13 Apr
Selfies are now a ubiquitous feature of the online world, with over 88 million photos hashtagged #selfie on Instagram alone. It’s therefore unsurprising that marketers across the globe are looking for creative ways of capitalising on the selfie mania.
If you’re stumped on how your business could use selfies as an innovative marketing tool, here are a few ideas to get you and your team ready to make that classic Kim Kardashian duck face:
1. Make your brand more personable
Selfies are probably the most intimate, direct photos you could ever take: just your face, a glimpse of outstretched arm, and that’s it. This means fun, light-hearted selfies of your team are a great way to make your brand appear more personable and engaging. By putting a ‘human face’ to your business in this way, potential and existing customers can relate more easily to your brand, and are also more likely to interact with your post, no matter what social network you decide to share your selfies on.
2. Promote your products or services
Asking your followers to share selfies showcasing your product or service is a highly effective way of engaging your target market. Selfies appear to be most popular among a younger demographic, so if your target audience is under 35, your campaign stands a higher chance of being successful. Promotions could be as simple as getting your customers to take a selfie with their favourite dessert to win a free coffee at your café; or getting patrons to take a selfie with their dad for father’s day to win a free bottle of wine at your pub. The scope for creative selfie promotions is never-ending.
3. Raise awareness with ‘chain selfies’
Lastly, pay-it-forward selfie campaigns are the latest viral craze on social media. The recent #nomakeupselfie trend earned more than £8 million in six days for Cancer Research UK after millions of people around the world took selfies as a sign of their pledge to donate £3; each donor then nominated other people in their social networks to do the same. These types of ‘chain marketing’ campaigns could easily be applied to businesses once an inventive angle is taken to encourage users to keep paying it forward.
Of course, none of the above marketing tactics will be effective if your target market isn’t already inclined to take selfies or engage with selfie-takers; it’s equally important to pair any selfie campaign with cleverly crafted customised hashtags so that it can really catch on and go viral.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to find your best light, turn your smartphone camera around and get snapping!
