Free! Everybody loves that word. That’s why Gregory Ciotti cited “free” as one of his “5 most persuasive words in the English language.” As marketers, we certainly want to use persuasive words, and whether or not you come out and say that something is free, harnessing the power of promotions can make a huge difference in the success of your inbound marketing and social media campaigns. Learn from your local inbound marketing company in Brooklyn the answer to the question: what is inbound marketing?
That said, not all promotions are created equal. Poorly planned promotions can end up costing you a lot of money and not making any headway as far as brand recognition or your bottom line. To truly harness the power of promotions, you need a plan. Here are some ideas for you.
Use Promotions to Get Prospects to Create Content For You
What? You can get your prospects to do your marketing for you? Yes, you can! Here’s an example.
A moving company here in Manhattan wanted to spread the word about their services, so they ran a promotion. They asked people to make videos of their moves to show how easy and professional their services were. They said that the person who created the best video would get their move for free! (There’s that word).
This engaged people on several levels. The people who actually made the videos were extremely engaged. They were actually participating in marketing for the company. All of these people had social media networks of their own, and when they posted their videos, the company engaged another group of people: the friends of the people who made the videos. Finally, the company didn’t decide on the winner themselves; they had people on social media vote for the winner, so they engaged even more people in the promotion by asking them to vote on the videos.
The campaign was a huge success. The videos created by customers were wonderful, and the company was able to share their services with many new people. They received thousands of new “likes” on their social media accounts, thus spreading information about their brand to a whole new set of people. It was a definite win for the participants of the promotion, several of whom received their moves for free. This is the power of promotions.
Use Promotions to Get Prospects to Spread the Word
Here’s another idea. Hold a drawing for a prize that will be attractive to most people, such as a night on the town or a gift certificate for your products. Allow them to register for the drawing multiple times by performing certain actions.
For example, if they tweet about the drawing using a specific hashtag, they get an entry. If they comment on your latest blog post, they get an entry. If they follow you on Instagram or Twitter, or if they “like” your Facebook page, they get an entry. All of these actions create a buzz about your brand and your promotion.
You can enhance the buzz by paying for Facebook and Twitter marketing to target more users beyond the ones who are already following you.
*Image credit: http://bit.ly/1nDlCCR
Make It Easy and Fun
People like to post pictures of themselves, their friends, their kids, and even their pets. Combine this behavior with a contest, and you could have a highly effective social media promotion.
For example, a local radio station invited people to take photos of themselves in Halloween costumes in front of the station’s loudly painted vehicle and then post the photos to Facebook. Hundreds of photos were posted, and the winner of the contest received an attractive gift package of prizes from local restaurants and stores. The radio station’s brand was reinforced again and again as their vehicle showed up on hundreds of different Facebook walls. And everyone had fun.
Make It Unique
Think about your organization and your current customers. Who are your current customers? What are they like? What do they like to do? As you think about the answers to these questions, try to put yourself in their shoes and ask what they would like to win? What would they like for “free”? If you can match this up with a strategy to promote your company on social media, you will have harnessed the power of promotions.
We can help you with your brainstorming and strategizing. To speak with us about possible social media promotions for your company, call us at 646-519-3534. We love to help companies grow and reach their goals.
