Promotional products and merchandise is a great way to build your brand’s social media presence. All that tweeting, facebook time, blogging and the rest of it would be useless without getting your target audience engaged. Due to the tangible nature of promotional gifts, they are sure to give you powerful brand interaction when used together in your social media campaigns.
Here are five ways you can use promotional merchandise to leverage your social media campaigns:
1. Coupons
Most people look for a deal wherever they can get one so coupons are a great incentive to get targeted fans to like your page. You can design and post your own coupon to your social media page using Facebook plug-in applications. For example, if you’re a gym, once a person likes your Facebook page, the coupon will be activated. You can install a counter on your Facebook page so that once the page hits 50 likes, for instance, each person would be entitled to a free trial training session plus a free drink bottle on a specific day. I know what you’re thinking, “but what if they don’t become a client?” Even if they don’t become a client of yours, the drink bottle with your logo will keep advertising your brand for you plus if they re-tweet saying something awesome about the free gift or even post a picture of the promotional gift on their social media platform such as Instagram, your brand will reach out to more people.
2. Contest
Run an engaging contest. The keyword here is “engaging”. For instance, if you run a weight loss program, you can run a contest for the person with the best before and after weight-loss picture posted on your social media platforms. The most likes for the best picture submitted will win the contest. You can then offer a high value custom promotional gift with your logo for the winner of the contest. The winner of the contest will surely boast about winning the contest and the gift meaning more brand exposure for you.
3. Flash Mob
A flash mob is a bunch of people who are organized traditionally by message boards or SMS to turn up impromptu. You can use promotional merchandise in gathering a flash mob. For example, If you own a donuts shop, you could tweet out a time and place like , “Meet 3pm at Fitzroy park” and a coupon code like donfitz. When people gather at the designated place, you can be there with a selection of your latest donut selection and a custom merchandise coffee cup that the recipients can keep for brand recall.
4. Visual impact
People love visuals. Post pictures of your custom logo promotional products on Instagram, Pinterest and/or Flickr and get your clients to vote on their favourite custom merchandise or even merchandise ideas from your promotional company. Such engagement will help your brand build a community of raving fans.
5. Forge Partnerships
You don’t have to go at it alone. Partner up with complementary businesses or organizations for a power packed social media campaign using promotional items. For instance, if you’re a gym, you can team up with a health foods supplier.
It takes a- lot of work and preparation to to use promotional gifts and merchandise as part of your social media marketing plan, however, when executed well, you’ll be able to create an instant buzz with your target market.
How have you used promotional merchandise as part of your social media success? Share your comments with us in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.
