Do you know what the best ways to increase your following and engagement on social media are? Free products, contests, and information. The best way to get people interested in your product is to give it away for free. I know that makes many business owners and executives anxious, but it should be considered an investment. I am not suggesting you give away so much product that you lose a considerable amount of money in production costs, but just enough for a taste test.
Visit any mall across the country, go to the food court, you will see employees giving out samples of food. When I was literally a starving college student, I used to go to the mall just to get the free samples. Big chain restaurants rarely give free samples unless they are franchised. But the smaller sandwich shops and Chinese restaurants are always willing to give away tastes to anybody walking through the mall.
The older I became, the more I wondered about their conversion rates? One afternoon I sat there watching as people sampled the bourbon chicken, thanked the employee, and eventually order the combo. Social media marketing is very similar.
Years ago, the Genuine Thermos Brand, in an attempt to prove their technology could maintain liquid temperature for a full 24 hours, launched their hot coffee guarantee campaign. Each month they picked about 25 followers and shipped a Thermos filled with hot coffee overnight to their door. The company partnered with multiple coffee houses from San Francisco to Minnesota to fill their containers.
The most interesting part about this particular campaign was how it was brought to my attention. It wasn’t from a promoted campaign or video ad, but from a friend that spends a limited amount of time on social media. He held up the THERMOS as a group of us were having dinner and proceeded to tell me about the promotion. His pitch could not have been better if he worked for the company himself, his exact words were, “go on Facebook and follow them, the coffee gets here and it’s scorching hot.”
This guy did not even use Facebook but maybe once a month, and he knew about it? Big brands don’t beat smaller companies solely on product quality, often it’s the opposite. Many small businesses have companies with superior products but get crushed by big brands because they do not invest in growing their brand recognition.
For example, let’s say you manufacture sunglasses. A traditional marketing campaign may include a message that is similar to “Our sunglasses are the best in the business, sleek in design, made from recyclable materials, and very affordable.” A social media marketing campaign would look more like this:
“Did you know that studies show our eyes lose focus each day because of exposure to sunlight?”
“X amount of accidents happen each year/day with drivers citing sunlight affecting their view”
“Have you seen this? We turned a soda bottle into a pair of wayfarers!”
“What do you think are our coolest shades? Post a photo of you wearing your favorite sunglasses and use #CoolShades. You could win a free pair of sunglasses.”
Social media is a totally different animal in terms of marketing. You may find out that your core customer on social media is not reflective of the core customer your company is accustomed to. Again some companies cringe at separating marketing in this manner, but it may be necessary. Not all companies will need to do this, if you are struggling to get users to engage on social media, it may be time to shake things up.
