There are ways to promote your products on social media without being too obvious or sales-y. Most social media users hate seeing ads or obvious attempts at getting you to buy their product. We use social media to connect and engage with friends, family and people with similar interests; not to get bombarded with sales pitches.
However, with the average person spending almost two hours per day on social media, you need to make use of these platforms to reach your target market. There is a fine line to tread when promoting something on these channels and your message needs to be on point.
Here are a few ways in which you can strike the balance and promote your products more discreetly:
Connect with popular social media users
People are more likely to buy something based on a positive recommendation from a friend or someone they trust. This pool of trustworthy people can be limitless with the number of social media influencers and popular accounts that are active.
Bloggers, celebrities, trendsetters and influencers are a smart choice for promoters. By partnering up with these people, you can tap into their massive follower-bases and connect with their loyal fans.
Influencer marketing is a highly popular method nowadays because promotions can be integrated with their regular posts. It is also a proven method for acquiring new customers quickly as their followers trust their opinion and recommendation of your product.
Allow the influencers to share their opinions of your product (they should like it if they agree to partnering with you). This means that you can spread the word about your product to a wider audience and the message isn’t coming directly from your brand.
The key is to select an influencer who knows what they are doing. They’ll need to make the post as natural as possible with creative captions that stand out, and use the right hashtags every time (#ad or #partner should be used with every post). This way, you’re not pulling the wool over the audience’s eyes and they know that the post is a promotion.
Run a competition
One the quickest and easiest ways to promote a product is by giving away free things. People love competitions and free merchandise and so getting them to like, share and comment on your post is an easy task.
If you’re not keen on the idea of giving away free products, then run a competition to win tickets to a sports game, or to gain exclusive access to a product launch. Some companies run campaigns whereby they donate money to charity for every share or new subscriber they get.
A successful competition should always focus on the quality of the participants – not the quantity. Make the rules clear and easy to understand and have some Ts&Cs set out from the start. You may want to limit the age of eligible participants or the location in which people must live to enter. State when the winner will be chosen and when they can expect their reward.
Managing participants’ expectations and keeping all parties happy is imperative from the start. Build up hype and start spreading the word before you actually run the competition. This will boost its performance.
Most importantly, come up with a plan on how to convert the participants into customers once the competition ends. You can have them sign up to a mailing list as part of the entrance criteria, or get them to follow your social media channels.
Create product videos
It’s no secret that video is still gaining popularity due to its visual nature that requires no effort on the part of the viewer. Over 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every single day.
To create a video, you don’t actually need a team of cameramen and directors (although paying for some will make your video better). Simple product videos can be produced with a decent smartphone or a DSLR camera. A quick edit and a push on social media can allow you to engage with your audience in a new way.
Filming a product review or tutorial can give your audience a better understanding and a closer look at your product. This can strengthen your relationship with clients and also humanise your brand.
Videos can also be created by using the Stories tool on Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, these platforms allow you to create live videos which are highly popular. You can engage with your audience in real-time and broadcast directly to their devices for free.
Product videos tend to be more memorable than your typical adverts and billboards. Studies have shown that four times as many people prefer video to text, so having some good video content is a must for businesses nowadays.
Utilise user-generated content (UGC)
UGC is the best way to create a community around your product. You can connect current clients with potential clients through UGC campaigns, and make use of the good reviews you already have.
As much as 92% of consumers trust UGC as the feedback and content come from the mouth of other consumers, rather than the brand. You can encourage your customers to share their thoughts by tagging your product in their posts, or by creating a hashtag for your product.
These opinions can then be shared as part of a UGC marketing strategy. User-generated content campaigns can increase post engagement by seven times, and improve sales by up to 20%.
By using some of these less sales-y techniques, you can market your products to the wary social media users and still get good results. You need to make sure that you engage with your consumers and listen to what they have to say.
The traditional notion of one-way advertising is gone – engagement with, and response to, your customers are now critical. Brands can no longer ignore their clients and social media is the ideal tool to drive conversation and reach a wider audience.
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