When it comes to social media it can be broken down into a very simple idea – be part of conversations. The whole premise is that people now have an avenue to talk in masses among masses, and brands can either participate or stay away, they can’t dictate terms. Staying away is not an option because that’s suicidal so the only option really is to participate.
With this post and with a jewellery brand (no particular brand) as an example I attempt to illustrate the whole notion of participation. So here come 5 ways in which a jewelery brand can use social media in their promotional mix.
1. Find out bloggers and tweeple around your brand store (use social media for this) and email or tweet to them when you invite your celebrity ambassador to your shop (like an store inauguration, or some festival), unless you have some really sorry character as your brand star of course. Having a beautiful celeb around your area is good for some online buzz. You can even upload their snap to flickr or twitpic for it to grab some social attention. Tag the image well.
2. Have an online jewellery design contest. If your target is youth, the college crowd then have them design the kind of design they love to see. Have a community on Facebook where the participants could interact and showcase designs. Give the winners some coverage and of course have prize. You have just used social media not just for branding but also for market research and feedback as well, not to mention a collection of designs.
3. What if your target is not the young crowd? Pick a day say Mother’s day and ask the young women and men of social media to design a necklace for their mother, and the winner gets his/her design made free.
4. Ok is there anything other than contests? Yes sort of. Start a group on Facebook or Orkut – I forget my wife’s anniversary. You give a platform for people to come and talk about instances and what they did etc. You just need to start the group, invite people and moderate it. Your branding is taken care of, the conversations are bound to involve you somewhere and the next time people think of gifting something for someone’s anniversary you are bound to cross their mind.
5. Now this is a tricky one, and something I have no idea of how it might pan out. Have a fake robbery attempt video made somehow, should seem as real as possible, not a polished ad that you might put on Star TV. Have ingredients in the video that will add unexpected dimensions like a really scared shouting store manager or a laughing salesman, stuff that trigger conversations and thereby sharing. Put this Video on Youtube with the title – Fake Robbery Attempt at My My Jewellery. Go viral.
There we are, 5 ways of promoting your brand through social media. Now social media has a personality quite different from others. Which means now that I mentioned these suggestions they might never work or they might even scale up a notch, you can never be sure, for you can never be sure where a conversation is headed. To that extent there can be methods of promotion a 100 times better than the ones above because the scope and scale of any social media campaign is limitless.
I hope this post gives people a better idea on how to approach a task of using social media for promotion better. If you found this interesting or worth a read then share it with others. If you feel I got the whole point of social media wrong then throw the bricks in the comments section.
Hey Maneesh,
That was a really good post!
I found the jewellery store example pretty good!
Considering we might be working on some jewellery based social media network soon, your post gave us some interesting examples
If we decide to go ahead and do the project, I will be more than happy to share my learnings and experiences with you.
Thanks again!
- Saurabh Jain
nice post maneesh…
good eg of an offline product.. but wat abt companies having niche audiences.. say my co. for example which deals in selling tubes and fittings to govt organisations like BARC, BHEL, nuclear industries etc. the TG are scientists in remote areas who probably resent netowrks like FB and Orkut. how does social media help a B2B firm having niche clientele.
@Saurabh Thanks ..and wish you the very best with your project…so mail me in your experience
@Gautam Dude you put me in a spot yesterday haha… Anyway, thinking out loud perhaps you can do something of this sort -
I see that your product made to withstand high pressures and temperatures – put in a Youtube video crude one nothing advertising like, showing how your valves and stuff withstand high pressure and temperature..not in a geeky way but something that’s intriguing to watch..
And ask your clients to view the videos, mail them the link. Here social media helps in reducing the cost, compare it to calling people to your factory, or carrying and showing product samples all over the region, etc.
Like I said right at the beginning of the post, social media is about conversations and being part of it, so if your TG isn’t quite tuned into the web then social media won’t be of much help. For niche products, you need to decide what does your TG do online, what do they talk about and what are they looking for on the web, if it is anything related to your line of business then all you can and need to do is be present there and talk..
Just my opinion early morning.. what do you think?