Christmas is just around the corner and Santa has so many things to do. There are many different ways to promote your business online when it comes to marketing and creating a successful campaign. I want to share with you some of the most successful techniques I have used with my own clients. Here is the marketing to do list for all your clients, Santa style:
Let’s Talk Instagram
Instagram is the secret sauce that most businesses don’t know about yet. What does that mean? There isn’t much noise on Instagram. My client owned a home improvement company and what did they do? They started off with an Instagram account where they posted random items from their store and the audience had to guess what it was. The correct answer would go in the blog of fame where they announced the winner of every picture they added. We started out with getting about 5 comments per pictures to almost 750 comments per picture. Once the audience knew how easy it was to participate and win, they were telling their friends all over the place. Most of the winners were parents or college students that needed a little more bang for their buck when it came to purchasing furniture. In our blog, we talked about our winner and put them in the limelight. In order to do so, we would ask them to send a picture of themselves to add to our “wall of fame.” We would create a write-up on them and how much we value their participation. They were getting more people through the doors of their store than ever before.
Let’s Talk Facebook
When it comes to Facebook, we have to know how to create an “irresistible offer” that doesn’t always have to be money-related. One of my clients was a steakhouse, and one year they were doing poorly in business and it got even worse during the holidays. They decided to use Facebook as a research tool to find people around the area who loved eating out and having steak. We were able to find thousands of people who the manager became friends with. Then he started a private group and called it Holiday Steak Lovers. This group was the way to make people feel that “instant gratification.” You really had to be a steak-lover to join a group like this.
When they invited specific people to the group they asked them questions. The questions resulted in reward points. When the customer gathered reward points they could win a steak dinner for their family. What did they really have to do to get these points? They had to answer polls, submit questions, post pictures and post videos. We had double point days where they would get twice the amount of points for the task. The biggest takeaway from this is we got our audience INVOLVED. We got the audience to feel like they were a part of something and they were able to make things happen. The Facebook private group is a great way to filter the noise for the people that really care about your business. There was a way they would be notified every time we posted, and we didn’t even have to pay for a single post!
Let’s Talk Twitter
Twitter cannot be subtracted from the holiday extravaganza. We used Twitter for a plumbing client of mine so we can win the heart of his customers. How did we do it? We used Twitter as a customer service tool and added our hours in service in the bio. This way people knew when we were there for live support instantaneously. It started from the ground up. We had ZERO customers. Then, I said, "lets use WeFollow, Twellow and Twibes to find people who may be interested in your services." These people were mostly homeowners who were having issues with clogging at some point. First, we connected with homeowners through different openings such as: "How was your weekend? Any plans for the holidays?" They would usually respond, and then we would invite them to our holiday party where we would meet and greet our “twitter family.” This turned into a networking phenomenon, and the company decided to hold one every month. It started out with twenty people and it eventually grew to over 400 . What a difference, right? So many people absolutely loved the networking aspect of it. We got so many people (showing up) that we had to make our events exclusive to only our own customers. Guess what? They were still successful. Takeaway: Bring your community together, and have them meet one another, because this is where the magic happens.
Let’s Talk LinkedIn
LinkedIn has been known as the "business network" where people look for opportunities or seek people who want opportunities. How can you use this as an incentive for your connections? One of our clients was a research facility, and they were looking for people who were interested in getting data and market research. We started out by following many different groups that were market research related. We also started a group for students who were interested in helping us out and receiving college credit. There were five students who were interested! The first thing we got them to do was to connect with different members from the niche groups. Then we posted the weekly happenings in the area for the members. This had nothing to do with market research, but it had a lot to do with the demographics. Then we got others to sponsor an event with potential prospects. We advertised the upcoming local events in our newsletters and the different groups within LinkedIn. Afterwards we added up the clicks they received to the website from our write-up and advertisement and it was in the thousands! This is targeted traffic as well. Our event was a success and the sponsors loved us for bringing traffic to their event as well. It was a happy holiday for everyone!
Let’s Talk Pinterest
When you think Pinterest, think about what Lady Gaga would do. We all know Lady Gaga is a queen in the marketing world. She comes up with the most outrageous clothing we have ever seen. This is what makes her so different. When you are using Pinterest think of ways to make your audience feel attracted to your pin board and the pictures on it. They are not kidding when they say opposites attract. Well, in the Pinterest world the most outrageous pictures attract the eye of the beholder. For example, I worked with a client who was in the jewelry business and wanted to know how they could make more sales. I suggested they either create the most outrageous jewelry or the most outrageous women wearing the jewelry. They picked the jewelry and got creative. When the pin boards were all set up they gave them the most outrageous names: Butter Chip, Trendy Candy, Loco Vida, etc. Then they added jewelry that would be colorful and trendy relating to the category. They got many followers just posting it and sharing it on Facebook. The girls who were into getting attention could not get enough of it. Takeaway: Think outrageous!
Let’s Talk Youtube
Youtube is a network where people tend to have short attention spans. Depending on your niche, use videos to showcase your talents. For example, I had a cooking utensil company create a whole marketing campaign around video. What did they do? They cooked in their cookware, but in a creative way. They made holiday meals and they would apply them to a holiday song. The audience would have to guess the name of the tune. They added bells to a carrot cake they baked, and asked their subscribers to name the tune. Of course the name of that tune was Jingle Bells. When the subscribers guessed the correct tune for the video, we would take their comment and add it to our Instagram to showcase each dish with the caption and giving the credit to the subscriber. Guess what? If the subscriber won they would receive the cookware that the entrée was offered in. Win-win for both right? It must have been if they had a sell out right before new years. Takeaway: Creativity wins when it comes to Youtube!
Santa is getting a heart attack looking at this long list of things to do. Are the elves even ready or prepared for all this work? They better be, because this year’s marketing campaign is going to be out of this world.
Cheers to the New Year everyone! Hope it is a great marketing success!
