12 Ways to Use Social Media to Prepare for Your Launch

November 22, 2014

How should you go about building up your social media presence prior to a big event or launch?

1. Add Exclusivity and Teasers

I find that often creating an early VIP program works wonders. You should share behind-the-scenes screenshots and information while allowing a certain group of loyal fans to be early VIPs. You can put an email opt-in form for users to request an invite and encourage them to share to get early access. – Syed Balkhi, OptinMonster

2. Work With Bloggers

Work with bloggers in your niche and offer some sort of giveaway. Allow readers to gain entries by following you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc to help build up your following. –Josh Weiss, Bluegala

3. Mobilize Your Network

You’d be surprised how much people like helping others. Before you do anything of substance, get your family, friends, colleagues etc. on board. Coordinate your marketing efforts with them. Let them know your publishing schedule and ask in advance if they would be able share, tweet, post, etc. to their own social channels. Your network extends farther than you know. – Adam Stillman, SparkReel

4. Create Shareable Content

A great way to build your social media engagement ahead of a big launch is to create shareable content that is useful to your target audience. Create content like infographics or visuals that are fun and easy to share on different types of social media platforms, and don’t be afraid to encourage your audience to share the content and follow your social media accounts, too. –Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

5. Work With a PR Firm or Agency

Entrepreneurs are comfortable outsourcing finance, web development and many more important functions. But PR always feels like a luxury, or something only “the big guys” do. When you’re building to a major milestone in your company’s life, you should give yourself the best chance you have to succeed. If you can afford it, engage with an agency and lean on their expertise to grow your presence! – Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

6. Follow the Hashtag and Join In

If you’re looking to build your social media presence prior to a big event, take charge of your social efforts by monitoring and using the hashtag for opportunities to share information and opinions around what’s trending, and use it to engage others in conversation. Be an active part in the conversations leading up to the event, not just when it happens. – Basha Rubin, Priori Legal

7. Allow Ticket Buyers to Share Event Info

Either create a tool or use an existing one that allows ticket buyers to share the event with their friends. It seems obvious, but a lot of ticketing platforms still don’t correctly use this feature. Sites like shindigg.com or eventbrite.com have a nifty feature that encourages ticket buyers to share the event with their friends, because “it’s more fun with friends.” This kickstarts word-of-mouth referrals for your event. – Andy Karuza, SpotSurvey

8. Pull Together a List of Partners

Find people in your niche who could benefit from your event or launch — these are your partners. Then tell them what you’ve got to offer! Ask them to share the news with their audience over social media. If it’s truly beneficial to their audience, they’ll be willing to share it and that’ll help you build buzz around your event or launch. – Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Inc

9. Engage Early and Often

Set goals — whether for a certain number of registrations or a dollar figure in revenue — upfront. Build momentum by planting the seed at an early stage, then marketing more actively and frequently across multiple platforms leading up to the event. Be sure to include buttons and simple links to make it easy for followers to share your communications. Also engage partners to amplify your reach. – David Ehrenberg, Early Growth Financial Services

10. Leverage Key Influencers

Find social media accounts that influence your potential guests/users and get them to blast teasers leading up to the event, such as a tweet saying “Just got my personal invite to Brand X’s event!” Make sure they leave it vague enough to build mystique and intrigue. – Gideon Kimbrell,InList Inc

11. Use a Launch Countdown with Lessons Learned

At Trunomi, we tweeted “30 Lessons Learned for 30 Days” leading up to our Launch at Money2020. This permitted us to share one amazing lesson from our lives as a startup each pre-launch day. Doing so created huge brand awareness, showed validated learning/pivots and also showed us as human. Hits increased each day across all our social media sites as people became attached to us and our story. – Stuart Lacey, Trunomi Ltd

12. Interact on Instagram

Instagram is the most engaged social media platform right now. If I had to build up a presence prior to a big event, I would find my target customers with Instagram hashtags and/or locations. I’d like one or two of a target customer’s relevant photos, leave a comment and follow them in hopes that they would take a similar interest in my own account. It’s time intensive but effective. – Brett Farmiloe, Markitors