Marketing process before the launch of the crowdfunding campaign

Marketing process before the launch of the crowdfunding campaign:

*The rules of interaction have changed! 

In today's world social media and crowdfunding go together! 

To succeed on the Internet today, you have to create content that ignites and engages an audience.

Best procedure:

- Having up-to-date profiles on the three major social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) 

- Building followers

- Adding quality contacts on social media must start weeks, if not months, before the campaign launches

- Your ability to get noticed on social media sites. It’s highly important that you leverage the power of social media to your advantage

Do two things: 

- create a list of “core” supporters who will contribute funds and spread the word about the project

- they write the majority of the social media posts they will use throughout the campaign and create a posting schedule for themselves and for their core supporters

1. Study your target audience

It’s important that you analyze the target audience you wish to approach to fund your campaign. (building awareness for your campaign)

* What are their preferences?

* Which social media sites do they visit?

2. Use social media as a testing ground: 

- If your product is poorly received by followers, then it may not succeed as part of a crowdfunding campaign

- Gain insights from potential backers

3. Don’t just rely on your private network of friends

- Gain attention for your campaign creating exclusive pages describing your product. Share the link on multiple pages and target as many people as you can

4. Launch your social media campaign months in advance

- Don’t wait till you launch your campaign on Indiegogo or Kickstarter to begin your marketing activities. It may be too late by then

5. Don’t wait for people to approach you

- You will have to aggressively pursue your audience through interactive posts

- Remember this – an inactive page will serve as a nail in the coffin for your crowdfunding campaign!

6. Create a hashtag for your campaign

- A hashtag will help spread your message

- Create an attractive hashtag for your upcoming campaign

- Use it extensively on your social media profiles. This will help spread word about your campaign

7. Don’t worry about quantity – focus on quality

- Your main focus should be on the quality of posts you create on these pages, not the number of followers you gain

- Create visually appealing posts with engaging content – this will attract the attention of many people. They will be interested to know what you have in store for them

- Have a genuine content developer create attractive copy for your social media pages

8. Observe other popular social media campaigns

- So what kind of posts should you make? Check out other popular pages to get a fair idea of the kind of posts followers like to read

- Your posts should be informative – don’t just focus on your products or cause. Followers will get a feeling you are self-centered

9. Arrive at the perfect Content Mix

- You will have to have the perfect mix of marketing and informative posts

- The nature of posts you create should inspire readers to do as you wish. Highlighting a call to action frequently is advisable

10. Be confident about your approach

- It takes a lot of confidence to excel on social media. Be confident about using social media as a positive tool to gain quality backers for your campaign.

11. Launch your crowdfunding campaign only after you generate positive buzz on social media sites

- There is no point launching your campaign without gaining the support and attention of your target audience

- Wait till you gain quality attention from social media followers till you launch your campaign. This is a wise step that will ensure your campaign doesn’t meet with failure

12. Don’t stress on how much you expect backers to pledge

- The main focus should be to highlight your products. Highlight your offering in great detail. Give potential backers a detailed overview of what they can expect

- Don’t stress on pledge levels – they can wait till the actual crowdfunding campaign

13. Approach journalists to talk about your social media campaign

- Journalists are always on the lookout for interesting tidbits they can share. Why not approach them to highlight your page on Facebook or Twitter? If they like your idea, they will definitely share it among their followers – and journalists usually have huge fan following!

14. Run ads for more outreach

- Sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to run paid ads. You must consider these ads if you are not satisfied with the publicity gained through organic visits

15. Don’t dump social media followers after your crowdfunding campaign is over!

- It’s important that you keep your followers in good spirits even after the crowdfunding campaign is over. 

- If your crowdfunding campaign was a success, then you should stay in touch with them through attractive posts highlighting the progress made in actual production. Let them know about the final product and when it will be delivered to their doorstep. It gives the impression that you really care about them.

Once the campaign is underway, a crowdfunder needs to spend time on the tasks that could not be done in advance, such as reaching out to media, interacting with donors and fulfilling rewards. 

If your crowdfunding campaign was a failure, then thank your followers for their support and move on!