An infographic representation of Social Media as a Product Launch tool. Courtesy: www.123rf.com

It was December 2013, Pop Queen Beyonce took the music industry by storm, when she launched a (15 video and 17 songs album) with absolutely no advance notice. Known as “the beehive”, Beyonce’s fans were astounded by the commotion, while she casually tweeted about vegan cupcakes. Within just three days of the launch, Beyonce had sold over 828,773 copies marking fastest selling album and largest single week ever in iTunes and US iTunes Store.

Beyonce’s marketing strategy; Word of mouth and element of surprise. But unfortunately, not all are Beyonce. Launching the product without any effective Social Media Marketing is suicidal. Forget about getting the monetary gains, you might turn up into a Chapter 11 debtor.

Back in 70’s and 80 companies use to sought ugly, expensive and too time consuming ways to launch new product launch marketing plan. But with expansion of Social Media into public domain, it took the technology world completely upside down.

Social Media appeared as a strong medium to launch the products

It immediately changed the entire marketing landscape. Marketing had become a whole lot easier, cheaper and less time consuming. Nowadays, it is even more agile and result oriented, I am talking about less than 25% of the usual media budget, couple of hours of work and a strong interface embedded with technology to use your creativity to the extremes. These are not the only reasons why Social Media is a hit with small and big enterprises. Ability to reach out to the worldwide audience, pinpoint accuracy and easily targeted prospects makes it the best and complete tool of its kind to advertise new product launch marketing plan.

Do you use the Social Media “properly”?

Social Media helps you to share, tweet, search, follow, like and chat Courtesy : www.artofkickstart.com        

Correct time to utilize social media is during the pre-launch phase. With the support of your promoting partners, you can create a buzz about the product and the launch date. A well-oriented and scheduled ‘buzz’ is always better that the quickly posting about the product launch over the social media sites. Premier goal is to initiate as much buzz as possible before the official launch. This article will let you understand how well you can maximize the use of Social media rather than just announcing your stuff.

In this article, you’ll find some important tips, product launch ideas and tactics, which you might want to remember whenever you are using social media for the launching of your products.

1) A teaser campaign on Facebook

Teasers are about raising the expectations of your potential customers. Making an intriguing teaser to build brand awareness before the actual launch will keep the user excited. People will be sending emails, message or even make phone calls for better understanding of the upcoming product. To increase engagement and to celebrate reaching 1 million facebook fans, Cadbury built a gigantic Facebook like thumb from the pieces of Dairy Milk chocolate. They create amazing teaser ads and live streamed a video which was embellished by beautiful photographs and creative content from their users which assisted in further building the alluring hype.

Nearly 350,000 people and 40,00 Facebook fans participated in the campaign, which was later made an event .

Cadbury Dairy Milk Million Fans Courtesy : www.digitalbuzzblog.com

2) Proper Review of your Social Media Strategy

Proper review of the existing social media strategy will let you save a lot of effort and time. You are advised to review the performance reports at least once a week. This will give you an  idea of your highest engagement or which platform has worked or not worked as per your expectations. Such reviews also assist in understanding which platform is best suited for your product launch and which to avoid.

Not every platform is for everyone, here’s the breakup:

  Social Media platforms segregated for targeted use: An infographic from Onboardly.com              

3) Designating a Hashtag

Hashtags are meant to connect conversations. Courtesy:smallbiztrends.com

A properly created hashtag helps you to create excitement about your campaign and assist in making your product launch go viral.  Appointing a Hastag for your product  is  considered as the most amazing way to works for both offline as well as online. As Online, it assists in categorizing the product around the launch so that the users can find all the information regarding the product. Designating a Hastag will also aid in sending videos or photographs for a user participation campaign, thereby letting your followers know what you are upto. All your tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram photos are compiled at one place, thanks to hashtag. Before choosing a hastag make sure it is not taken or chosen by any other company to avoid an controversy or confusion.     

4) Making a personal video

What makes social media different from other marketing platform is its ability to let you connect with your fans and followers in any of the media platforms. Creating a mini ad, Vine or Instagram video provide a “sneak peak” inside the product. By using multiple mini ads, you can tell a different part of the story. Later, when the product is launched you can easily upload  the complete video over the Youtube. Also, telling the users about the problem and later hinting a solution for the same in the form of a video teaser can also be a great idea.

 Setting up a Personal Internet Video Channel. Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com

To create a suitable video teaser, you must:

• Create a proper script, analyse it  and the record yourself first, giving a little brief about video
• You can record in segments (as per your ease) and later bind the video and audio effects together
• To run and bind the movie together, you can use the tools like iMovie
• Find suitable photographs or click snapshots which supports your video
• It is advised that you have your original music score done right after you record the audio

5) Creating a Founder’s list

Founder’s list help your followers and fans to stay “in the loop”, thereby enhancing your brand loyalty. It allows the interested users or fans to learn about your product, its launch etc. Just by including them by the means of an exclusive mailing list, you can enhance their emotional investment for your product.

An illustration showing email as a tool to receive updates and notifications. Courtesy: www.strikingly.com

6) Contests and Quizzes

Contests and Quizzes are simple and inexpensive ways to devise a pre launch marketing campaign. It enhances the chance of user involvement and keep them excited. A chance to win an exciting prize will surely keep them involved. People waste a lot of time over the internet, by capitalizing and using the quizzes to your advantage, you can promote your product launch. Your quiz or a contest should have a share and a like option so that users can share and propagate, increasing the buzz.

Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA Sepang Grand Launch Quiz Contest. Courtesy: giftout.co

7) Using “Coming Soon” whenever applicable

A coming soon illustration. Courtesy: tweakticket.com

Strike when the time is right, make sure that your followers or fans know that something big is about to happen. You can use “ Coming Soon” teasers in a lot of ways. You can post the pics, use the hyped ‘coming soon’ pics as a Facebook Cover Page. You can shoot behind the seen videos and upload some other audio or visual media to signal a new product launch.

8) Encourage people to spread the word

Last but not the least, always encourage your fans, followers, relatives or friends to spread the word about launching a new product. Ask people to share and spread the word. People will only share and appreciate, if you follow and imbibe tips 1 to 7 correctly. Tip number 8 will automatically follow.

Word to Mouth - An easy concept !  Courtesy:  www.alexandrapatrickblog.co.uk

Make sure you're connecting, interacting and offering value. Flagrant self promotion isn't acceptable Social media sites are about offering value!

Is there anything more? How do you promote your product on Social Media?