Increase Brand Awareness With Promotional Messages
One of the best ways to increase brand awareness and build loyalty is through promotions—be it giveaways, discounts, or sales.
Case Study: Moosejaw
Social networking websites have become the preferred avenue for many businesses to offer promotions. One such business is Moosejaw, a North American outdoors retailer. In December of 2009, Moosejaw created a product giveaway campaign that, in order to enter, required social media users to comment on a post announcing the giveaway on Facebook, or re-tweet a message on Twitter.
The Giveaway
Moosejaw spanned their promotion out 20 days. They selected products they currently sold and products for the upcoming season in order to encourage future sales. They gave away at least one product per day for 20 days, sometimes giving away as many as 10 products per day.
Moosejaw has a fun, quirky approach, as evidence on their website. They gave away everything from Renton & Latika Fleece Jackets to a wooden squirrel and an inflatable zebra.
The Rules
After the giveaways were announced, entries were only accepted for 30 or 45 minutes. They wanted to make it fast-paced to correspond with the nature of social media websites. After the time was up, they randomly selected users who had replied to their Facebook post, and/or re-tweeted their message on Twitter.
Some contests could only be entered through one site, while other contests took entries from both Facebook and Twitter. The grand prize was a $1,000 shopping spree, which was only available via their website by filling out a form, adding another dimension to the giveaway. The contest was also promoted via their website and email messages.
The Results
Following the campaign, the team captured 45% more Twitter followers and 31% more Facebook fans. Sales for the products they used as prizes increased 10% to 15% during the giveaway. Besides statistical success, the company earned the loyalty of many customers, both existing and new, who posted messages or Tweets about why the liked the product and the brand.
What to take away from a giveaway
Integrating email marketing with social media is the perfect platform for a promotion (pretty good alliteration, to boot).
For smaller businesses with a minimal following on Facebook and Twitter, you need to first build a greater following before you can begin your promotion. That is where email marketing comes in.
What email marketing can do for your business promotion
An email marketing campaign is a great opportunity to get the word out about your promotion, and to encourage users to become fans of you on Facebook and follow you on Twitter.
Use a promotion as a means to increase your subscribers. For instance, you can send out an email marketing campaign to prospective customers, informing them that if they sign up for your newsletter, they will be entered to win a prize or a percent off a product or service.
Be like Moosejaw
Encourage users to follow you on Facebook or Twitter via your email marketing campaign. By using Facebook and Twitter as the only avenues to enter your promotion or giveaway, you too can garner a greater following, thus adding more channels to your campaign. You can promote your website, products, service, and social networking profiles via your newsletter. Likewise, you can promote everything on your social networking websites.
This “circle of social integration” is key. Within this circle exists the possibility for viral growth.
The power of referral
It’s important to create incentives for people who are powerful referral promoters. Sometimes a single user can be more effective than 20 or more users. Providing a referral bonus or running a referral contest can make all the difference in spreading the word about your business.
Create an affiliate program
If you have a product, you may want to distribute it through an affiliate network and reward your best promoters with bonuses. Provide them with an incentive to continue to promote and share your product on social networks.
Ask for testimonials
Ask customers to give an honest testimonial about your product or service. Feature these on your website, landing page, or social networking profile. Don’t push them to give you a positive testimonial, rather, let them judge openly. It will only help you improve your business in the long run.
Don’t let promotions rule your campaign
While a promotion is a good way to increase your following or promote the release of a new product or service, too many promotions can detract from your overall goals. Don’t get bogged down by coupon-culture. Promotions can be great at producing short-term increases in sales, but don’t use them in place of building relationships built on delivering relevant content and reliable service. Many businesses make the mistake of placing too great an emphasis on immediate sales.