A Guide to Maximizing Social Media Reach in Promo

On Oct. 22, 2022, Elon Musk tweeted a picture of himself walking into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a sink. Like a sink you’d find in
a bathroom.

“Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!” he tweeted.

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

Yes, it was a bad joke. But all of the Twitterverse, at least the ones working there in San Francisco, had to pretend it was a good one because Musk was now their boss. After months of buying shares and positioning himself up for the eventual full takeover, Musk was finally “Chief Twit,” and things on the social media platform haven’t really been the same since.

He gutted “legacy verifications” — i.e., public figures like actors, reporters, or other noteworthy people — of their blue verification checkmark, leaving it only for people who paid $8 a month for Twitter Blue. People lost their jobs, and generally the vibes over there were that of a sinking ship or, at the very least, a dying party where people were texting their friends about where they could go after things get too boring.

Twitter is, obviously, just one of the many social media networks we use on a regular basis. Gone are the days of Myspace dominance, or even Facebook’s absolute leadership in the space. But what Twitter’s abrupt change under Musk underscored was that social media platforms aren’t permanent, or at least not permanently the same; and there will always be more social networks popping up for people to use.

With that, it can be daunting to keep up with all of them and figure out how to use them most effectively, especially if you are a promotional products distributor who just wants to get the word out about your products and services. Social media use is so widespread — Twitter currently has 237.8 million users, TikTok has over a billion, Instagram has more than 2.3 billion, and Facebook still has a whopping 2.96 billion users. This means there are plenty of opportunities to get eyes in front of your page, but it is also easy to get lost in the shuffle and slip through the cracks.

When to Use What

Social media use is no longer optional in business. You need to be proficient in multiple platforms to get the word out. And it’s OK if you feel a little lost at first. Think of each social network as a different tool in your toolbox. You wouldn’t use a hammer to fasten a screw, and you certainly wouldn’t use a blowtorch to drill a hole.

Since each platform is designed for different user interactions, each one should be used differently for business purposes, too. You wouldn’t use Twitter to post a long message explaining the benefits of a certain product, and so on.

Swire Ho, director of sales and marketing for Garuda Promo and Branding Solutions, Los Angeles, has been honing his social media craft for years, hosting a podcast called the Small Business Show. On his show, Ho discusses how promotional products professionals can get their name out in front of the right people and drive engagement online.

Ho says the main purpose of social media is not to replace any other marketing strategy or networking, but to complement it by being just another piece of the puzzle.

“Basically, it’s another touch point that I have with my potential client or current client, because they will talk to me via email, some of them subscribe to my newsletter, some of them will speak with me over the phone,” he says. “And social media is just another touch point [where] they see something that I talk about.”

While Ho sees the value in the many social media platforms available to users, he says that for professional purposes, there’s nothing that can touch LinkedIn.

“There’s no right or wrong,” he says. “It depends on who you focus on. I like to work with B2B clients, I know some distributors who work with a lot of B2C or e-commerce, so find out before you hop into social media who your ideal clients are. Do research to find out what platforms they’ll be on.”

During his own research, he found that his particular client base isn’t as active on Instagram as LinkedIn, so he chose not to spend too much time on Instagram if the opportunity was better spent on LinkedIn.

“Instead of being on all of the platforms, we choose to focus on LinkedIn,” Ho says. “[People] want to be on all of the platforms, and they water stuff down. With so many platforms, so many things that you’ve learned, many different programs. But really, our goal as a distributor … you just want more sales. You just want more orders. Simple as that. So, if you can find a way to do that, that could be just one platform. You don’t really have to be everywhere at the same time.”

Abigail Cress Brown, owner of Ohiowa Promo in Columbus, Ohio, says Instagram is her preferred method actually. In fact, she uses LinkedIn “sparingly.”

“My strategy in general for all social media is just balance and trying hard to utilize the sources where it creates the most revenue,” she says.

Ohiowa is mostly a one-woman operation. Brown’s background is in agency spaces, where she worked in word-of-mouth marketing and helping large national brands with social media before moving over to the promotional products industry.

“So, for me, LinkedIn is really great to keep in touch with former colleagues that have awesome jobs and could create a potential sale in the future, but where I personally see more direct sales impact is from Instagram.”

Instagram and other social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok have been adding ways for customers to buy products directly from in the app. Mostly this applies to content creators and brands who use the products and can huck items like T-shirts and other merchandise, but it shows that the commercial aspect of social media is there, and is set up in a way that can drive real sales immediately.

Both Ho and Brown agree that no matter what platform you choose to start with, the best thing you can do to drive sales and integration is prove that you’re a real person.

There’s so much white noise on social media, and in the world for that matter, that people want to feel they can trust the person they’re doing business with. It’s refreshing to see authentic posts from relatable people.

“I think people like to see you as a person,” Ho says. “Obviously, bigger companies might not have the face of the company or people. … I know some of them hire agencies. But if you are doing it — I’m talking about people who might do it by themselves — do it on camera, or even take pictures of yourself doing it in action. Those are the best ones for engagement.”

