Ever seen a friend tweet from an event and felt a tinge of pain that you couldn’t be there? Most of us have been there. Next time, we’ll make sure to get tickets on time so we can enjoy ourselves and catch up with friends. We do this because we don’t want to miss out on an excellent opportunity. The tweet/post/message that triggered this response created FOMO, and as a result, we’ve made a positive action. Could you use this tactic to get your audience to click that CTA? That’s what we wanted to discuss in this week’s chat, and who better to talk to than the FOMO Creator herself, May King?
Here’s a summary of our chat with May King.
Guest: May King Tsang
Topic: Creating FOMO to build your brand
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
The Fear Of Missing Out, fondly known as FOMO, is important to a business because it helps you connect to the group of your audience who don’t often engage actively with your content. These are your lurkers, and creating FOMO can help encourage them to step up and engage with you more.
A1 FOMO is the Fear of Missing Out and in business it’s a good thing!
Creating FOMO is about generating so much buzz and excitement on your socials to make our lurkers
(because let's face it, we ALL have lurkers ?)feel that they do not want to miss out #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/eN0s61qjEq
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
As Christine succinctly put it, when you create buzz and scarcity around your product or service, the demand for it increases, urging people to take action such as registering for your event or purchasing your service.
A1.
Scarcity drives demand.
Influence drives desire.#TwitterSmarter— Christine Gritmon ❤️ #ChatAboutBrand (@cgritmon) October 21, 2021
Lurkers are your silent observers. They won’t share your posts, like them, or comment on them. But they will be watching, and when they need a service, you’ll be the first person they think of. However, for them to recall you at a time of need, you need to constantly show up on their feeds. Even if they’re not responding and engaging with you, keep creating content focusing on them because that’s how they’ll remember you.
A2 Lurkers = people watching your content who may not like or share but they’re lurking ?
Obsess with creating great content for them
When the time is right for them,
they could approach you about your
products + services#CreateContentForTheLurkers#TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/5Gh015MimU— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
Even though your lurkers don’t often show themselves, they’re a crucial part of your target audience, as Masooma pointed out. They’re warm prospects and because they already know who you are and what you do, they’re easier to convince and convert than a cold lead.
A2. Lurkers are people from your target audience who don’t actively participate but watch your business closely. It’s important to create content to convert them since they’re already warm prospects interested in your business. #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) October 21, 2021
According to May King, creating FOMO is a five-step process.
A3
My 5 steps to #FOMO
1. Build your Community
2. Relationship Building
3. Authority
4. Notoriety – create your own PR
5. Direct CommunicationFirst letter of each step spells brand because EVERYTHING begins with your brand. #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/oH8xaXsrEV
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
While May King’s steps were broad, our community members also chipped in with a few specific steps for creating FOMO. Alyx suggested that it starts with identifying your ideal audience and your offer, and goes all the way through establishing clear timelines, creating content, and executing your FOMO campaign.
A3
1 Define the target audience
2 Define the offer
3 Set an advertising time period
4 Create FOMO content to advertise the offer and its scarcity
5 Roll that plan out the door!!
-Alyx #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/7FxV7Vy2vz— Charlie & Alyx – Charlie Appel Agency (@ColfaxInsurance) October 21, 2021
Honestly, I think building genuine relationships can help with everything in life. It helps create FOMO as well because when you start engaging with others when you make that first move, you show others that you’re genuinely interested in starting a conversation or sharing a discussion. Once they get to know who you are as a business, they’ll be happy to talk to their friends about what you do. If they like and trust you as a friend, you’re the first recommendation they’ll give to others, creating FOMO for you.
A4. Help others without expecting anything in return
Share their content, recommend their services, comment on their posts to start building relationships
and #FOMO could be generated by others for your business as they recommend your services to others#TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/aK9ppuLYpS
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
What’s more, when you start making relationships with people, you’ll automatically create FOMO on a large scale, as Madalyn said. For example, imagine you’re collaborating with a colleague on a project. You share bits and pieces about your work on Twitter, and your audience will be keen to know what you’re up to and to get involved in what you do. They’d want to be in on it and that’s FOMO too!
A4: Sometimes people can fear missing out if you’re building relationships with others and not them. They’ll want to get in on the action! #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/znCVlXBGyp
— Madalyn Sklar Digital Marketing Since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) October 21, 2021
Share what you know–not in an annoying know-it-all way, but in a friendly manner. Social media is about being social and friendly, and the more helpful your content is, the more people you’ll attract to your content. To establish your authority, share a variety of content on your subject matter such as blogs, videos, guest posts on external publications, posts, links from other creators, and opinions. Participate in Twitter chats, Spaces, threaded conversations, and online events so people can see and hear from you directly.
