Launching your product on social media

Buzz and hype - two words that perfectly sum up the drivers of a successful product launch. As exciting and thrilling as product launches can be, they can also turn out to be nerve-wracking if not preceded by effective planning. Social media’s growing role as a buying platform means that it is also an inevitable media for product launches. For those accustomed to traditional offline product launches, launching a product on social media might seem daunting. Today, we walk you through they key processes and useful insights for launching your product on social media.

1. Set clear campaign goals
   As you begin to draft the marketing strategy for your new product, firstly and foremostly, jot down what you are hoping to achieve. Whether it is in terms of increasing product awareness, generating sales or boosting engagement, once you have determined your goals only then can you make a strategy to achieve those goals and objectives. As cliché as it may sound, goal setting is the most important stage in any marketing campaign but it is often overlooked by many marketers, resulting in incomplete evaluation of the campaign later on, as there is no initial target to be compared against the results achieved. On a side not, make sure that the objectives that you have set are achievable and measurable. ‘Increasing sales’ is a vague target but ‘achieving xxx dollars in sales revenue’ is a measurable target to work towards.
2. Map out your content timeline
   Timing is key to a product launch and becomes even more important in the context of social media. The big date that you should nail down first is the product launch date. Once that has been decided, you can work your way backwards for pre-launch activities and forward for post-launch activities. This would also be useful in determining the amount of time you have at hand before the launch, which would help in evaluating the feasibility of delivering the different types of content you have in mind. Moreover, having a defined content timeline also means putting together your marketing assets in one place, ensuring that your content is consistent and that you do not have to rush last moment to fill in the gaps during the product launch campaign on social media.
3. Choose your social media channel
   While you may choose to work with more than one channel to maximize your impact, it is crucial to pen down what channels you are going to use as all channels have different platform functions and audience responses. Therefore, each platform may require a slightly different strategy. For instance, while it is ideal to design a promotional video for YouTube, you may decide to have an interactive Q&A session on Instagram Live, driving engagement rates high.
4. Create a buzz with teasers
   A useful tactic to capture consumers’ attention and build anticipation towards the new product launch is by making teasers. A teaser campaign could comprise of ‘Coming Soon’ or ‘Countdown’ posts and teaser videos. You can make use of cryptic posts to keep your target audience guessing or you may use storytelling to compose a story about your product. Instagram’s story feature is very handy when it comes to creating anticipatory content or behind-the-scenes videos without disrupting the main Instagram feed.
5. Launch a giveaway
   Giveaways are a tried and tested method of driving up engagement with the audience. When users like, comment on and share your content as a part of the giveaway rules, social media algorithms recognize that, and more people see your brand on their feed. Thus, they increase both the brand awareness and the follower count. Apart from creating the buzz that you want around your new product, they also earn you a positive image for handing out free products. By making the new product a part of your giveaway, you give your product a great jumpstart.
6. Join hands with Influencers
   Social media influencer marketing is a great strategy that can prove fruitful for product launches. In fact, brand influencers are now essential to any social media marketing campaign. For one, influencers hook in your audience subtly, without coming off pushy as many celebrity endorsements do. Influencer generated content appeals to their audience as being natural and genuine. Thus, by partnering with influencers, you let the influencers do their own talking which increases not only awareness of the new product, but also consumers’ interest in buying the new product. Click here to learn more about social media influencer marketing and how we can help you bring the right influencers on board.