The best thing about Facebook marketing is that you can be timely.

My kids have noticed that a lot of television & radio commercial’s lately, especially restaurants, are encouraging families to visit. As soon as they see/hear one, they both say “You can’t do that now, what about social distancing?”

You and I both know that these ads were produced and paid for months in advance. It’s not always easy to get into a studio and produce a new television commercial very quickly. Magazines plan their issues months in advance, radio station fills their ad spots well ahead of time, and newspapers plan days ahead. 

With social media, you have the ability to create timely ads.

One of the biggest complaints of my clients is that social media takes a lot of time. I encourage all of my clients to map out their promotions and start planning the type of content they need in advance and schedule what they can. 

They include day-to-day events that are relevant in their Facebook strategy. 

When the global pandemic hit they checked to see if those posts were relevant, if they weren’t they turned them into a Draft and will reschedule them at a later date. 

If they were relevant they let them post as intended but were able to share new relevant content too. 

So have you ever considered creating a marketing plan for the weather? 

The correlation between weather and mood impacts consumer decisions across their entire day, not just in relation to products that are typically considered “weather-triggered.”

You might be thinking could this really help my business? Well, let me share two examples.

Example 1

In 2013, Pantene saw a decline in sales as a result of losing touch with its consumers, a lack of new product innovations, and stiff competition from other brands.

In order to regain market share, Pantene focused on weather-affected hair problems. They identified key meteorological triggers for bad hair days including humidity and dry heat. Pantene partnered with The Weather Channel to serve ads on pages forecasting these ‘problem’ conditions, along with discount coupons and directions to the nearest store. 

As a result of serving weather targeted ads to consumers experiencing the ‘problem’ conditions, Pantene saw a 28% sales increase as well as 600,000+ social impressions.

Example 2

Another example is Lipton Ice Tea.  Liptons’ aim was to drive brand awareness amongst 18-24-year-olds during the summer months – a time of the year when traditional media channels typically underperform. They identified Facebook as the ideal channel for their mobile ad campaign. Liptons deployed a thermo-activated mobile campaign on Facebook. The ad, together with supporting photo and video content was triggered by warm temperatures.

Liptons achieved exceptional results, reaching 6.9 million people, and commanding a 12.8% video view rate - which equated to just £0.06 cost per view.

What kind of weather trigger could you offer in your business? 

Sunlight has a positive impact on how much a consumer is willing to spend, from an extra $1 on Green Tea to $10 on a gym membership or $100 on an airline ticket.

If you run a makeup business maybe look at promoting a bronzer or highlighter to customers for an added extra glow on those sunny days? Perhaps a Finishing spray to keep your makeup in place?  

Run a wellness center perhaps on rainy days you can sell more books, teas or meditative products so people can be cozy at home?

Things to keep in mind when you are crafting a weather-related offer for yourself: 

• Tailor messages and creative to the weather of the moment, with the value proposition that you’re offering. Whether it’s escaping heat, snow, boredom or the kids, tap into that motivation and remind the consumer how your theme park or museum can solve their “problem.”
• Purchase intent isn’t just shaped by current weather; it’s also influenced by recent experiences. For example, after 3 days straight of rain and being cooped up inside is a perfect time to serve parents an ad for kid-friendly indoor attractions (like a trampoline park, funhouse or indoor water park).

Facebook does not currently have a native weather trigger (you can hire a 3rd party to do this for you) but if you know your customer’s demographics you can easily check the local weather once a week and monitor conditions.

I recommend creating your ads in advance and turn them on when you reach the desired weather. 

The best-executed strategy won’t make a difference if the creative doesn’t resonate. Here are some tips:

• Include an incentive, a call to action and a deadline. “10% off for today only” is a great way to move consumers to a decision.
• Include a weather forecast in your creative. This will help legitimize the ad and remind consumers why they should be considering your offer, as well as provide a value-add for them. After all, now they don’t need to go look at the weather forecast up on their own.
• Have multiple ads in the queue for every weather-triggered scenario. Switch out headlines, images, and calls to action so they’re personalized for each of the triggering moments

I would love to hear if you are going to adapt a weather strategy in your business.