Social Media Results on a Shoestring Budget

Social media marketing is a great tool for crowdfunding campaigns on a tight budget. Last night's Next Chapter event, in partnership with BSD Design and Code Academy, was only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to social media or crowdfunding, but it did give us some great takeaways to help get you started.

Crowdfunders dream of being the next viral product or idea - the next BIG THING. And, it can happen, but what we don't see is all of the work that goes into a social media campaign before, during and after the launch of these sensational viral products.

Here are some tips to get the social media side of your crowdfunding campaign off the ground.

Can You Answer These Questions?
What do you want your marketing to enable you to do?
Do you have an elevator pitch?
What's your concept or unique selling point?
Where do you want your marketing to lead your audience?

Develop Your Content.
Thinking about your goals, come up with targeted messaging and a schedule for executing. Most crowdfunding campaigns have only 4-6 weeks to raise funds but the schedule should start well before this point.

Crawl Before You Thrive
Walk before you run. It takes time, effort and strategic thinking to get the follows, likes, shares and engagement of a thriving viral campaign. The process begins well before launch with research, raising brand awareness, and developing a strategy.

Quick tips to consider:

1.     Boost posts that are doing well. If it is receiving good engagement already, time to capitalize on that.

2.     Check the progress of your campaign daily and adapt as needed. Keep on top of this and your campaign will be most effective.

3.     Find 10 really good hashtags for your product and use them consistently. Make sure they are relevant for engaged followers. Check out hastagify.me.com for some ideas.

4.     Make sure your images are eye catching - Canva.com is a great resource.

5.     Include a call to action on all posts. What do you want your audience to do? Tell them!

There's always more to learn and attending one of our events, reaching out to ask questions or registering for a boot camp with BSD is an excellent place to start!