How to Test Market a New Product on Social Media
This article is written by Thumbstopper, a turnkey solution enabling brands and retailers to automatically post content on their social media.
How you handle launching a new product can make or break its ultimate success. Whether you’re a startup or an established national brand, you want to handle each product launch like it’s the most important campaign you’ve ever executed. Of course, listing your new product on new marketplaces with enriched data and optimized product listings is a great start, but spreading awareness will also be crucial. Social media content is key to your success, as it offers one of the most versatile, cost-effective, and far-reaching methods for reaching your customers and gathering customer feedback. Here are some important points to remember for launching a new product on social media.
Advantages of Using Social Media for a Product Launch
First, make sure that social media is the right vehicle for your product launch campaign. In most cases, it offers several benefits.
Social media supports transparency. Make sure you have a solid plan to establish a social presence. Assuming you already employ a social media marketing strategy, you have likely already built a following. Social media allows for expressing your brand culture and values and lets you build genuine relationships with customers. The transparency it offers contributes to trust — and customers are more likely to take a chance on your new product if they already trust your brand.
Social media builds anticipation. Use your channels to generate buzz, perhaps by releasing hints about the product in advance or simply mentioning that you’re about to make a big announcement. Brand loyalists will make sure to follow you on social media if it means they’ll be the first to hear whenever you launch a new product.
Tap into influencer networks. A new, untested product can benefit from endorsements by real users. This is exactly where influencer marketing excels. Send your product to influencers in advance so they can talk about it the moment it launches.
Segment your launch geographically. When launching a new product, sometimes you want to start small. You might test the market it in a few cities. By using paid social media tools, you can target specific demographics, including location.
Your content is easy to share. The easier you make it for potential customers to tell each other about your product, the more likely they are to do so. When they can simply tag a friend and let them see your photos or video first-hand, they’ll do a lot of your work for you.
Preparing for Your Product Launch
As with any social media campaign, a product launch on social media requires planning. Weave the activities related to your launch into your existing content calendar. Avoid letting the product launch overshadow your ongoing marketing tactics or vice-versa, especially if you’re launching only to a limited audience.
Put Your Ear to the Ground
Social media provides a lot of opportunities ahead of your product launch to make sure you get it right and avoid common pitfalls. If you already use social media marketing, you probably employ a social listening strategy. Perhaps that’s even what inspired your new product. Continue listening and fine-tune your approach as you prepare for and then launch your new product. Figure out in advance whether you’ve missed the mark and can make any last-minute tweaks.
You can take a more formal approach to collect customer feedback, too. For example, you can use poll or survey features in Facebook or Twitter or simply share a link to your own custom survey. Test the waters to learn not only whether the market wants your product, but things like how much they would be willing to pay for it and whether they want it with certain optional features.
Your competitors’ social media feeds provide a wealth of information, too. Pay attention to how they talk about products in the same category and the reactions they get. Notice industry trends. If you can find reviews of your competitors, learn from both the positive and the negative.
Get Your Assets Ready
As you’re paying attention to what the outside world is saying, get everything ready internally, too. You absolutely must invest in great product photos and videos. You will want to set up photo shoots well in advance. At the same time, consider the color palette and brand standards you will use in your social media campaign. Develop any hashtags you will use and draft copy that conveys the benefits and features of your new product.
If you plan to use social media automation to distribute your content, set it up well in advance, using a social media automation platform you can trust. Automating your posting can free you to respond to feedback and focus on other aspects of the launch.
Inform Your Partners
Always give advance notice to your local retailers and influencers about your product launch. Both will need to fully understand the product specifications and how to talk about it with potential customers. Your retailers, in particular, can be your greatest asset in rolling out a new product so treat them as a partner in this endeavor.
Launching Your Product on Social Media
Once the launch day arrives, your product has to be ready to get into the hands of your customers. For a purely digital product, you simply need the ability to download it. For a physical product, you have the opportunity to drive in-person traffic to your retailers. Perhaps you keep the product launch exclusive by offering it only to select retailers or those in certain geographic markets. The launch is a great opportunity for co-op marketing, benefiting your brand and your retailers.
As soon as you launch, you will start to get feedback, ready or not. Gather it, sort it, and decide how to use it. You will also have to respond to comments on social media, both good and bad. You may have to admit to initial errors or bugs as things get started — remaining transparent further solidifies audience trust.
As you’re testing a product you’re also testing your marketing. You can compare performance for different product images, headlines and descriptions, along with where and when you share the content. All of this data can inform your future marketing efforts.
Ready, Set, Launch
Launching a new product can be one of the most exciting times in the life of your business, and social media offers a world of possibilities for how to execute it. Put in the time and resources to build a launch plan that works for your unique brand and makes the most of your strengths.