So – we’ve learnt about all these different social media, and you’re getting a feel for how they work.
Today, I want to give you a bit of a meta-view on how they can all work together for a purpose – to build buzz around a product launch.
Many of us who are crafty business people don’t ‘launch’ products in the same way fashion designers and big brands do… and I think that is a shame. By getting organised, and launching a new product line/range/etc, we have the opportunity to build up talk and expectation around our brand – basically, to get people talking about it!
I’m going to use myself as an example to illustrate this. Last year, I decided to do start launching seasonal ranges for my Epheriell brand.
Why? This approach has a number of benefits:
- I will have a launch date for my release – this will motivate me to put a collection together and keep coming up with new designs (once you’re busy it can be easy to let new work get neglected)
- By having a collection each season, I have a reason to write a press release, contact mags and blogs, and tell people about it
- My customers will learn that this is a regular thing over time, and will look forward to and expect it each season (I hope!)
- It will allow me to build ‘buzz’ about each release through using a combo of my newsletter, blog, twitter, fb, etc
- It will take the pressure off my mind that ‘I haven’t made anything new in such-and-such a time’ because there will be a scheduled time!
- I can stagger this with my quarterly release of *bespoke* so that I have regular bumps in my cash flow (obviously a personal one to my business, but you might have other projects you can stagger, too)
So – how do we go about building buzz?
I’m going to use a combo of the following things to build buzz:
- my blog
- flickr
- stumbleupon
- craftgawker
- mailing list (I haven’t talked about this in depth, but you need to get one – I use mailchimp and it is awesome.)
- other people’s blogs
- forums/teams
Basically, everything we’ve talked about in this course.
Let’s start about a month out from our launch. By this point, you should have a fair idea of what your product/range is going to be like – the materials/content/characteristics… so you can start talking about it.
So – start talking about it! On twitter, facebook… give little ‘in-progress’ photos, talk about the design process, start mentioning the date. A few weeks out from your launch, write a blog post about these things. Then write another one the next week with updates.
Start submitting blog posts with good photos to craftgawker and stumbleupon. Upload your photos to flickr and submit them to relevant groups. Pin a few of the best ones.
Talk about your product range with your friend on forums.
Keep talking about it on facebook and twitter.
The day you launch your product/range, do a coordinated release across all platforms (have all your products ready for purchase before you do this! Don’t say your range is released if people can’t buy immediately).
Blog about it, tweet and FB it, send an e-mail to your mailing list (and please consider giving them a special discount for loving you enough to sign up for it – it will pay off).
Now is the time to write a ‘press release’ – or just a little blurb about your new range if that sounds too daunting. Choose 2-3 perfect blogs and send them the info with a few photos. If they blog about you, great! If not, send it to another 2-3 blogs the next week. Repeat.
When people buy your product and leave feedback, share it! Have a ‘happy customer’s’ page on your website.
The aim of all this work is to get people talking – and to get them anticipating! By the time your stuff is ready to buy, your right people should be all over it!
Further Reading
- A great post by Penelope Trunk on how to build buzz around yourself.
