Breakout product of 2015: the selfie stick.
If you haven’t heard of selfie sticks, they’re those telescoping wands with phone holders at the end of them that allow you to take selfies that don’t look like selfies. They come in Bluetooth and non-Bluetooth models. Why so popular this year? Consider a few statistics:
54% of internet users have posted original photos online.
There are nearly 62 million tagged selfie photos on Instagram alone!
Everyone is familiar with Ellen Degeneres snapping a selfie at the Oscars. The Oscar selfie was thought to be worth over $1 billion to Samsung. Several major celebrities were featured prominently in the selfie, along with the Samsung product logo on the back of the phone. The selfie was snapped with the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, and it became the most retweeted file in Twitter’s history – getting many more viewers in that way than at the event itself.
Many brands have since jumped on the selfie revolution building successful media campaigns around selfies, and some have done so very successfully. Event professionals, PR firms, and some major brands are looking at ways to turn event selfies into marketing gold.
A selfie Stick would make a great promotional swag gift at a fundraiser or VIP reception. By utilizing social media and print media prior to the event, a social buzz is created even before the first drinks are served. And can you imagine how many posts, shares and retweets such an event might garnish? Imprinted selfie sticks sell for approx. $8-$15 and believe me, it’s well worth your swag budget!
At Fina Promotions, we run a #PromoteYourSelfie contest on Instagram. (Happily, our company sells logo’d selfie sticks AND imprinted T-shirts!) We ask Instagrammers to like our image and follow @finapromotions on Instagram for a chance at a free “BUT FIRST LET ME TAKE A SELFIE” T-shirt. A random new follower is chosen every Thursday (Selfie Thursday) and they are notified by a direct message in their IG inbox and are tagged in our photo for the week. They can then post a selfie, and tag us in their photo wearing our shirt after they have received it. We have so far in three weeks increased our Instagram following by 30% as a result.
So, what are you waiting for? Get with the trendy, beautiful people and #PromoteYourSelfie! I’m always happy to assist you with finding the perfect promo item for your next event.
All My Best,
Audrey Gotto
On-Target Marketing Blog 