All successful social media campaigns have one thing in common: good planning. Like most things in life, jumping in head-first to a social media campaign will quickly prove to be a bad idea. Think of your social campaign as your battle plan – you need to decide when you’re going to strike and how, and also have a contingency plan in case things don’t go exactly the way you planned.
The other week saw the seventieth anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy (D-Day) which, thankfully, was meticulously mapped out by Dwight D. (for ‘Dangerous’) Eisenhower, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and numerous other senior Allied figures. They attacked from the sky, the sea, and then by land – in other words, they had a strong and well-thought-out strategy in place. Let’s all shudder as we think about how it might’ve turned out had Double-D, Monty and co. gone into it with a vague approach. It’d probably be even more unpleasant than the dystopian future brought about by the aptly-named Biff Tannen in Back to the Future Part II. Probably.
Clearly establish your overall – and specific – objectives
Although the aim of pretty much every social media campaign is to maximise brand awareness, you should try to be more specific. A lot of the time, you’ll also want to:
- Generate new customers and leads
- Increase site traffic
- Increase sales (obviously)
- Establish relationships with customers
- Maintain relationships with customers
- Improve public relations
- Convey corporate social responsibility (CSR)
It’s important to always remain focused on your objectives, and though the above may seem obvious and apply to pretty much any social media campaign, it won’t hurt to write them down somewhere you’ll be able to see them on a regular basis. Put them all into a mind map, a post-it note on your computer monitor, on the wall in Nutella, whatever – just make sure you’ll be able to see it.
Ascertain who your target audiences are
This is, of course, just as crucial as establishing your objectives. Everything you put out on social media platforms must be aimed at the right people in order to provoke mass engagement. For example, if you’re a brand that sells footballing equipment, you need to figure out how you’re going to maximise your outreach, as the target audience in this case is not a specific gender or age, but in fact covers a wide area.
It’s difficult to say whether it’s better to have a narrow or a wide target audience, but in either case there’s no getting round the fact that you need to establish exactly what type of person or people make it up.
Decide which social platforms you’re going to focus on
The social platforms you focus on will depend heavily upon the sector in question. Just thinking of an example off the top of my head – or rather, the pit of my growling stomach – social campaigns for food companies or eateries should be very image-heavy. I’d be interested to know what percentage of all the Instagram pictures ever uploaded are of food (I reckon at least 15%). Instagram is a great social network for food brands and restaurants – and it’s one of the simplest and least time-consuming of them all.
(Image courtesy of Miramax)
Say, for example, the campaign in question is for an eatery which specialises in American foods like massive burgers, pancakes and so on – if you can get a decent command over Instagram, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
It’s not a case of which social platforms you feel most comfortable on – it’s a case of which social platforms will be the best for the brands, or moreover, the social platforms which will facilitate maximum audience engagement.
As I may have already made crystal clear in my previous blog posts, I’m a huge advocate of Twitter above all other social media platforms. I think it’s got the most potential out of any of them. I’ve got Facebook, I’ve got LinkedIn, I’ve got Google+, but I find none of them half as accessible – or addictive – as Twitter. The content which appears on my Twitter timeline is content I’m interested in seeing, whilst a lot of the content on the others is irrelevant. If I get bored of the content shared by a certain Twitter account, I can unfollow it swiftly and mercilessly in two clicks, whilst on Facebook and LinkedIn it seems slightly more difficult (it probably takes about ten more seconds, but that’s long enough not to bother). Of course, I know that not everyone will feel the same way as I do, but I think a lot will.
Assemble your team
A strong, efficient and (above all) switched-on team will be absolutely fundamental in the execution of your social media campaign. Every social media executive in your team will have different strengths, interests and personalities, so it’s always good to assign your SM executives to campaigns that they’re likely to flourish in. For instance, going back to that football equipment example, you should probably choose someone who actually likes and plays football if possible – if not, consult someone else within the business who does.
Of course, any good social media executive should be able to immerse themselves into a social campaign regardless of whether or not they take a personal interest in the sector in question, but it’s always wise to allow people to work on projects they’ll enjoy, as this is much more likely to breed great results.
Devise your strategy
This should go without saying, but any decent social campaign will have a number of different elements and layers, in order to ensure that it reaches as many people as possible. You’ll also need to revise and update your strategy regularly in order to stay on top of the game. For example, if you release new products or services, or the sector changes in any way, your social media campaign will need to reflect that.
