Want to be better at social media marketing? Take some lessons from Halloween.
We originally published this post back in 2016, and every year at Halloween we go back and revisit it, just for fun. Guess what? The fundamentals still apply. Social media marketing is a constantly morphing monster, but at the end of the day the basic approach to outreach and engagement is the same. So, sit back, open up a snack-size Snickers, and refresh your social marketing know-how with some Halloweeny tips …
Social media marketing – lessons from trick or treating
Halloween is a big deal at my house. We start planning costumes, parties and decorations weeks in advance. However, the big event is obviously the trick or treating. Ah, that sugar-fueled parade of pint-sized ghosts and goblins. It just never gets old, especially if you impose a “candy tax” on your kids like I do (hey – don’t judge).
This year, as I was setting up the ghost lights and adhesive spider webs, I got to thinking about how trick or treating is a lot like social media marketing. Both are full of excitement and opportunity, and both require some strategy and knowledge to do things right. Not sure what I mean? Check out just some of the ways that social media marketing and trick or treating are similar:
It’s free!
Free candy! Are you kidding me? This is awesome! All the sugar I can carry in a plastic pumpkin for the price of … nothing? This is amazing!
Social media, at first glance, appears to be the same free-for-all. Free to set up your profiles and business pages. Free to post. Free to communicate directly with connections. A free platform to promote your business to millions of prospective customers. Free content all over the place, just waiting for you to consume it like some sort of a never-ending Halloween candy binge.
Or is it?
There are always costs. Halloween candy is free to collect and consume, but you didn’t really get it for free, did you? Did you pay for the Avengers outfits your entire family bought as a coordinated ensemble? Did you buy several industrial-size bags of candy to pass out to all the neighborhood kids (and also enable your wife’s all-consuming chocolate addiction)? Did you purchase Halloween decorations or pumpkins for carving? Did you take time off of work so you could get home to help your kids get ready?
There are costs behind any good enterprise, including social media marketing. For example, someone has to write all that great content that goes up on your channels. Whether it’s the business owner, an employee, a contractor or a marketing agency, there is a cost associated with it (measured in time or actual billing). If you want any sort of cohesive strategy behind your campaign, then you’re probably paying a professional to create that for you. And then there’s the cost of graphics, video, stock imagery and other elements to spice up your posts. Did you want your message to go to a larger audience with interests in your core services? Then you’ll need to pay to promote your posts. Also, let’s not forget about all the other paid promotional items that are increasingly necessary in a strong social campaign—sidebar ads, page promotions, retargeting ads, etc. Bottom line: Social media has a low cost of entry, but it is not free! In fact, it’s increasingly a pay-to-play enterprise. If you want social media to work for your business, you need to be prepared to make an investment.
It requires a plan.
You don’t just walk outside on October 31 and start trick or treating—unless you’re one of those shifty, costume-less teenagers that show up at my door every Halloween at about 9:45 p.m. carrying a pillow case for candy. No, dedicated trick or treaters have a plan. You come up with a costume. You beg your parents to buy it or make it. You map out the nearby houses known for the best candy. You make sure your dad has had enough of the “adult only” witch’s brew to adopt a really lax attitude toward bedtime. Then you hit the streets.
Same goes for social media marketing. Sure, you could spend a few minutes setting up a Facebook page and then start peppering the populace with promotional messages. But that won’t get you very far. Like any other media, social media requires strategy, consistent work and careful audience targeting. In other words, a plan. If you want to get anything out of your social networking, then you need a method behind the madness.
At first, it’s really sweet.
Mmmmmm, Halloween candy. There’s something about those cheap, mass-produced sugar packages that tastes so good when it’s handed out by strangers and dumped ceremoniously on the living room floor after a couple hours of canvasing the neighborhood.
Social media offers some really sweet channels for reaching prospects in new ways. You can connect on a personal level, addresses questions in real time, disseminate content to mass audiences and target your communications by demographics, location, interests, even previous interactions. Sweet indeed.
But too much sweetness can make you sick.
Yes, you can have too much of a good thing. While 20 party-sized packages of Starbursts may be delicious, riding the rainbow of fruit flavor that high may earn you an express trip to a tummy ache, or diabetic shock, or both.
Social media has evolved into today’s dominant mass marketing vehicle, but users didn’t sign up for Facebook or Instagram because they wanted to be inundated with your promotional content. They’re not networking on LinkedIn because they feel like they need more interruptive online ads in their life. So exhibit some self control. Be social. Be interactive. Be helpful and informative to your audience. Then, every now and then, drop a promotional post on your audience with a direct call to action. Think of those posts as your reward for all your hard work building your community on social media—like that Milky Way you saved for the end of your lunch to reward yourself for suffering through an organic kale and pumpkin salad as your main course.
What’s the summary of all this? Just like trick-or-treating and Halloween candy, social media marketing requires a plan, a balanced approach and some thought about the future. Keep that in mind, and you’ll power your business with just the right amount of energy—without that catastrophic sugar crash at the end.
Want to learn more? Request a free consultation about your specific needs. We’re not afraid to share our candy, so go ahead and call today!
