I’d like to tell you what a children’s show and social media have in common.
Recently, I took my children to see the show of the David Walliams book ‘Mr Stink’And, I have to say, it was fantastic, and funny…although I still managed to get tearful!
But, it was also an experience to learn from. For a start, there was the marketing letter – it was ‘bumpy mail’ . In the envelope was not only the flyer detailing the show but also aclothes peg – to stick on your nose to stop you from smelling the stench!! Clever, huh? So cheap and effective.
Next, in the show itself, apart from it being absolutely fabulous and encouraging participation, we had an extra treat. We were all handed little books on the way in which it turns out were scratch ‘n’ sniff books – such good fun! And spot on for the audience they were trying to engage with! The children loved them! At set points in the play, we were encouraged to scratch and sniff to add to the experience – and most of the smells were hideous!
So – how does this relate to social media? Well, the initial approach to the public with the clothes peg – that aroused interest, sparked humour – encouraged a response – just as we would hope to do on Twitter or our Facebook Page. And at the show? Not only did the cast present their play, or product to us, they got us involved – they interacted with us and by novel means they got us engaged with them. And it was funny, the whole experience of sniffing vile smells. So another lesson – draw your audience in, engage them with humour and novelty, but in a way which is relevant to your product or service.
It was all very clever, very memorable and here I am talking about it, which illustrates another point. If you do all these things well, people are likely to talk about you, share their experience with their friends and spread the news about you virally.
Can you think of novel ways to make your audience laugh and engage with you? It’s well worth finding your own way to do this!