How to Plan a Product Launch on Social Media

Almost everyone is on social media these days.

Some are on at least one of the major platforms, regardless of it being Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Social media is not only a place to connect with friends, since nowadays people also use it to stay up to date with trends and browse products online.

This behaviour has certainly intensified and become more apparent with the current global state of lockdowns and home quarantines too.

You can think of social media as a door that can open brands to a vast number of opportunities – if they know how to utilise the platform appropriately.

A product launch on social media is not as easy as one might think. Well, it shares certain similarities to a traditional product launch, but with some very different steps to take.

So many brands have done it but how many brands have had a social media product launch that was successful?

Here are some steps you can use for your product launch :

Step 1: Prep your social media content calendar and define your launch goals
Step 2: Choose your social media channels
Step 3: Tease the audience with anticipatory content to create buzz
Step 4: Create a hashtag to go with your launch-related posts
Step 5: Get your customers and community talking

Step 1: Prep your social media content calendar and define your launch goals

When it comes to social media, timing is crucial. Your launch-related posts can easily get lost in a sea of content that competes for attention on any social media platform if you post at the wrong time. Plan a timeline for your campaign and set milestones that work best for your brand and team.

It is the journey that matters, not the destination. Yes, the launch date is the main agenda, however, each step of the way matters just as much to shape a successful product launch.
Your timeline should include the following:

planning
pre-launch hype/teasers
launch day
post-launch posts
integration of your new product into your regular content schedule

Start from the launch date and work your timeline around it so that you can plan on how to execute all the ideas you have and align it with the amount of time that is left and you can skip having an “expectations vs reality” moment. Having a structured social media content calendar will help you organize all your marketing assets to maximize engagement and reach.

It might seem like an unnecessary extra step since you already know what you want to do and when you want to do it, but before you start planning on when and what content to post, be sure to identify your goals and how to measure them.
The goals you have defined will also determine the direction of your campaign. If you did not define your goals before the social media launch, how do you know if it was successful or not?

There is no right answer on what the goal for your brand is– whether your brand wants to build more followers and mentions, increase brand awareness, or grow engagement within the community – as it will depend on your brand’s current situation. This is why you must identify the ever-evolving goals that your brand is trying to reach.

Step 2: Choose Your Social Media Channels

To reach the goals you have set earlier, you will first have to develop strategies and choose an appropriate social media channel for your product launch. Although it would seem like a good idea to launch your campaign on all social media platforms hoping that it will reach an extensive audience, it is always better to reach the right audience albeit one that is smaller rather than putting in time and money in exchange for a plethora of random people who will just scroll past your product launch because it’s not targeted at their interests.

So, how will you know which is the most appropriate social media channel to choose?

You must know who your target audience is. Do some research and try to shift your view to the user’s perspective. Then, identify which social media channel your target audience typically likes to spend time on and find out what they do there. The demographics and psychographics of your target audience are key for the success of your social media launch.

You should also note that how users interact on the various social media platforms –Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, etc – are different, as each platform is designed to function differently while having distinct features available. For that reason, you would have to come up with multiple approaches tailored to each platform. Focus and share your content on platforms that your target audience is expected and more likely to engage with.

If you need more information in this area, you can read our guide on social media platforms that would most suit your target audience in this link.

Step 3: Tease the audience with anticipatory content to create buzz

People don’t enjoy it when they are out of the loop and there’s no harm in teasing them a little when you want to launch your product on social media. You can give your followers a glimpse of what your product has to offer to create suspense, but don’t show too much or else there won’t be momentum for a big reveal on your launch day. The anticipatory content will help to hype up your followers on social media and get them talking about it with their friends.

Here are a few examples of how we did it:

Countdown posts

When you start a countdown, it creates a sense of urgency which builds anticipation for the new product that will be launching soon. Countdown posts gets people feeling excited and serves as nicely-timed bursts of reminders that intrigue users about your product in launch-related posts. On D-Day, the countdown would have naturally piqued the curiosity of your intended audience – and sure enough, you’ll have them genuinely wanting to check out your new product launch.

For example, Bao Malaysia used this approach and got a good response from their audience as they implemented this countdown approach.

Coming soon posts

Simply introducing a new product minus a thought-out approach might not leave the best impression on your audience when you post, or worse still, they do not even see your post. So, to avoid that, it’s always fun when there’s a little mystery before your big reveal. “Coming soon” posts will keep people guessing and also encourage conversations centered on your brand and what’s new from you.

