FOMO: Have you ever been to Facebook and looked at photos of remote places and fascinating status updates, only to shut down your browser in envy? In those moments, it’s like staying at home browsing social networks while everyone is having fun.
The FOMO Phenomenon
It’s not that everyone’s life is better than yours, it’s that you were a victim of the FOMO, the fear of losing.
Losing is unfortunately inevitable. You have dozens of interesting options at your disposal, but you can only choose a minute.
For marketers, there’s a fine line between trying to instill fear in consumers and keeping your brand in mind, but you’re ignoring FIMO if it can seriously impact customer engagement.
Discover how you can use FOMO to build excitement around your brand’s next opportunity without creating resentment.
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Broadcast events on social media
Technology allows us to be in places where we are not physically. Use live streaming platforms like Periscope and Facebook Live to encourage customers who cannot attend your event to attend next time. Both tools offer plenty of room for creativity and are also easy ways to build your brand’s Facebook and Twitter followers.
Here is an example. In the spring, try Organic Valley’s Half & Half pop-up store. To build anticipation, we hired popular food and lifestyle blogger Sweet Paul to develop two recipes using the product and broadcast a demo via Facebook Live. Sweet Paul also conducted a live interview with one of the valley’s organic farmers and alerted consumers to an upcoming pop-up in New York.
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Give the customer the exclusivities
Consumers no longer like an exclusive opportunity. And by asking customers to engage with your brand in exchange for entry to an exclusive event, you’ve already won.
To date, no one has done it better than Bud Light. As part of the “Up For Everything” campaign, the beer brand hosted a video contest in which participants were asked to explain why they should be selected for the pop-up party. Only 1,000 attendees were lucky enough to travel this weekend, no matter what was sponsored.
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Send influencers to the party
Event marketing and influencer marketing are complementary. To properly balance FOMO induction and inclusion of customers who cannot participate, send influencers – from hyperlocal bloggers to nationally known influencers, depending on your budget – to cover your opportunity.
The social coverage, with photos and summaries of personal experiences, provides enough information for those who could not participate, want to know more, and wait for the next opportunity.
We recently partnered with Pepsi and Hershey Park on a campaign to open the theme park. To debut to a wider audience, we’ve sent a small group of bloggers and their families to record their experiences.
The influencer’s content reached over 600,000 people through Twitter and Instagram shares alone. As for the FOMO battery, the response was overwhelming. Hundreds of commentators on social platforms have expressed their envy and desire to bring their families to Hershey Park.
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Whatever your audience, FOMO can make the art of marketing. But use it responsibly: too much FOMO can repel customers who feel left out; too little can lead to unsatisfactory customer engagement.