The internet constantly provides innovative ways for us to exchange information – not just in terms of the content, but also in terms of the medium. With the advent of the mobile internet age, we are never too far away from streaming a video, watching an image, a gif, or even a vine. This seems to fit perfectly into the natural progression of technology – newspapers from a hundred years ago seldom carried images – information back then was more often than not, textual. In today’s digital age, even the newspapers try to mimic the format of social media portals – with emphasis on color coding and headline banners. And it is obvious why – this extremely high resolution picture of an ice cream sundae will generate more craving than any textual content.
With constant developments in imaging technology and the advent of new multimedia based social media platforms, the internet society is constantly moving towards generating new and unique experiences. In fact, social media platforms like Vine and Snapchat are proving to be much more engaging with the new age netizens than even Facebook and Twitter. Maybe it is due to this that even Google made the official announcement for Android Nougat on Snapchat.
Multimedia rich content does seem to be the key to catch the consumer’s attention on the internet, and therefore, one should be aware of the possibilities that the internet provides for the same. From advertising opportunities on Youtube, to embedding videos on your product page, to creating quirky branding campaigns for your product on various social media channels, we will cover a few interesting ways to promote your product on the internet to boost sales and increase penetration with your audience.
Creatively Promoting Your Product on the Internet
1. Infographics
Infographics are perhaps the easiest way of delivering information-rich content to the user on the internet. They can be saved as .jpeg or .pdf files, making them light, easy to download and extremely efficient when it comes to visibility on your website. But the real power of an infographic is in the way it helps the user visualize information in an entertaining and intelligent manner. Just have a look at this infographic about how to make a good infographic, or this one that visualizes the insides of your phone as a factory.
A good infographic is a mix of crisp and concise content along with attractive design meant to engage the viewer and provide information in an efficient manner. So whenever there is information that needs to be provided, think out of the box, and try out an infographic. Check out this product page for Roots Professional Morocvita Oil on Amazon, which incorporates an clean and attractive infographic in the product description column – much more interesting than a run-in-the-mill product description!
2. Product Description Videos
A step further from the pictorial infographic is the moving pictures – why waste time reading a product description when you can watch it in action! Nowadays, many companies are adopting this method of embedding fun videos that provide information about the product, while doubling up as advertisements, on the product’s webpage on the sales channel. A great example is Google’s product description of Chromecast – this one minute video, which is found under the title ‘What is Chromecast?’, shows the product in action, rather than having to describe what the product does in words. A cautionary note in this case is that, many websites feature embedded video advertisements that automatically play when the webpage opens. Very few things are more annoying than autoplaying ads – this Digiday article even calls this strategy ‘The Most Hated Digital Ad Tactic’ – so beware.
3. Master the Hashtag
The hashtag is probably the most important feature of the social media of today, and yet it tends to confuse newbies in terms of how to exactly use it. The secret to hashtags is in fact not that complicated. Once you hashtag a word on a social media platform like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. it goes into the realm of hashtags and becomes open to all users. This means that users who are not following you on the social media channel can now access your tweet or post because of your hashtag. As you can imagine, hashtagging your posts is a must in today’s social media atmosphere, since it is the only way the post will be seen by new audiences apart from the ones following you.
Certain hashtags themselves have become popular, and it is common practice for Twitter users to use trending hashtags so as to improve the visibility of their posts. Many online retail webstores have mastered the art of the hashtag and gained impressive an impressive social media following as a result. Campaigns like #PutACanOnIt by Red Bull and #ShareaCoke by Coca Cola have literally pushed the online presence of these companies to new highs. Here is a great tool for keeping an eye on the trending hashtags when it comes to online shopping.
4. 6 Second Videos
If you don’t want to invest in producing a full fledged video for your product, but at the same time, want to get more than an image or an infographic, you need to enter the world of gifs and vines. A gif or a graphic interface format, is an extremely popular file extension for images, mainly because of its capability to support animation. Gifs exploded especially after Facebook allowed them to be uploaded on its platform, and as a result, today one finds an extremely overwhelming economy of gif based memes flowing through websites like Reddit, 4chan and giphy and into our social media channels.
It is no surprise that online retailers love this format – it is light, quick to load, and can actually provide amazing production possibilities. Not to mention the association with memes that contributes to the popularity of the gif in the first place. Another interesting cousin of the gif is the vine – a product of the social media channel Vine – which allows users to upload videos with the maximum length of 6 seconds. Vine is extremely versatile because it can be embedded almost anywhere, while also being shared on all social media channels. Here is an amazing example of online product promotion using Vine.
These were some tips to help you with finding innovative ways to promote your product on the internet. To know more, get in touch with Browntape. We are India’s leading e-commerce experts and we are always happy to help!
