Today's Ypulse Guest Post comes from Monica O'Brien, marketing consultant and author of Social Pollination: Escape the Hype of Social Media and Join the Companies Winning At It. Below Monica shares one such winning social media strategy from tween icon turned brand success story Selena Gomez.

If you work in youth media or marketing and have an idea for a guest post, feel free to email me.

What Can Youth Marketers Learn From Selena Gomez?

When teen princess Selena Gomez and her band The Scene launched their first album, Kiss and Tell, they knew they had to find a way to help fans get the word out. At 17 years old, Selena Gomez was a Barney and Friends veteran and starred on the Disney Channel's hit show "Wizards of Waverly Place." Although she received plenty of airtime through shows, movies, and celebrity news outlets, Gomez was not particularly known for her singing skills, which would prove to be an obstacle in promoting her album.

Even with repeated exposure of the first single, “Falling Down,” on Radio Disney and the Disney Channel, the band still needed to utilize social pollination to create a cost-effective campaign. Luckily, Gomez had spent the previous year building an online platform to spread the word. Her Facebook page had over 3 million fans, and because she had been on Twitter (and updating regularly) for several months, she had accumulated over 1 million followers by the album release.

Still, just having a platform is not enough; Gomez and the band also launched two major initiatives to get people buzzing about the album online. First, they held a contest through Gomez’s Facebook page, urging users to upload photos or video of how they were helping to promote Kiss and Tell. “Need an idea?” the campaign asks. “Make a poster and hang it up around your school or create a t-shirt promoting Selena’s album.” Gomez then handpicked 10 finalists and let the fans vote on the winners.

The second initiative was to offer a limited online preview of the album to fans who attended a listening party. Fans could listen to the full album on repeat at the Kiss and Tell website, but they had to gain admission first. To access the album, fans needed to post a message to Facebook or Twitter encouraging their friends to listen also.

Three days after the album was released, Selena Gomez tweeted about a 5-hour CD signing, where she autographed nearly five thousand CDs in one sitting. In the first week, the album sold over 66,000 copies and went Gold in March 2010. There’s no doubt both these initial word-of-mouth campaigns contributed to the success of the album for several reasons:

- Gomez used her exposure in traditional media to build a platform on social media, using special content and engaging her fans with candid photos and music lyrics she was listening to

- Gomez focused on only two social media channels – Facebook and Twitter, where most of her fans already had accounts

- For the contest, Gomez provided incentives for her fans that money couldn’t necessarily buy – personal phone calls with the band and a free trip for 4 to meet Gomez for the grand prize winner

- The contest not only gave fans a reason to talk about the album, but it was also easy and accessible, and allowed users to personalize their entries

- Because Gomez’s singing skills were in question, consumers needed an easy way to experience the product before purchasing, which was accomplished through the listening party

- By having listeners post about the album to a social network, Gomez was able to generate buzz and stimulate sharing – which meant more people experienced the music

As I go back over Gomez's success, I notice that the same elements that play into word of mouth offline are present in word of mouth online. They are:

Time (Start Early!)
You would think one of the most popular teen celebrities around might accumulate fans quickly, but the fact is Selena Gomez was on Twitter for around 9 months before she hit 1 million followers. If you want to build a fan base online, it's a daily process that you must start at least six months before that new product launch or big event.

Offline, most word of mouth campaigns run for several years because you need to give the message time to disperse through people. Online, dispersement can happen quicker, but there are no miracles here. Companies and individuals who can demonstrate patience and a daily commitment with social media will see the most payoff from the tools.

A Fan Base (Use what you have)
We spend a lot of time figuring out how to get more – more friends, more followers, more traffic. Have you looked at what you have? Gomez used her fan base from real life and brought it online. She didn't try to build accounts, she simply tried to form a deeper connection with those who were already her fans.

What do you have? If you are a company, do you have an email list you could import into Twitter? Do you have a billboard or website you could post your Facebook fan page on? As an individual, you have trade organizations, clubs and alumni affiliations to tap into. Every campaign needs a base, but you don't necessarily have to build the base from scratch.

A Place For Conversation (Go where the people are)
When Gomez launched the contest for her new album, she was able to create buzz because she helped fans talk to each other. The best way to get new customers is to get current customers to speak positively about you and recommend your products or services. But you don't need 5,634 social media accounts to have a conversation – two or three is plenty. In fact, Gomez has been on sites like MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook for years, but still hasn't launched her fan club on her website.

The most effective way to use social media is to focus all your efforts on a few accounts, collect your fans on the networks where they already are by talking about the things they already talk about, and give your fans something to talk about to each other and their friends.

A trial period (Pretty packages don't sell)
The controversy over Gomez's voice was easily refuted – she let people listen to her full album before buying. Pretty packages are out; authenticity and transparency are in. That means if you make a living off of your information, you have to demonstrate you have that information for a long time before any stranger will purchase from you.

In the digital world, expect to give much more than you receive, no matter who you are. There is both beauty and injustice in a meritocracy. The key is in finding limits, like Gomez did. Limit the trial by time, by amount of access, or by quality of service, but let people try.

A reason to share (Help the message spread)
The great part about doing word of mouth marketing in the digital space is that it can spread quickly. You can help that with a call to action to share, every time, as long as you provided something of such great value that nobody minds returning the favor.

Gomez was able to get people to share in exchange for something really valuable – an exclusive look at her new album.

As a company, you can offer exclusive deals and promotions, insider content, or do giveaways. You don't need to give away 100 apple tablets to get people talking – in fact, that will only get people talking about Apple, which is probably not what you want. Instead you must find what people love about you and your products and your services and your company – that's how to make an impression that travels via word of mouth.

Selena Gomez used these 5 steps to build word of mouth about her debut album, catapulting her acting career into new territories. What will you use these steps for?

About Monica
Monica O’Brien is a Marketing Consultant specializing in marketing strategy and consumer insights at the juncture of new media and traditional marketing. She spent 5 years analyzing data and drawing conclusions from her findings as an IT professional at various companies. She worked as an analyst, a quality engineer, and a software engineer before taking an avid interest in online marketing and social media. Monica started several successful websites including an affiliate marketing business and a leading Gen Y workplace blog, which later landed her work with various Web 2.0 start-ups. These opportunities taught Monica how to use social media to get marketing and sales results.

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Categorized under: Youth Marketing

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