How to Launch a New Product on Facebook without Overselling

You've spent months, maybe even years, working on your business's new product(s).

You're excited and can't wait to take the product(s) to market.

The challenge, however, is launching your product in such a way that your customers and fans share in your excitement.

It's a challenge lots of companies face. Adidas is doing it right, so today we're taking notes from them!

On Tuesday, Adidas Golf launched a ShortStack-built "Wheel of Weather Challenge" app to introduce their "Weather the Storm Giveaway" and their new GORE-TEX waterproof outwear.

The contest is both easy to enter and fun for golf fans.

In step 1 of the app, users can select which pro golfer they think will win the Wheel of Weather challenge: Martin Laird or Dustin Johnson.

In step 2, users choose the weather conditions for the final shot of their chosen player's component.

If the contest entrant's chosen player wins, they have a chance to win an Ultimate Tournament Collection, which consists of autographed items, new GORE-TEX Adidas golf gear and more.

Check out Adidas Golf's "Wheel of Weather Challenge" app below or click here to visit the app to enter to win. (The contest is open until July 14, 2013.) Adidas Golf's "Weather the Storm Giveaway" demonstrates what a successful social product-promotion campaign looks like.

Here are six things Adidas Golf does right with this app, and lessons your business can learn from when launching a new product(s) on Facebook:

• Understand your audience: Adidas Golf fully understands their audience and chose a Facebook contest that speaks directly to the audience's interests. The contest features popular professional golfers and scenarios that any golfer might encounter during a round of golf.

• Make it exclusive to fans only: Adidas Golf made their "Wheel of Weather Challenge" app fan-gated, meaning only people who have Liked their Facebook Page could participle in the contest. Doing this allows adidas Golf to drive new Page Likes and ensure that those opting into the challenge are interested, high-quality fans.

• Integrate native advertising principles: With Adidas Golf's contest app, they use concepts that are in the vein of native advertising. Native advertising integrates targeted, high-quality content into the organic experience of a given platform. With their Facebook app, instead of primarily promoting their new GORE-TEX product line, they subtly integrate details into their users' contest experience -- i.e., they let the focus be on engaging rather than selling.

• Focus on easy engagement: There are only two steps that Adidas Golf requires for their "Wheel of Weather" challenge. By limiting the number of hoops a person has to jump through to enter, it encourages more users to want to participate in your contest.

• Create urgency: Instead of doing a month-long entry period for their contest, adidas Golf chose to limit the contest to less than a week. This creates urgency in the minds of those who are considering entering the contest. July 9th through July 14th, fans are able to enter to win adidas Golf's "Wheel of Weather" challenge. On July 17th, adidas Golf will update their app to feature a video to announce the winner of their contest.

• Choose a target-appropriate prize: The contest prizes adidas Golf have chosen are exactly what any golf enthusiast would want to win. Also, the prizes are perfectly in-theme with the challenge fans were asked to participate in.

• It's difficult to not come across as too sales-y when your company is launching a new product or product line you're excited about. Often the best approach, as demonstrated by Adidas Golf, is to integrate your product- launch efforts into another effort that gets fans involved and gives them a chance to win something awesome.
• Has your company promoted a new product or product line recently? If so, let us know in the comments below if you used Facebook to promote it!