“A free divorce for Valentine’s Day” – really!? Yep, that’s the ad headline we’re using for one of my clients. Before you write in with complaints let me put things in context. The headline is quirky, it’s controversial, but it’s topical and it  works!

This particular client, a law firm, is taking a rather tongue-in-cheek approach which is paying off for them big time. Their special Valentine’s contest has netted them a Facebook reach of almost 30,000 and 450 clicks to their website. That’s 450 potential customers from one ad.

Ride The Social Media Wave To Supercharge Your Engagement 

Engagement is the name of the game on social media. But how do you write the perfect viral-potential article that thousands of potential customers want to share, and with a headline that the advertising agencies would kill for?

The answer is…

You don’t always have to.

Yes, you should strive for this with your blogging and copywriting brilliance. But there are other ways to achieve great engagement on social media with much less effort, and (dare I say it), quicker and wider reaching results.

It’s what I call “Riding The Wave”.

Here’s how it works. You pick a trending topic that *everyone* is talking about (or at least your ideal audience) and feature it on your social media.

The Ride The Wave “Big Secret”

The secret is to find an interesting angle that makes your post relevant to the trending topic AND your audience. Get your audience engaged by giving your opinion. Or asking a question. Don’t be afraid to be a bit controversial. I promise you it will get people talking and responding, which is the goal.

HOT TIP: An another example of how useful this strategy is, comes from a client I was talking to this week. Said client wants to advertise on Facebook but doesn’t have much activity on her page. I suggested using this strategy to liven the page up first, because then, when you posts an update or place an ad you get a lot more bang for your buck. Used in conjunction with a Facebook advertising strategy this is really powerful.

50 Shades of Grey anyone? 

Do you see what I did there? The 50 Shades of Grey film is out and *everyone* is talking about it, good, bad or indifferent. Here’s how our friendly local locksmith is “riding the wave” on this one:

And I can now post this blog post using the #valentinesday and #50shadesofgrey hashtags and ride the wave too!

Of course, it’s not always so easy to find such amusing topics to piggy-back on but here’s how you find out what people are talking about:

1. Twitter Trends

So for today you could also talk about English Rugby #weartherose, Friday the 13th or any other of the hot topics.

2. Google+

Google+ Explore is a treasure trove of trending topics. The cool thing (there are lots of cool things about G+ so this is just one example!) is that you can search for hot topics within categories, such as “Food and Drink” or “Photography” so you can drill down within your niche.

The other interesting thing to note (both this and the Twitter screenshot were captured today) is that the Twitter and G+ trends are different so it’s worth checking both. I love the #whyimsingle hashtag for massive engagement potential or how about #saturdayscenes?

 

 

How can you ride the social media wave to get your pages hopping and your fans talking? Answers on a postcard  please