If you’ve got a huge following, or you’re a well-known brand or celebrity, one social post might be all you need to generate traffic and sales. But most of us aren’t in that position, and as such, it generally requires a little more planning, a little more strategy, which means that you also need a little more time to get everything in place and build buzz for your effort.
Compare the social media marketing for your event, webinar or product launch to marketing a movie. Movies don’t just pop up in the theaters and sell out millions of dollars in tickets, you see trailers for weeks, leading into the actual premiere. That extra promotion time is key in building buzz, and getting fans excited for the big reveal.
Having enough lead time for your social media campaigns lets your customers know when your webinar is, when your new product launches online, and enables them to plan accordingly. Advance notice, along with a few reminders, will increase your chances of attendance or purchases.
Planning enough lead time for your social media marketing campaigns allows for:
Time to research
Precious, precious research. When you have ample lead time, you have time to put your feelers out and gather any third party tools you may need, or see if there are any online conversations or resources that can help you get the word out. You’ll also be able to narrow down hashtags, influencers and where else your audience may be “hanging out” online.
Time to organize
This includes creating messaging (like a library of ready to go tweets), getting your creative elements together, posting on event sites etc.
Content gaps can be filled with different variations of content to promote your event. If something isn’t working, you have time to fix it, or change the strategy to reach your goals.
Time to build your audience
Having enough lead time before the launch of a project enables you to build up your audience.
You’ll be able to plan and publish content to attract people the final product is aimed at, or to gather more emails for your list.
Time to create great content
Adequate lead time also enables you to create the content you'll need to attract the right audience.
Teaser and behind the scenes content is always fun for fans to interact with and get excited about, but you also want to give these content pieces time to make the rounds and be seen.
Sometimes you won’t be able to get the lead time you’d like, but the longer you have before your launch or event the better. Ideally, 4-6 weeks lead time is appropriate for a launch, while for an event you’d want several months notice.
The bottom line is that lead time for your social media campaigns will help you and your brand get the most out of your social media marketing. Not only will great “event” based content generate buzz, but it will help boost visibility and reach online.
A version of this post was first published on Dhariana Lozano's blog.