A5. We buy from people we know, like + trust. How to build trust? Showcase our authority.
YOU are the leader in your industry.
PROVE it! Share blogs, interviews, videos, tips.Remember #CreateContentForTheLurkers to showcase our authority #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/zeWfC7Iiih
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
Speaking of how to showcase your authority, Cindy suggested sharing your thought processes. For example, if you sell a physical product, tell your audience why you chose to design it the way you did. If you offer services, tell them why you do what you do and how exactly you go about solving problems in your business. Doing so can help your audience see that you know what you’re doing and they’ll trust your decisions more willingly.
A5. When sharing sneak peaks, discuss why you made that decision.
I feel this can work if the event, product or service is attracting many people from many different backgrounds (backgrounds as in communications, other fields of study) #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/jfEUX0fzlQ
— Cindy Peña (@cindympena) October 21, 2021
Our guest told us about how local charity Kinder Leeds got noticed on Twitter. They asked their community–volunteers, event speakers, members, and well-wishers–what kindness meant to them. They came up with a hashtag to collate all responses in one place and as people responded to the questions with their own posts, videos, and comments, the hashtag grew bigger and bigger, helping Kinder Leeds get the recognition they needed.
Moral of the story? Start engaging conversations with your hashtag.
A6 @kinderleeds asked volunteers, speakers, sponsors
What does kindness mean to you?
+ shared their thoughts on social
Like, Share, Comment on posts using your hashtag
Show gratitude to everyone involved
This is #FOMO 101 for your cause or business#TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/wu117FBph8
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
Julia from NOW Marketing Group shared a few more ideas you can implement to get noticed, including featuring the humans behind your brand so people can resonate with you better, using GIFs and video content to stand out from a busy feed, and using highly-specific hashtags.
A6: utilize video, gifs and high quality graphics that stand out, showcase their team/human faces to humanize the cause/mission as best as possible and use industry-specific hashtags! – JJS #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/fmAquPONYE
— NOW Marketing Group #SMWL21 (@NOWMG) October 21, 2021
May King told us about the time she was live-tweeting at Social Media Marketing World in 2018. She saw Andrew and Pete speak and pitched to them. They hired her to create FOMO for their events, even giving her the title that’s now become synonymous with her name.
A7 I demonstrated my live tweeting prowess at #SMMW18
I saw the incredible @AndrewAndPete speak at @SMMWConference
I pitched to them + was hired 3x
and it was Andrew who came up #FOMOCreatorI cannot WAIT to see them at #ATOMICON
from BRAND to FOMO#TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/g0k6Ca9Ri4
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
On another occasion, she interviewed Chris from Lately.AI, who referred her to Fuel podcast, who in turn, referred her to the British Association for Sustainable Sport.
A7.2
I also demonstrated my expertise on FOMO Creating at @SMMWConference
by interviewing @ChrisBroNext from @LatelyAI fame
Chris referred me to @fuel_podcast
who recommended me to @BASIS_org
5 steps: From BRAND to #FOMO #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/OviDJ26EHd
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
All that said, you may not always get clients instantly using this strategy. Our guest mentioned the time a client had lurked for 18 months before reaching out to hire May King. That happens too. And that’s why it’s important to consistently create content for your lurkers.
A7 More Case studies from #BRAND to #FOMO coming right up!!#crwatingcontentforthelurkers DOES pay off as I explain in this video.
P.S. some of my clients see my work within a day and hire me! Some of them can take up to 18 months and that’s okay! #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/j6h1LnxpoV
— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
Branding is everything when creating FOMO. How people respond to you depends on how you differentiate your brand from everyone else. When you nail branding, your lurkers will trust you and know that they can always rely on you. Make sure you make a good first impression on your audience.
Branding is the art of differentiation…
[it’s] the way that consumers identify and experience a product, service, or person,
from the look, taste, feel, and sound.”
– @davidbrierBranding is everything,
so let your lurkers know your brand is a great one#TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/1O1efw2v56— ?maykingtea (she/her) (@MayKingTea) October 21, 2021
After all, as Vivian from Nimble so nicely put it, people won’t care if you’re selling the same thing that a hundred others are selling. They’ll only follow you for what makes you unique.
A8: Your brand is what sets you apart from the competition. Most people are selling products or services that already exist in some shape or form. But no one can do what you do the exact same way!
People will follow you for what makes you unique. ~ Vivian #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/eMDN7Lmt4O
— Nimble (@Nimble) October 21, 2021
Well, folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks so much for reading through, and for more great insights from our chat with May King, have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. And if you have some spare time next Thursday, join us live for our next #TwitterSmarter chat. We’ll be on from 1pm ET. Catch you then!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
Say hello: Personal blog | LinkedIn | Twitter