Launching your product on social media

Sahail Ashraf posted on 17 March 2022

The speed and fun attached to social media means it is the perfect place to launch a new product. But how do we go about it to gain the most from the experience?

When you launch a product on social media, you have to make sure you follow a clear plan. This is because there are so many variables on social media, that unless you work hard and work smart, you run the risk of being lost in the general noise. 

The first step: make sure you know what your goals are

Having your goals and KPIs in mind is key to planning a social media campaign. Focus on what your situation as a brand is first. Then, you will discover a general set of goals that centre around these possibilities:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Driving sales
• Improving brand perception or reputation

There are others, but these general goals tend to be important to most brands on social media when launching their products.

Work backwards

You’re planning to launch a product, so it’s important that you have the right dates in focus. Once you know when the product is going to be launched, you can then work backwards and have a clear window of time for when all of the work has to take place.

The unique thing about launching a product on social media is the fact that you can spend some time ‘hyping’ up the product before you actually launch. This period, with teasers and other engaging content that gets an audience excited, should be the first part of your plan when working backwards.

Then after you have launched, you should give the same amount of thought to planning what you do ‘post-launch’. 

Where to go

You can’t be everywhere at once on social media, and with a product launch you have to be extra careful and precise.

Knowing your audience is vital. Once you know where they spend their time on social media, you can make sure you put all your effort into those spaces. This is both more efficient and more cost-effective.

The look and feel

Needless to say your product launch has to have a look and feel all of its own. 

For the feel, create a ‘mission statement’ or ’intent statement’ that expresses what you are trying to give your customers and then use that to guide the content that you create. 

It’s important to establish your campaign’s visual style too. This includes looking carefully at colour, the images you choose and any templates you will need to organise for all the social channels you will be launching on. 

Use Influencers

Influencers are made for product launches, so establishing links with Influencers that can bring value to your launch is important.

This obviously works well with products that are physical products, stuff you can pick up and show off in front of a camera. But there are other products that Influencers can have a huge impact on too. People love seeing things being used and displayed, especially by the people they follow online.

It’s not just for big brands either. Most small to mid-size brands can use micro-Influencers, who have follower numbers smaller than 100k. These tend to have better engagement, so it is actually quite cost-effective to build relationships with them.

Create the work

Once all the above has been done and you know where you are going with the message, you can start thinking about launching the product. 

That means creating your assets. Whether these are videos or photos, they should, naturally, be of the highest quality. Physical products lend themselves to video and photos, and you can show your product off in the best light with even a modest budget.

Things to think about:

• Do you have a clear design brief? Did you include inspirations, a moodboard, a concept overview, and your desired outcome? Working with graphic designers or creative teams can be especially beneficial in this regard.
• Does your brand hashtag need to be included in your design assets?
• Considering repurposing your content across multiple channels? Be aware that each platform has different dimensions, so leave enough white space for cropping and resizing
• Remember the cover image, thumbnail, and meta description images

Finally…

Use a social media calendar that all teams and individuals have been invited to. Then focus on the build-up to launch by teasing content for your audience.

This understanding of when to start talking about the product is essential. A good rule of thumb is to ensure you start to build up anticipation around the product no later than a week before the launch. And do it across all the channels you work on.

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