What Ho means is that you should be interacting with the products you sell, not just setting them up for little photo shoots. Promotional products have the benefit of their tactile and useful nature. Use them! If it’s a T-shirt, wear it! If it’s a smartphone accessory, slap it on your phone and show how easy it is to use! Whatever it is, your pitch in real life would involve showing how it works, so why wouldn’t you do the same on social media?

From there, Brown says you can make yourself even more appealing as a marketer by showing your real life. Because, let’s face it, we’re all much more than our resumé. And after that initial small talk about work runs its course, we want to know more about the people we’re talking to at networking events. What do they like to do in their spare time? What makes them tick?

“I am a mom,” Brown says. “I have three little kids. … For me, that’s a huge part of my life. So, I like to show how I’m trying to balance it all and be a good mom and be a good businesswoman. And I try to show my kids about economics and about being a business owner, and I’ll put them in a branded shirt and have them do a delivery with me, and show them what it’s like to be a small-business owner, and then share that with followers.”

Don’t Post Badly

Social media users are brutal. Millennials, who are now in their 30s and a main part of the business landscape, grew up with social media. They can sense bull from a mile away online. They’ll see if a post is a schlocky sales pitch masquerading as a genuine form of entertainment or altruism. So, that means you need to be more discerning with what you post and try to be authentic. Because some people, even mega-entrepreneur billionaires who buy social media platforms, still don’t learn the real value of social media. They think it’s about getting in arguments, making bad jokes that don’t resonate with the proper groups, or place value in the wrong things.

“The goal is not to have a lot of likes,” Ho says. “A lot of people, when they measure their success, they count how many likes they have, how many people comment.” Those likes and comments are great, and can show that your content is resonating with people. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t automatically mean more business.

Also, the internet allows anyone to be anyone they want on social media. There’s a reason entire shows like “Catfish” exist. People have been lying on the internet for as long as the internet has been around.

While you can be anything and anyone you want to be online, why would you choose to be anything other than an expert in your field?

Ho says it’s crucial for promotional products professionals and businesspeople to show how they are the person to help clients with their promotions (and do so honestly).

“I am pushing for the customer’s journey and how promotional products can help my clients to build a better customer journey,” he says. “So, if I talk about things that are related to what I tell people over the phone, it kind of gives them the idea that really Swire does know what he’s talking about.”

Focus your social media posts and identity, and be sure to stay on topic. Yes, it’s very human to post the sandwich you had for lunch or maybe complain about a subway car being late, but it ultimately just gunks up the timeline, and potential clients might not take you seriously.

There’s a term for posting garbage posts that serve no purpose other than to get momentary attention for their strangeness. We can’t print it here, but it rhymes with “quit posting.”

There’s of course that middle ground we talked about before, where you add splashes of color from your life to prove you’re a real person with a real business and, sometimes, even real hiccups that come with being a business owner.

“I think simply posting products on social media is not enough,” Brown warns. “I think you have to share your own brand story or about yourself, or show, ‘This is my office today! I’m working from my patio!’ Or, ‘My kid is sick today, I’m working with my kid at home.’ Bringing your real life, I think, makes you a lot more relatable and interesting.”

Be A Real Friend

While there are plenty of horror stories about people posing as others online, there are countless stories about real friendships and relationships formed. The ability to connect with anyone all over the world is amazing — when done correctly. It makes your community so much larger than the city you live in, and gives you a chance to meet and work with people you otherwise would never know — the actual networking aspect of social networking.

Brown says that on Instagram especially, she’s gained plenty of friends and business connections just by doing what a friend should do in real life: Complimenting things, reaching out with little messages of support or asking good questions, and generally forming a group of like-minded individuals with similar goals.

“One thing that I think is so interesting about Instagram specifically is that I feel like there’s a little bit of ‘You get what you give,’” she says. “A way that I have found friends and followers is simply by liking and sharing other people’s content. Because when you’re a small-business owner, you keep track of who’s following who, because there’s not that many, and you keep track of who’s commenting and sharing. And it makes you feel really good when somebody that you don’t really know cares enough about your content to share it.”

And while Brown admits that there are opportunities to simply pay for this sort of exposure on social media, creating an organic community based on nothing more than the quality of your services pays off more in the long run.

It’s a novel concept, really — using social media as a way to be your authentic self, form real relationships with people not through arguments but through mutual support. And then you show what you know — what you really know — to position yourself as an expert whose abilities can help clients achieve their goals.

Maybe that’s all on LinkedIn or Instagram, or maybe it’s spread across Facebook and Twitter and TikTok and YouTube. That’s up to you and your brand story.

But whatever you do, the message here really boils down to something that’s applicable whether you’re a business promoting its services on social media or just a regular Joe who bought a tech conglomerate and plans to run it into the ground: Workshop your posts with someone else so you don’t turn an entire user base off by posting a pun about sinks.