Time for another very serious example from historic battle plans – this time Kevin McCallister’s two yuletide defense strategies: (the aptly-named) ‘Battle Plan’ from Home Alone and (the even-better-named) ‘Operation Ho Ho Ho’ from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. If you take a closer look at both strategies, you’ll notice their thoroughness – each one has no less than ten strong attacks, in order to provide back-up plans in the event that one (or several) don’t work.
Focus heavily on content
As a content writer, I was always bound to go off on one about the role of content within your social media campaign, but it really is pivotal. A large part of any social media campaign is the sharing of content which is of interest to your target audience – both your own and other people’s.
There’s no point in going to the trouble of writing your own content if you’re not going to share it and get it out there. Longform content – the popularity of which is increasing by the day because of its effectiveness – takes quite a long time to write. Just like a great social strategy, a great piece of longform content must be planned out and not be made up as it goes along. It can take anywhere between three and six hours to write an average piece of longform content, depending on the topic and the purpose of the piece, so to ineffectively promote it on social platforms – or worse still, not promote it at all – is money down the drain, to put it plainly.
It’s not just your own content you should share, though. Anything which would be of interest to your target audience should be shared (though you do need to pick and choose carefully). For example, if you tweet out a link to a piece of content (that you’ve written or produced) which is relevant to your customers, the chances are that some will retweet it, which will make their followers aware of you as a result – which, with any luck, will result in them following you and, eventually, becoming a new customer.
Ergo, the more consistently engaging the content you share is – whether it’s your own or not – the more customers you will attract. If you actively seek out content which is relevant to your sector and share it, you’ll be seen as a ‘thought-leader’ and a brand which is generally switched-on. I, personally, would be much more inclined to trust brand which demonstrates an interest in their own sector on social media – this way, a brand looks like much more than just a business.
Project the brand’s personality
Whether it’s your own brand’s social media campaign in question or one you’re running on behalf of a client, you must make sure that the brand’s ‘voice’ is loud and clear across all the platforms you operate on. A little bit of personality goes a hell of a long way on social media, and it takes barely any effort to implement. I unfollow brands that are boring on Twitter – my timeline’s packed enough as it is.
The vast majority of brands – regardless of the sector – will do well to take a friendly and lighthearted approach to social media. In other words: be sociable. You must bear in mind that written words are much easier to misconstrue than spoken words. You can tell by the way someone says something whether they’re joking, being playfully sarcastic, being sincere or being stern. However, when it’s written down it’s a bit more complicated and not always clear. The last thing you want is to have some playful sarcasm mistaken as surliness (or even genuine sincerity).
All of the above said, you must not be scared to project some personality into your social media campaign, as it can go a long way. I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that the vast majority of human beings on Planet Earth like to laugh. Therefore, if you can make your followers (or rather, your potential customers) laugh from time to time, either internally or aloud, you could thereby secure their loyalty.
Run competitions
This might seem like an obvious one, but running competitions on Twitter can massively boost followers and thereby customers – and all you have to do is give something away now and then. Many brands who run Twitter competitions will send out a tweet with a picture of the competition prize, instructing those who want to enter it to retweet it. Again, this will introduce your Twitter account – and thereby your company – to Twitter users who’ve never come across you before. These could be people who are already aware of your brand but not its Twitter account, or people who were entirely unaware of you hitherto. Either way, new followers can often quickly turn into new customers – if you use social media effectively.
Four key indicators on Twitter
There are four elements of Twitter that you can examine regularly in order to keep a very close eye on how your social media campaign is going. It’s up to you how often you check, but perhaps once a month would be most advisable. These indicators are:
Follower count
Basically, the more engaging and successful your social media campaign is, the higher number of Twitter followers you’ll have. Many brands adopt the practice of following back customers, which can work in some cases but is frowned upon by some, as it reduces your follower-following ratio.
Mentions
This is essentially the form in which your feedback on Twitter will come. If you’re mentioned on Twitter (as in, with your handle), it’s proof that your content is being engaged with in some regard. This is also how you’ll strike up conversations with your customers, and thereby go a long way towards securing their loyalty (if you do it correctly).
Retweets
When someone retweets you, they are essentially endorsing your content (nine times out of ten, anyway). A retweet is basically a Twitter user saying “Here – look at this” to their followers. It’s a public recommendation which can massively increase the outreach of your brand – basically, the more retweets you get, the further your outreach will be. