4 Killer Ways To Launch a Product With Social Media

Before social media, product launches were high-budget events that would take weeks and sometimes months to pull off.

With 1.2 billion active users or one in four people using social media, building anticipation for your product and successfully launching it does not have to cost you much in terms of advertising, content creation and distribution.

Without a doubt, your product launch will have the greatest reach and impact if you already have a solid social media fan base. You will be tapping into this audience to spread the word about the product and for them to undertake a significant conversion event such as purchasing the product, signing up for membership, making a pre-order etc.

Here are 4 creative ways to use social media for a successful product launch:

Get personal and draw attention with video

You have seen the numbers: Over 68% of online consumers spend most of their time watching videos. There is something compelling and extremely engaging about watching content than reading it.

Creating a single video or a video series builds trust and creates a personal connection between you and your product and your target audience.

What type of content would be suitable for your product launch? This really depends on the nature of your product. For example, if you are launching a book, you may need to create a video where you are reading sections of the book. If you are launching a clothing line, you may need a series of videos that showcase models showing off a taste of what is to come.

A great way to build that personal connection with your social media fans is to create a personal video where you briefly speak to them about the project you are working on.

Extend the reach of your videos by sharing them across other social media platforms other than YouTube and Instagram. Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus audiences are particularly receptive to video content.

Create excitement and engagement with contests

Social media contests are incredibly effective in engaging your audience, creating brand awareness and building loyalty.

Prior to launching your product, you need to first engage your audience to make them feel that they are involved in the launch process even if they do not know what’s behind the scenes. A contest can give your audience a hint of what is about to come without revealing too much information.

For example, if you were launching a fall clothing line, you would set up a contest for the best-dressed fan and allow other fans to vote for their favorite contestants.

Facebook and Twitter users are usually very receptive to fun contests that offer value at the end of it all.

Leverage the power of brand advocates

Prior to launching, you want as many people to know about the project you are working on and the resultant product.

Not all your social media fans will be suitable brand advocates; you want to target just a small group of people who are interested in your project and will be excited to spread the word.

Set up a way for your brand advocates to get in touch with you so they can access exclusive information about the product and the launch. For example, you can build a Facebook landing page with content that is excusive to the group of advocates or create a Facebook group only for those who are more interested in the product and are happy to create buzz for it.

Synchronize your social media activity with a hashtag

A hashtag does a great job of rounding up your brand and the activities around your brand.

Its uniqueness to your brand and product means that your audience can easily identify it and use it to share content across different social media platforms.

What is really great about a hashtag that is unique to your brand is that it starts and facilitates a conversation around your product and the launch. Starting conversations is undoubtedly an all-important aspect of social media marketing.

Creating a hashtag is also a great way of boosting user-generated content created by your fans across different social media platforms.

Social Media Product Launches

With great content and a solid fan base, you can effectively build anticipation for your product launch without breaking the bank, so to speak. Leverage all the social networks where you have already built a following to maximize the reach and impact of the launch.