How I Launch New Products and Services on Social Media

Andréa Jones (00:00):
By the time we get to launching anything on social media, it feels super heavy. We spent so much time creating the thing, and now we just want people to, I don't know, buy the thing or listen to the thing or watch the thing magically. We want them to find us and go, oh, well this is amazing, but it usually doesn't happen that way. So in this episode, I want to talk through how to prepare to launch something on social media. Let's get into it.

(00:24):
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(01:05):
If you are new here. Hi. Hello, my name's Andréa Jones. I'm a social media strategist dedicated to helping you make connection and build community all through the power of social media. And let's get into this episode of the Savvy Social Podcast about launching. Okay, first, let's define what the heck a launch even is because sometimes that can also be confusing. So when you have a new product service offer, even something like creative podcast, YouTube channel, and you want to share it with the world, that's considered a launch or a launch campaign. So when I say launching on social media, usually I'm talking about something new.

(01:44):
However, you can also use it to showcase something you currently have. Think of it as a focused energetic moment around a specific product. So for example, if you have something like a membership, I have my mentorship program. It's always available, it's always open. However, there are certain moments in the year where I launch it, meaning I have a focus campaign effort around sharing that program. So sharing that program. So typically I consider that a launch campaign as well. When we're going into a launch on social media, our entire social strategy is usually focused around one thing, whereas the rest of the time it may be a mixture of things. And if you're like me, you talk about a lot of different topics. So for the most of the time, I'm kind of mixing through the various topics, sharing my thought, leadership, my expertise, but key moments when I'm launching something, I'm all about that thing, and it doesn't just stop at social media.

(02:46):
I'll often use launch content in this podcast, in my newsletter, send out sales emails on social. In my one-on-one conversations. It really bleeds into all of my marketing. But we're going to focus on the social media piece of launch campaigns today. Let's talk about a few reasons why you may want to launch. Thinking about why launches are key, especially for those of you who have made something new. Sometimes a launch is that first impression to that new thing, right? Someone doesn't know who you are, they find you today and maybe they've been following you for a while and then you have this new thing and they want to know what it's all about. This is your chance to tell them. Launches are also great for cash injections. Sometimes when we have those moments where we need a boost of revenue, a boost of cashflow in our business, launching something can give you that boost.

(03:37):
It's a focused energetic period where you are talking about one specific thing. And so you're giving your audience one choice, you're giving a community one choice to make that decision, and it really helps focus them in, especially if there's a deadline. So we think about my retreat that I hosted last year, the Savvy Social Retreat. For me, there was a deadline in the sense that you had to get your ticket by a certain date, otherwise you couldn't join us. And so it really helps for cashflow. Launches are also great for brand awareness. So while it gives you a great first impression to your offer, it also overall impacts your brand because people now know you for this new thing. So even if they don't purchase something from you today, they now have an increased amount of awareness. They know what you are about, they know what this product is about, and it's going to be hanging out with them in the back of their mind for a while.

(04:33):
I recently had someone reach out to me who listened to the podcast for years, finally decided to join one of my programs. Even though I have been launching it for a long time, they just need to be in the right place. And so my launches aren't just for here now and today, they're for the future as well. Lastly, launches are a chance for your super fans to show up and show out. I cannot tell you how many times that I'm launching someone something and someone goes, join this thing that Andréa is doing because I did, and I really love the experience. I find this with my product. Be your own B-roll, super easy $9 product. People love it. And then every time I talk about it, people keep sharing it. It's so much fun to see, yeah, I'm launching this thing or relaunching it or sharing it again in a focused way.

(05:23):
And then other people will be like, oh, I'm love this. Or if it's a new thing, they're like, I can't wait to join. Or if it's like a podcast or YouTube channel, they're like, I can't wait to listen, to watch to do the thing, right? So it calls in your super fans. Let's talk about launches, what they look like when they're successful and launches where they look like when things have gone wrong. So successful Launch to me has a clear plan. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end to your launch. I find that the clients that I work with who have the most challenging launches is that they don't have clarity around their plan. They kind of just want to see what happens. And I will say, as a business owner, it's a very emotional experience to go through a launch. And if you have to make decisions in the middle of one, it's very challenging.

(06:11):
So I like to go into it with a clear plan. This is where I'm starting, this is what happens in the middle, and this is where I'm ending, especially dates wise, because it can be very alluring to go into a launch and go, oh, I'll just keep extending it and extending it and give people more time to decide. But we really need a cutoff date for these launches for you and for the customers to make it amazing experience. Good launches also have realistic expectations. I think sometimes we go into a launch and we want everyone to buy this thing and not even some of our favorites do that. So for example, if Old Navy's launching a new line of products, they don't expect their entire customer base to purchase the product. They don't even expect 50% of their customer base to purchase the product. They have realistic expectations.

(07:01):
And as it stands right now, industry standard is still about one to 2% of your community will purchase from you. So one to 2% of the people following you online, one or 2% of the people in your email inbox will purchase from you. And some people are above 2%. Some people are way below. So this is the middle, right, one to 2%. It's the middle. That's realistic. Realistic. So when we think about how many people are going to purchase from us, we need to be realistic about those expectations. I also highly recommend having a support team during a launch. It doesn't have to be people you pay. It can be, which we can talk about, but honestly, having cheerleaders in your corner is pivotal to a great launch. When we don't have our support team, it can feel like we're doing this thing in a silo by ourselves, and it can be very challenging.

