When it comes to online marketing and engagement, branding success is now about the individual – up close and personal – as a main driving force in promoting your personal brand. Samsung demonstrated this quite well in a recent example during the 2014 Oscars with the use of their cell phone by Ellen DeGeneres. What followed was a social media viral sensation that sent Twitter crashing.
How can your brand gain this much attention?
Granted most brands are not being shared through major celebrity-driven events. But the strategy behind Samsung’s smart marketing is one take notice of and learn from. Here are several key points to ponder in promoting your personal brand through an event, content or images.
1. Avoid directly promoting your brand. The lesson learned from Oscar night is that Samsung allowed full view of its product both on television and in social media without even advertising its name. Take time to create something that will be memorable and shared to your audience. Personal photos of you or your team as well as of your fans and followers are especially viral.
2. Make brand promotion ‘undercover.’ Create engagement of your brand by being discreet in your product placement. Use every day moments or send a message that will lead directly to your social networks and website in a way that is not obvious.
3. Get the message out through big promoters. When Ellen’s tweet was sent out her Twitter following grew to a whopping 1.5 million! Stay connected with high influencers in your niche. Interact with them, and share their content. When they return the favor and share your brand’s messages, there is a high chance that your tweets and posts will become viral.
4. Consider Television as an offline market. More and more social media is now tied to television. With the right program and audience, your personal brand could greatly benefit from tapping into this vast resource. If this is outside your budget, consider using YouTube and Vimeo along with Instagram and Vine for out-of-the-box videos.
The ‘selfie’ and personal content promotions used by today’s personal brands are very effective in building an audience and creating a buzz. The televised Oscars show certainly helped Samsung garner attention, however; there are still ways you can create fresh, memorable, and personal tweets and posts that people will want to share with the use of clever ideas.
