It’s all about guerilla PR
Most people know about guerrilla marketing and the way it typically involves low-budget creative concepts that can shock or startle an unprepared audience. Meanwhile, the techniques are often considered unusual, but they fall under the purview of public relations.
Why bring up guerilla?
There are many different ways to adapt to digital media, combining activations aimed at getting the target audience interested, experiences that are valuable to the target audience, and influencer outreach to help promote these experiences.
What are peer influencers?
Simply said, influencer marketing is having someone else tell your narrative on your behalf. The ultimate in public relations!
We can classify people into three categories within the context of influencer marketing: aspirational influencers, authoritative influencers, and peer influencers.
An “aspirational influencer” is someone who is successful in other entertainment-centric fields, but who is not a celebrity. These are people we might admire from a distance for their lavish lifestyles and otherworldly talents.
Some people opt to purchase products endorsed by celebrities rather than trying to live like them as it is not something most people can achieve. Coca-Cola and auto insurance are two examples of products that are accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Experts in a certain field are respected by their peers and others within that field. However, they are not always seen as celebrities, and their authority can be undermined quickly.
If an expert in the influencer industry endorses products that contradict each other, they will be discredited and their credibility will be damaged. They are likely to endorse only products they believe will be good for their audience.
Peer influencers are people who you believe to be above average on a particular subject, and who can provide valuable input for your business. The business community is just beginning to realize the full potential of peer influencers, and in the future, they may become even more important.
We can put our trust in the acknowledged authorities in our areas, but it’s important to stay up to date with our peers so that we don’t fall behind. This way, we’ll be able to buy the latest and greatest technology, which is cheaper and easier than trying to convince the authorities themselves..You can also read an article about 10 Proven Strategies to Boost Your Website’s Conversion Rate in 2023
Why combine brand activation, experiential marketing, and peer influence?
There are several different ways to develop a PR plan, depending on the approach chosen. In a top-down plan, an influencer with authority might release hyper-specific press releases to specific journalists in order to generate coverage. However, this approach wouldn’t be necessary on Facebook Groups, as the group members can directly communicate with each other.
What are Facebook Groups?
Facebook groups are groups of people with similar interests, which can vary in size, openness, and regulation. They’re incredibly popular because Facebook has a huge global reach and can be used for anything.
How can PR interact within a Facebook Group?
The most important part of public relations for a new dog toy is selecting the right groups to reach. This can be done by creating a fun example to explain the tactic. In this example, we will assume that you are trying to get pet influencers to review your new toy.
Step 1: Using a verified Facebook account, navigate to https://www.facebook.com/groups/feed/
Step 2: Locate relevant groups. As a simple query, I looked for “dog toy” which results in a plethora of localized groups.
Step 3: Select groups of people with high engagement levels who are also involved in the toy industry, and be selective in who you connect with. This will help you maintain a close-knit community of likeminded individuals.
Step 4: Join. Be honest in your application process, explain who you work for and why you want to interact with other dog lovers. In most cases if the groups are actively moderated, you’ll be accepted.
There are restrictions on how many groups you can join and how often you can post on Facebook. There are also penalties for exceeding these restrictions. The restrictions depend on your Facebook history. The punishment for violating these restrictions increases with the frequency of violations.
At this point, the methods to employ diverge.
Paying a moderator or administrator of the group for a review inside the group is the quickest way to use Facebook groups. Reaching the chosen peer audience and the idea of authoritative influence are combined in this.
If you can get a moderator or admin to provide a review, absolutely work with them. Chances are you’ll be in multiple groups, so you can utilize both methods.
To get your ad approved by community moderators or administrators, be friendly and engaging with the community. This will make it easier for the moderators or administrators to respond to you, but in the beginning you should use trusted community influencers to pitch your ad.
- Reach out to those community members.
- Be honest in your approach on why you chose them and ask if they’d do a compensated review in the Facebook Group, on their profile, or on a bog if they have access to one.
- Ask them to capture video or imagery of the product in real use.
- Share their public reviews within the community and on their public profile on your company profile as a UGC highlighted post.
The other members of the community will begin pitching you as soon as they notice the beneficial interactions you provide and how well it has gone for their enthusiast peers. I’ve repeatedly witnessed it take place.
What just happened?
The writer found and interacted with peer influencers who love dogs, and used this connection to build awareness for a brand. By being authentic and respectful, they were rewarded with positive feedback and more followers. Now they need to consider what to do with all the live posts they’ve made.
Is there value in creating and running a Facebook group?
To keep a Facebook group engaged and organized, challenges must be overcome. However, by employing the same strategies repeatedly, you can continue penetrating groups and raising brand awareness (and hopefully sales). Eventually, you can create a group specifically about your product line.
The main benefit of developing a broad topic area is that you may reach a larger audience. It will be simpler to keep out competitors if you concentrate on your unique brand. You can always do both, if you’re inclined to.
Thank you for creating a supportive Facebook community for your favorite company. This helps to avoid customer support issues becoming public knowledge, and encourages your staff to respond respectfully to customer inquiries on Facebook.
What next?
When you post content to public Facebook groups and profiles, you should consider promoting it to get as much exposure as possible. This can be done cheaply by working with social media influencers who will share your content with specific Twitter tags. After all, companies want to see these leads.
To get the most exposure for your new dog toy company, you should use influential dog owners to promote the product, then create a press release that is tailored to target journalists who are likely to be interested in the story, monitor social media to ensure that your message is getting out to the right people, and use social listening to see where else you can promote your product.