(07:52):
Launches I find to be very challenging, which is why I honestly don't do them like a ton, because to me, I'd rather just have my offers on evergreen and then have my key moments. But even in those key moments when I don't have my people to lean on, if I try to rely on it solely myself, it can be very mentally challenging. That's my experience. And that's why I think when you have a launch that goes great, having a support team is super important. And then lastly, kind of being open to trying something new. I find that launches, especially for those of us who are highly creative, can feel a little dry sometimes, and it feels like we're repeating ourselves. It feels like, haven't we said this already? And it also feels like especially if you've done it again and again, it can feel a little bit like you are on some sort of hamster wheel or it doesn't sometimes feel as good as we want it to.

(08:50):
And so being open to trying new things is really key when it comes to every time I launch something, even if it's something that I've done before, I try something new nearly every single time. And that helps improve the launch process. So when I think about launches that do not work launches where I'm like, oh, no, things have gone off the rail. Typically it's because you didn't post enough on social media and you didn't post enough at all in your marketing. You thought, Hey, here's the thing, and people would just buy it. We need repetition launches that don't do well as well. There's like, here's the thing, the cart opens, cart closes, then radio silence afterwards. Usually that doesn't bode well for the launch and then launches that don't go well, you usually have way too much focus on the thing, the product, the podcast, the YouTube channel.

(09:41):
It's like, here's this thing, please buy it the thing again, buy it. Here it is, listen to it, watch it. And there's only so many times we can go, okay, but why? What's in it for me? And so the launches that don't do well typically have too much focus on the thing and not enough focus on the result, not enough. Focus on the community member on the other side of the screen looking at their phone, scrolling through Instagram going, why should I stop what I'm doing and do this thing? What's in it for me here now and today? Last thing with launches that go wrong is over-planning and then not following through. And yes, I love a good plan, but the plan, and again, has to be realistic. And if it's overplanned and then you don't actually do it, it usually goes off the rails, right?

(10:29):
It's not great. It's not a good launch. And then we feel bad about it. We judge ourselves and then we go, I'm never launching again. So I want to talk about how to prepare for a good launch after this break, when we come back.

(10:39):
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(11:18):
Alright, so let's talk about preparing for a launch, because again, launch is to me very draining. Typically, I only do one launch a quarter in my business if even that with my biggest one being something like my Black Friday campaign every year. That to me is a very specific launch campaign. I, I'm planning one this year for a 10 year business anniversary, very specific launch campaign.

(11:45):
The rest of the time I go light on the launches because they can be draining. So balance it however you'd like. But when we think about going into the launch, I really want us to focus on transformative work. And there's an exercise that I teach in one of my programs called the before and the after strategy that I'm going to talk about with you here today because this transformative work is the key to a good launch. And if we go into the launch going, buy my thing here, please buy it. It's like we're begging for people to buy it instead of deeply understanding where they are and having them look at our product and go, oh my gosh, I feel so seen with this person.

(12:22):
Totally understands where I'm coming from. It feels like the sky has parted and the sun is shining, and it's a happy moment, and I'm finally, finally going to have this solution to my problem. In order to do that, we need to put some thinking into the feeling behind the products, the feeling behind the decision making versus the facts. And there are places in this launch for facts. We love facts. Nothing wrong with having the data, but typically we need to relate first before we can even understand how that data is important to us. So that's where the feelings come in. So the before and after strategy, before experiencing your offer, how do people feel? And then after experiencing your offer, how do people feel? Okay, so before you take out a piece of paper, I like to do this on my iPad. I like to hand write sometimes, or you can open up a Google document, put in two columns before and after, whatever floats your boat.

(13:22):
If you're old school style, get out of pen and a paper, write it down. I prefer digital though, then you can share it with your team. But okay, so let's say you are opening a membership to teach yoga studio owners how to launch their first yoga studio. And so you have a membership site, you have live calls, you have courses, and it's for people who own yoga businesses, right? We're not talking about that on social media yet. We can mention it, but we want to focus on the feelings that those business owners have. For example, are they nervous about all of the steps it takes to start a yoga studio? Are they unsure of how to get funding? Do they feel like they are not supported in choosing a location? Are they nervous about finding clients? You see how there's feelings in there, and we're not talking about the membership itself.

(14:18):
We're not talking about live classes and courses and community. We're talking about where they are now, what they're experiencing, the thoughts that are going through their head. Write all of those down. That's what's going to go in your social media posts for your launch. Where are they now before experiencing your offer? Then we're also going to write down the after of all of this. So after they join your community, give yourself six months, a year, two years, five years, where are they? They have a thriving yoga community. They're impacting their local community. They're able to provide for themselves and their families. They're able to give jobs to their fellow yoga instructors. They're able to feel confident that they have their books balanced or whatever the case may be for these yoga business owners. I'm making this all up, but those are all the after feelings, confidence, security, a sense of belonging in the community.

