Social media outlets can be a great tool for promoting your business or brand. The most popular way to get traffic onto your social media pages is of course to add follow and share buttons to your website. However, a new and innovative way to draw attention to your Twitter or Facebook page is offline social media.
Social media is not dead - as some may have noted -and brands have started to get creative. You may have noticed businesses and companies advertising their social media pages offline. It's becoming one of the latest crazes in terms of social media optimization.
What Is It?
Offline social media is a catchy way to advertise social media off the web. For example: on pamphlets, store signs, windows, or even shoes if you're really feeling crazy (see screenshot above). This method is getting increasingly popular, and many businesses and companies have started putting this method to use.
Take real estate agents for example. Often times you will see their face slapped on a bus stop bench with a catchy slogan, attracting home buyers. It's affective because people are forced to look at it, and it leads into word of mouth.
This idea can work the same for social media. The more your social page is advertised, the more people hear about it, and visit it. Creating buzz around your social media page is a great way to bring awareness to your brand.
What can it do for Your Brand?
Fans want to keep up-to-date with your brand, and you want them to interact with you. Placing your social icons off your page and into the real world is a quick and effective way of leading your fans to you. You are making it easier for people to get to know your brand. They don't have to check out your website to find your social pages; they can find it in the real world.
How to Make Offline Social Media Work:
My number one social media pet peeve is being led to an account that has little or no activity. Offline social media is a waste of time and money if you lead followers to a social page that is at a standstill. At that point, word of mouth is no longer effective.
I've seen icons placed on t-shirts, billboards, and store signs like in the screenshot below. The idea is to place the buttons in areas where they are going to be seen, and people are going to be attracted to them. If you put it on your business card - but you don't hand out your business card often - try a sticker for your car window.
Offline social media is trending now - no pun intended - and as we see more Twitter and Facebook trends offline, businesses can use this idea as a way to attract people to their pages. I think it's a quick and effective way of attracting people to a business moreso than advertising a website address (which can be difficult to memorize).
If you saw an offline social media ad, would you be more opted to check it out over a website address?