Take Your Experiential Marketing to the Digital Level

Put simply, experiential marketing is a strategy brands use to connect with their target market. Usually, experiential marketing involves direct, human interaction at an event, in a store or at another physical location. However, in this digital age, marketers can leverage technology to take experiential to the next level.

Facebook Messenger

Even with the Cambridge Analytica fiasco, Facebook is still the world’s largest social network. Yet, the platform isn’t making it any easier for brands to reach audiences organically after the Facebook Apocalypse from earlier this year. Fret not, however, because there’s an even better tool to get your message in front of your audience… enter Facebook’s Messenger service. Millions of people are already using it and by 2020, over 132 million users are projected to communicate on Facebook Messenger.

So, how exactly do brands connect on Facebook Messenger to deliver an experience that wows? And how do they automate these interactions?

Depending on your business goals, priority should be given to activities that drive new leads, convert leads to buyers, increase loyalty, etc. Once you’ve identified the most important goals to your business, then you’ll want to start testing out some tactics. Make sure to plan accordingly for any kind of scenario that may occur.

Need some ideas on where to begin with Facebook Messenger? Here are some of our favorites:

• Share your blog content
• Send a promotion for your products or services
• Allow for event sign ups
• Then, engage during the event
• Re-engage lapsed customers
• Provide accelerated customer service
• Share lead magnets and lead nurturing content

One of the coolest things about marketing on Facebook Messenger is that you don’t have to be a developer to implement. All you need is access to a programmable chatbot to do the work for you. Popular tools like ManyChat and ChatFuel are easy to use.

SMS/Text Messaging

SMS marketing boasts ridiculously high engagement. According to Smart Insights, 98% of all marketing text messages are read. While SMS is a powerful tool to reach people directly at their fingertips, with that power comes great responsibility to use it wisely. No one wants to be bombarded with ads in their texts, which is why it’s important to make sure you offer a way to opt-in to SMS — plus offer an easy way to opt-out, a la STOP.

When channeling leads and customers in this type of campaign, be sure to keep it fun for a memorable experience that’ll make you stand out from your competitors.

As with Facebook Messenger, when creating a text message campaign start with identifying your marketing goal(s) and determining what results equal success. Then plan, implement, test and optimize.

Here’s what a sample campaign could look for an event your company is speaking at:

• Offer valuable content such as an ebook or a checklist.
• Place a dedicated phone number and a unique short code on marketing materials — such as the presentation footer (seen on every slide), a dedicated slide, business cards and fliers — allowing the audience to access the content.
• When someone in the audience texts the code to the phone number, it will kick off the campaign.
• Use casual, light-hearted language that’s in-line with your brand.
• Start with an introduction: Ask for their name and email address first (so you can continue marketing to them after the event is over)
• Don’t stop at just the delivery of the content…
• Capture this engagement and ask for a newsletter opt-in.
• Or ask a question, like: What’s the biggest obstacle for achieving your goals?
• Lastly, thank them. Let them know you had fun, too.

There are dozens of tools on the market to implement SMS campaigns. One of our favorites is FixYourFunnel, which easily integrates with Infusionsoft, our CRM and marketing automation platform.

Key Takeaway

While bringing an experience digitally may sound counterintuitive at first, it really isn’t. The key is to be thoughtful while adding elements of joy, fun and surprise into the mix. At Webolutions, we believe there’s an experience to be had at each and every single touch point in the customer lifecycle. We’d love the opportunity to let us show you how. Let’s start with coffee and go from there. Call us at 303.300.2640 or Get Started here.