(15:16):
All of those things are feelings. Instead of saying, join this program so you can watch videos, because honestly, we could do that anywhere for free. It's focus on the feelings. Join this program to feel a sense of community. Join this program to go from uncertainty to confidence. These are all feelings, and that's how we're going to infuse it into our posts. So before we even get to launching, we need to brainstorm the before and after feelings. Next, I want you to think about the sales funnel. I could talk about sales funnels all day, and I know I've done this multiple times on the podcast. When we think about the launch specifically, there's a launch sales funnel, like a mini funnel for social media, and it's to get them to take an action that leads to purchasing the product. Typically, I talk about things as the last step and the next step, okay, last step, next step.

(16:13):
And so if we're thinking about evergreen strategies, typically we're so focused on that next step. The next step is let's say this yoga community. You download the 10 point checklist to starting your yoga business. That's what you're talking about on social media. They download it. Now you're in their funnel, and then you offer them the community. Great, that's great for evergreen. When we think about launching something new, typically the next step can change in this phase. So it depends on where you are in the launch. If the product's not available yet, it may be a wait list page. So sign up for the wait list to the community. That's the next step. If you're launching along the way, it can be geared towards answering questions about the launch. So for example, with this yoga community, maybe it's DM me if you have a question, maybe it's hop on a call.

(17:08):
We could talk about if this is the right fit for you. It's a little bit more of an aggressive next step than your evergreen strategy, but still having that next step can be very helpful in the decision making process. So before someone enters their credit card information and gives you money, what is the step that can hold them back from taking that action? Let's address that in our posts. Okay, so for example, I love direct messages. I think it's a great next step. For me, it's asynchronous. So I don't need to be live on a call with somebody the moment I'm in my life, I don't have a lot of time for live calls. Okay, so my next step, send me a dm, send me an email, send me a message, and then we can talk about if this is the right fit for you.

(17:54):
Lastly, I got to talk about this launch team. So as you prepare before you start diving into the launch itself, let's put together your launch team. So your launch team can be emotional support or it can be tactical support. So let's talk about tactical support first. I think this is the easiest kind of support to kind of wrap your head around, and it depends on your stage of business. Sometimes tactical support is good old Google and YouTube. So if you need to figure out how to do something, YouTube it, Google it, figure it out. Sometimes there's Facebook communities for this. I recently changed one of the tech tools in my business. Join the Facebook group. Amazing tactical support. Okay, I don't need to hire someone for this. Just have a quick question. Can someone answer it or do I need to see some inspiration of how other people are using this tool?

(18:46):
Great tactical support, all the way up to hiring a full ass team for your tactical support. Virtual assistants, social media managers, launch managers, online business managers, tech support, customer support. There's so many different kinds of support you can get with your launch, but I do want you to start thinking about, and if you're like me, we're going to write down how am I getting support in this launch tactically? If I get stuck building out a Thrivecart sales page, who am I going to for support? Where am I going to for support? So start thinking about those things. Then we have emotional support, which is especially if you're a solo business owner by yourself, definitely needed. We need to have emotional support when we're going to launch. It's hard. It's hard as a business owner, a small business owner, online business owner. If you're a feelings person like me, I'm not a psychopath CEO,

(19:50):
I have a lot of feelings when I go through launches. Emotional support is key for me. A lot of times, that's my husband. I'm like, this is going terrible. And he's like, is it actually, or I need a hug? And they get a hug. He's like, what's happening? I'm like, I don't want to talk about it. I just need a hug. Sometimes you need that person in your life. You can hire a coach for this. You can again join a Facebook group, a community of people who can cheer you on as you're going through your launch. But my favorite emotional support is your launch team. Your launch team. I like to call this launch team a name. So these are the people who are going to be supporting your launch. One of my friends business friends, Annie Francesci did this for her book launch where she had a team of people who raised their hand and said, yes, when your books comes out, I will fully support you.

(20:47):
I was on that team. She's not paying us for this. We just want to help her as a friend. And so part of that was she did a virtual launch party. We showed up, we celebrated with her when she posts on social media, we're liking and commenting and sharing her posts. When we bought our copies of the book, we said, yes. We will also post on social media sharing our copy of the book. That is a launch team that provides emotional support during your launch so that when you're posting things on social media, it's not a ghost town, and they have raised their hand and say, yes, I will support you in this way. And so it could be really fun to put together a launch team, and I highly recommend the launch team be the people personally. So Annie reached out to me and said, Hey, will you help me with this?

(21:29):
I was like, absolutely right. So people who will be excited to help you, you can do this with the general public, but I find the best launch teams are handpicked folks who you go, I would really like your support with this launch. Here are some of the ways that you can help me. Even if it's simple as commenting on one of my launch posts, that would mean the world to me, and just letting them know and keeping them updated as you go. Okay, so for our launch, we have a plan. We have our feelings, our before and after feelings. We have our tactical support, we have our emotional support. Now we're ready to dive into all of the pieces of a launch.

(22:12):
I hope this really helps set the stage for you as you're thinking about launching on social media, because it can be a very emotional journey, but these pieces in place will really help you have a successful launch. Good luck.