up with something like this:
“What’s in the box???” We’ll give you a peek if we can get 5000 retweets by midnight tonight! #whatsinthebox
Now your audience is in the game and you have a hashtag to anchor the conversation. Just be sure you follow through if your followers pull off their part of the bargain. That next tweet needs to drop at midnight. Doing so will solidify trust and keep your followers engaged.
2. Tease on Facebook
Nebulous posts can often backfire on you, but when you do this the right way, it can really create a buzz. Remember my “What’s in the box?” example? That’s actually a great place to start. Remember that you can use your hashtag on Facebook, too, and get people talking about your launch. A simple picture of a box with a hint to what might be inside could be a good place to start, but don’t just use any old stock image. Your post has to at least lead the user in the right direction.
A good tease begins early in the game, sometimes weeks early, so be sure to leave plenty upon which to build. Give only the slightest hint about what’s in the box with that first post. During the days and weeks leading up to your launch, keep a steady stream of posts flowing and use your hashtag liberally – just be sure that whenever you use it the content relates in some way to your launch, either directly or indirectly. Let people think you’re providing them with pieces of a puzzle.
4. Build an Email List
Create shareable tweets and Facebook posts that lead to a pre-launch landing page. Once you get them there, offer your prospects an inexpensive digital asset that either relates to or leads into your product launch in exchange for their email addresses. In addition, promise things like early access, coupon codes, or insider info via email that won’t appear on social media. You can always offer a similar discount or incentive that’s exclusive to your friends on social media, too.
5. Promote with Video
YouTube is oft overlooked as a social media platform, but it is a very powerful one and should not be underestimated. It is well worth it to have a few short, well-produced video pieces to tie in to your other social media channels. The operative here is “short.” Your videos should reveal small pieces of information or communicate the purpose of your product.
You can approach this from several angles. You can highlight product benefits or features, but you can also lead with the “pain points” and show your audience the kinds of problems your product is going to solve. You can use videos like email by maintaining a progressive storyline that compels people to not only watch the next installment, but anticipate it as well.
6. Run a Contest
It’s no secret: People love to win. They don’t care what they win, just so long as they do. Just listen to any radio contest, and this becomes apparent. Most people stop listening at “Be the 9th caller and win…” and start flooding the lines. Contests are some of the best ways to get people to remember your brand, and they work great on social media.
Let’s say you’re launching a line of nonstick cookware. You can run a contest where you encourage users to “post your worst stuck-on food fails” and give away a frying pan for the picture of the worst baked-on, caked-on food nightmare. This lets people have fun while keeping the key pain point in the forefront.
The Bottom Line
No matter what product you’re launching, you need to have your social media ducks in a row. Can you launch successfully without it? That depends on the product and the existing level of brand recognition, but for most smaller companies, it’s a good bet that it will be exponentially harder without. Have a look at the above suggestions again – none of them is particularly difficult to pull off, and if you’re ambitious enough to incorporate all six, you’ll have a great chance of having a stellar launch.
Oh, and I want to let you in on a secret: Even though I run a successful custom writing company, I’m amazed at how few marketers seem to fully utilize social media as part of their launch strategies. What does this mean for you? It means that if you learn the benefits of leveraging social media and put these ideas into practice, you’ll probably be way ahead of a lot of your competition. If you need help with that, we can work with you to devise an effective game plan!