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Ask the experts – how can I make the most of Twitter for my pop up?

I have a Twitter account for my brand but I’m not sure of the best way to use it for my pop-up, especially to get the word out and drive customers and sales. How can I make the most of it as a marketing channel? 

Twitter is an easy, effective and immediate way of getting the message out about your brand. It is also a useful storytelling channel for building content, encouraging conversation with your customers and providing exclusive insights into what your event is all about. By using Twitter in the right way not only can you achieve high levels of engagement with your pop-up concept, but also help drive high attendance and sales. We spoke to some industry experts on their recommendations for how to maximise the platform’s potential.

Talk in real time

Georgina Parnell, Lead Account Executive at Twitter (@parns), is a strong advocate for the immediacy of the channel: “The beauty of Twitter is it gives brands the ability to share exclusive content in real time.” It is one of the most powerful platforms in terms of connecting with your customer – the ‘memory encoding’, or engagement, is stronger on Twitter above any other platform, thanks to the power of favourites and retweets.

This is why it’s so important that you prompt engagement, rather than simply post information about your pop-up. Brevity is key, but it is still possible to create attractive, engaging content. “The competition for attention takes place now on someone’s notification screen,” so in order to connect to the consumer, post images and updates in real time to engage your audience right from the word go.

Think in hashtags

Develop a strong hashtag strategy. A hashtag not only centralises and encourages conversation, but also compels an action – it conveys a strong message that can drive people’s involvement with a campaign. David Wilding, Head of Planning Twitter UK (@drwilding), explains that “as well as being an excellent summary of an idea when a campaign goes live, hashtag thinking – asking “what’s our hashtag?” regularly throughout the planning and creative process – can help to create better ideas.” 

Express your pop-up idea as a hashtag from the start of your planning to shortcut and simplify your thinking process. Create hashtags for your followers so they can easily share your news. Use the engagement rate as a way of tracking your campaign’s success, in order to analyse your strategy and build on what works and what doesn’t.

Tell stories

Justin Cooke, Founder and CEO of Tunepics (@JC7777), started his career in fashion and helped create ‘Art of the Trench’ at Burberry, one of the most successful social media campaigns in modern fashion history. He tells us that the magic of fashion is in the entertainment: “you should be selling a dream. If you’re not selling a dream you’re not selling anything.”

The same goes for pop-ups. Invite your audience into the world of your event – make them feel part of the process by uploading teaser pictures up until the launch; create exclusive ‘behind-the-scenes’ insights with inventive gifs; put together short time-lapse videos to pack as much information as possible in a few seconds.

Even when your pop-up has finished, continue to involve your customers. Share their images, tweets and messages on Twitter. As Georgina Parnell explains, “platforms are now an extension of your emotions and feelings,” so make sure you stay in the mind of your audience even after the door closes.

Reach out to Influencers

Make use of the established networks of important people in the industry and don’t be afraid to message, tweet and tag relevant brands and media figures in fun tweets to get your message out. Aim high and think outside your closest usual following of friends and family – it’s important to overcome any aspects of marketing your pop-up that you’re scared of, embrace fear and welcome risk. If you follow the norm, you’ll never create anything different, and after all isn’t that what pop-ups are all about?

 

Got something you’d like to ask the experts?

Email ‘Ask The Experts’ to hello@wearepopup.com with your question and we’ll put it to the panel. 

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