Brands are racing to build social media following. To get a head start, brands should build an audience before they launch their products.
FAST, a company without a product has 15k followers (and still growing) while the average Twitter account has 707 followers.
Learning from FAST, here’s what you can do to build audience before launching your products
1. Giveaway
FAST gives value first by giving away hoodies, and followers return the favour by engaging. Giveaway is the fastest way to increase following and impressions. Although not everyone who is following you will be converted to buyers, having bigger reach means your likelihood to reach your potential customers increases. Instead of wasting money on advertising, why not give it to your customers?
2. Q&A session or product walkthrough
Your second step is familiarizing your potential customers with your products. You want customers, not just followers. Promote your product and highlight it’s best features to convert audience into customers. It’s important to make sure that your product lives up to the hype, you don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver.
This giveaway serves as a product walkthrough (how fast FAST is)
3. Be Creative
Don’t just promote your product. Utilize what’s trending, be witty, have fun with your audience.
FAST describes the pre-FAST experience of online shopping through GIFs.
4. Repost audience’s content
This is the easiest yet most beneficial way to create content. The audience will be motivated because they get more exposure. You don’t need to create content, plus you get social proof because you’re not the one doing the promotion.
Building social media following is one of the most sought after skills and now you can do it even before the product launches. Content first and product second will be the new norm in marketing.
Do you know any other companies that are amazing at pre launching their business? What other strategy works for pre launching? Comment below!
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21 thoughts on “Content first, Product second”
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This is a really interesting example Sher! It seems like a great idea for new companies to build up a substantial customer audience before launching their products. I really like the ideas you have provided here. Personally, I find the more interactive promotions like giveaways or Q&A sessions on social media extremely engaging and attention-grabbing!
Thanks Ella! I think so too, I tend to follow brands because of their giveaways. It’s great for us customers and the brands themselves
I completely agree! Good read too! Often times creating a presence and following online is just as crucial to a business as having a quality product. Companies spend months planning out content in advance.
Thanks Kitty! That’s a great point, I think socmed is one of the biggest investment (time and money) that generates immeasurable return.
Nice quick read! This kind of marketing has been on the rise (personal anecdote) as I’ve seen many of my peers or seniors starting their own business by capturing an audience before they’re ready to launch.
Thanks Tommy! Yeah that’s exactly why I wrote it, I think it will become more and more common
Hey is another great example for pre launch marketing. Their product walk through is really detailed and interesting. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Sabrina! Hey is a really good example, I was immediately interested in their product just by watching their walkthrough
I think a lot of the success has to with Matt and his following before joining the Fast team. Don’t get me wrong, he’s doing amazing things and Fast is brilliant for hiring him. But it’s a fair question: would the account have grown this quick without Matt’s personal brand making the initial push to Fast accounts?
Hi Alex, I agree with you. Matt’s personal brand is definitely a huge factor for increasing followers. But I don’t think people would still be a follower if they don’t find value in what they’re doing. I also think my 4 principles can help any brand to do their pre-launch marketing, even without big following
It’s a great reading Sher, I really enjoy the writing.
Thank you for reading Susanto 🙂
Very interesting! I never heard about FAST before, but reading your post I found it really fascinating. Your points are surely helpful for those who want to start a business. Looking forward for your future post!
Thanks Shella! People who are starting a business is definitely my target audience, good catch!
Thank you so much for this article! I can understand it easily, and how you wrote it is so easy to read! 😀 I like it so much! looking forward to your next article 🙂
Thanks for reading Angie! Which part did you like the most?
Hi Sherlyn, I really like your blog post and the blog design. It was an interesting read, I can’t wait to read more posts in the future 🙂
Hi Gracelle, thank you for the kind words 🙂
Love the post Sher! The points you make in this post really highlight the importance having good customer relations. Engaging with the audience through methods such as giveaways and Q&As can make them feel valued which is very important for organisations!
Thanks Borna! Indeed, audience building is something you can do before actually having a product to sell and retaining them is crucial to organizations’ long term success.