Take this example, Goody Tushoo, an Australian company that sells healthy snacks, published an intriguing post with hints about their new snacks, but not the actual product yet.

Then, they posted the big reveal of their new product the following day.

Giveaway and lucky draw posts

Okay, who doesn’t like winning and getting free stuff?

More so if it is from a beloved brand that you have been following and it is a new product. Many brands have demonstrated how giveaways are proven techniques to drive engagement. If your goal is to grow your engagement, this is an appropriate approach for your brand, assuming the approach fits the budget of your campaign.

Giveaways and lucky draws can not only increase new followers for your brand, but it can also reach existing followers that have not been actively engaging with your posts for a while now. This way is fun and appealing, and will certainly up the likelihood of people remembering your brand. Here’s an interesting example from Bao Malaysia.

In addition to organizing a lucky draw, they went a step further and teamed up with a local mega influencer to host it which, as you’ve guessed, created A LOT more buzz than a traditional post. Collaborating with the right influencers is also a sure-fire way to increase engagement and grow your followers. As Bao has shown, leveraging on a lucky draw and an influencer who is popular with their brand’s audience is a good tried-and-true approach that effectively gets your brand the engagement and followers it needs to grow.

Step 4: Create a hashtag to go with your launch-related posts

A specific hashtag for your social media launch does the double duty of reinforcing your brand identity and creating an opportunity to involve your social media-savvy audience in the campaign. Your brand’s unique hashtag will motivate followers to tag and share content related to your product launch as it would give them a role in your campaign.

People enjoy the feeling of being included, and in this case, your audience can join in the fun of your brand’s journey by using your hashtag, while simultaneously generating new conversations about your upcoming launch.

Combining the hashtag with a giveaway or contest for the product launch would be helpful when tracking the contest entries. This way, you will be able to separate the new product launch from past campaigns. Make sure to keep it simple, unique, and easy to remember – but pay special attention to the campaign slogan or message that you want to be communicating when creating your hashtag.

On top of that, the use of hashtags for launch-related posts is one way for brands to measure the success of each social media launch. After all that is said and done, the accomplishment will still depend on the goals of your product launch, but here are some hashtag metrics you can track:

How many people used your hashtag in their posts?
How many unique users posted content using your hashtag?
How many likes, shares, and clicks did your hashtag achieve?
How many user feeds did your hashtag appear on?
How many times was your hashtag viewed (including users that saw it)?

Hashtags are most suitably used on platforms like Instagram or Twitter as it groups relevant content, making it easier for launch-related posts to be discovered and interact with users of similar interests. Keep in mind that the main audience on these platforms tend to fall on the younger generation– millennials to gen z– who are the main users of hashtags on social media. For more details on how to utilize Instagram to reach the younger generation, you can check out what we wrote through this link.

Step 5: Get your customers and community talking

Give your audience something to talk about. Ensure that your launch-related posts have a value that resonates with your audience so that it will spark an interest in your brand. This will also encourage people to stay interested and give more cause for them to share your posts.

When you’ve caught their attention and interest with the hype and content, it will not be hard to stimulate the desire for them to purchase your product/service. Gone are the days where people had to wait for the customer service line to get back to answering one simple question. You need to be ready for customer care on social media by responding to your customers promptly. Your brand will also appear as affable and open, not to mention it can help build engagement on your posts.

Don’t limit the interaction to only responding to your audience. Keep the buzz going and stir up a conversation to get them to talk back to you; ask them questions to start the conversation so that they know you are listening. Question-based posts can create a sense of community by keeping them involved. People love sharing experiences, you just have to ask the right questions to get them to talk.

However, remember to keep the conversation revolving around your new product launch. Be proactive and always strive to connect with your audience– encourage customers to share their thoughts and experience with the new product. It would be best if your brand can repost any content that is related to your new product launch so that the involvement from the audience remains. This will build excitement from the audience and encourage more people to post your launch-related content in hopes of getting highlighted by the brand too. In other words, think of your audience as billboards for your brand on social media.

This strategy works on most social media platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter as they are social networking and microblogging platforms respectively. The audiences in these two platforms are not the same but both platforms allow users to share their thoughts and speak out. You can find out more on how to take advantage of these platforms for your brand through here. For more information click on the button below to contact us for more social media marketing consultancy.

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