Welcome to my “Sample social media strategy.”
According to my observations, over the past decade, there has been a global shift in the way new products are launched on the market. Being the founder of a company that helps to launch new products, services, businesses, and communities, I witnessed those days when the release date was not disclosed, and a single exclusive source of information disappears. The Internet has forever changed the process of introducing new products: now companies launch teasers through their "agents", merge information about future products to journalists, bloggers and consumers, broadcast a presentation of the new product online and prepare bonuses for those who promote their brand. The indefatigable cycle of news 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, combined with the undivided power of social networks, on the one hand, greatly simplifies the format of launching a new product these days, and on the other - it is becoming more difficult to introduce new products.
The new launch format opens up a field of unlimited possibilities in terms of attracting customers to brands of all sizes and industries, at the same time it allows consumers to freely share their opinions in social media, which creates certain difficulties in promoting the brand. Consumers can quickly connect to the online discussion of those who are in agreement with them in evaluating the brand, which in the end can both raise the brand to the skies, and ditch it.
When it comes to choosing the media to support the launch of a new product, the target audience should first be analyzed. The survey "The most memorable presentation of the product 2014", conducted by Schneider Associates, shows that each generation uses a unique set of various media. Older people, baby boomers, and generation X still prefer magazines to all. Children of zero use Facebook and Twitter, while representatives of the generations of Z and iGeneration are skeptical of brands and sites, giving more importance to the opinion of users, even those who are not familiar to them. Before buying a new product, consumers are now browsing through six or more different sources of information. The tendency to fragmentary use of different information means complicates the way for brands to create and maintain a stable reputation, to win a place in the hearts of consumers and hampers sales growth.
Read the material on the topic: How to cross IT and marketing
According to our survey, Facebook is currently the second most important resource used to launch new products after television advertising. Brands use Snapchat to acquaint themselves with exclusive, time-limited promotions for their fans, reducing the gap between virtual and real retail. With the help of Meerkat, the favorite brainchild of SXSW 2015, people can do everything online, thanks to the live streaming of video on their smartphones. Every day there are more and more applications of this kind.
Brands need to respond quickly and creatively to attracting consumers. Here are a few recommendations for marketing managers, using which they will be able to extract the maximum benefit from the use of information resources.
1. Refer to social networks as an additional means of promoting goods, not using them as a basic platform. The right decision for Taco Bell was to keep in secret any information about such a new product as The Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco. The brand launched a rumor in the social networks that a flower shop in the Manhattan area Meatpacking District distributes Cool Ranch Tacos, but only to those who call the secret password: "Blue bouquet." This is an example of the wise use of social networks, but only one of the possible tactics of product promotion. Taco Bell used cunning in social networks in addition to the official presentation: the company highlighted the events with the help of national news agencies and launched the advertising of the Super Bowl.
2. Use social networks to make the presentation of the product addressable and more personal. When we wrote for Harvard Business Review about the presentation of the new phone Amazon Fire phone in June 2014, Amazon was losing points in the race for leadership in the smartphone market. Why was their Fire phone not a success? In addition to dull advertisements, the goods in fact no longer promoted. Frankly copying Apple's methods, creating an event for the presentation of a new product, a blog discussing its technical properties and a news section in the online format, Amazon should have made more efforts by applying an integrated strategy of action in social networks.
Read the material on the topic: How and why pay for tweets
3. Use social networks to create or develop the emotional attachment of consumers to a certain brand. When Hostess made a statement about its bankruptcy in 2012, the Twinkie fans mourned the loss of this classic example of American cuisine. This continued until the brand launched its product with the slogan: "The most welcome return in history".
The new launch format opens up a field of unlimited possibilities in terms of attracting customers to brands of all sizes and industries, at the same time it allows consumers to freely share their opinions in social media, which creates certain difficulties in promoting the brand. Consumers can quickly connect to the online discussion of those who are in agreement with them in evaluating the brand, which in the end can both raise the brand to the skies, and ditch it.
When it comes to choosing the media to support the launch of a new product, the target audience should first be analyzed. The survey "The most memorable presentation of the product 2014", conducted by Schneider Associates, shows that each generation uses a unique set of various media. Older people, baby boomers, and generation X still prefer magazines to all. Children of zero use Facebook and Twitter, while representatives of the generations of Z and iGeneration are skeptical of brands and sites, giving more importance to the opinion of users, even those who are not familiar to them. Before buying a new product, consumers are now browsing through six or more different sources of information. The tendency to fragmentary use of different information means complicates the way for brands to create and maintain a stable reputation, to win a place in the hearts of consumers and hampers sales growth.
Read the material on the topic: How to cross IT and marketing
According to our survey, Facebook is currently the second most important resource used to launch new products after television advertising. Brands use Snapchat to acquaint themselves with exclusive, time-limited promotions for their fans, reducing the gap between virtual and real retail. With the help of Meerkat, the favorite brainchild of SXSW 2015, people can do everything online, thanks to the live streaming of video on their smartphones. Every day there are more and more applications of this kind.
Brands need to respond quickly and creatively to attracting consumers. Here are a few recommendations for marketing managers, using which they will be able to extract the maximum benefit from the use of information resources.
1. Refer to social networks as an additional means of promoting goods, not using them as a basic platform. The right decision for Taco Bell was to keep in secret any information about such a new product as The Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco. The brand launched a rumor in the social networks that a flower shop in the Manhattan area Meatpacking District distributes Cool Ranch Tacos, but only to those who call the secret password: "Blue bouquet." This is an example of the wise use of social networks, but only one of the possible tactics of product promotion. Taco Bell used cunning in social networks in addition to the official presentation: the company highlighted the events with the help of national news agencies and launched the advertising of the Super Bowl.
2. Use social networks to make the presentation of the product addressable and more personal. When we wrote for Harvard Business Review about the presentation of the new phone Amazon Fire phone in June 2014, Amazon was losing points in the race for leadership in the smartphone market. Why was their Fire phone not a success? In addition to dull advertisements, the goods in fact no longer promoted. Frankly copying Apple's methods, creating an event for the presentation of a new product, a blog discussing its technical properties and a news section in the online format, Amazon should have made more efforts by applying an integrated strategy of action in social networks.
Read the material on the topic: How and why pay for tweets
3. Use social networks to create or develop the emotional attachment of consumers to a certain brand. When Hostess made a statement about its bankruptcy in 2012, the Twinkie fans mourned the loss of this classic example of American cuisine. This continued until the brand launched its product with the slogan: "The most welcome return in history".
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