Promotions are everywhere. As we progress technologically, we connect with information through more and more channels, all of which have invented a way to advertise to us. Unsurprisingly, this makes it difficult for any particular online promotion to stand out in the sea of uninspired, conventional sales and incentives. That is to say, unless you have the promotion of the century, you’ll have to do a lot more than put up a sign in your window front to get customers to take notice.
We touched on this last week, when we talked about the importance of
creating a story around your promotion. This week, we want to give you three key strategies for increasing online customer engagement, so that when you do have something to advertise, you’ll be able to do so in an attention-getting way.
- It’s Not Only a Promotion
While the goal of the promotion is to make money, and the goal of the online campaign is to advertise the promotion, online customers, overburdened by ads, are becoming more and more weary of hard-sell tactics. What that means for you is that the
promotion should not be all about the promotion. Groundbreaking, we know.
Ask yourself, what else can you offer?
It might be information, framed as something like, “Is your current chocolate chip cookie mix good enough? Take this five question quiz! [secretly: THEN BUY OUR MIX!!] Or, it might be a joke that makes someone’s day just a little better. Either way, the advertisement for the promotion now has a value of its own, which will help it go a lot further.
- Ask for Their Involvement
A lot of the time, simply asking for customer involvement is enough to receive it. Of course, the question has to be worthy and interesting enough to the customer.
For example, ask a question about an activity related to your product. You could ask customers to submit the top issues they have with their current cookie sheets, or their suggestions for what would make the best cookie sheet [quietly: THEN BUY OUR MIX!!] Anytime a customer gives you 5 seconds of his or her day, you’ve won. Plus, nothing boosts online customer engagement as much as witnessing
other customers being engaged.
- If They Share It, You’ve Won
Try to keep in mind that not every online follower you reach has to turn into an immediate customer.
Sharing your promotion with their friends holds a special place in the involvement pyramid, because, while the customer might not be purchasing anything, they’re is showing you that they see you as fit to be introduced to their social circle. From there, you’re practically dating!
What takes very little time involvement on their part, through the power of exponential growth, can spread the news about your promotion faster than wildfire.
Encourage shareability in two ways:
- Making it as easy as possible to share the content by providing the appropriate technical tools for one click sharing. Believe us, the difference between one click and 5 clicks really does matter, so do what you can to make your promo as easily shareable as possible.
- This ties into our first strategy, but make the promotion interesting enough to warrant sharing even if noone plans on purchasing. Whether you use humor or helpful info, this is the way to spread the word far and wide.
Remember, to be an online promotion pro, make your advertisements not completely about the promotion. In other words, be better than the “Everything must go!” cliché. If you build inherent value within your ads, you won’t have any problem drawing attention to your promos. [THEN BUY OUR MIX!!]
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