Mobility Designed goes viral

ATLANTA - Social media is changing the way companies market their products, Keri Lauderdale Olson told an audience in Atlanta during her Medtrade session, “How to Create Demand for a New Product with Social Media.
She would know.
In April, her company, Mobility Designed, garnered more than 45 million views of a video featuring their patent-pending M+D Crutch after Tech Insider, a tech offshoot of Business Insider website, picked it up.
“We had a video on our website and our Facebook page talking about the inspiration behind the product and it was a personal story,” said Lauderdale Olson, chief marketing officer. “The inventor invented it for his father, who is an amputee and it was a really great video.”
The result: Mobility Designed sold out of its first product run, eight months ahead of its December launch date, and has a waiting list for its second run.
While there is no magic recipe to making a social media post go viral, there are a few things providers can do to improve their chances.
Know your customer
You need to know which social media platform your customers are spending their time on if you want to engage with them, says Lauderdale Olson. And if you don't, do a free survey with SurveyMonkey and ask them what they're using and how they're using it.
Develop a strategy
You need to know what you're trying to accomplish with your social media, before you do it, says Lauderdale Olson. If you don't know, hire a consultant or bring on a college intern to help you identify a  strategy.
Stay focused
Pick one or two channels that your customers are the most involved in and focus on those first, says Lauderdale Olson. Unless you have a huge team of people or you hire a company with a huge team of people, it's almost impossible to be on every social media platform at the same time.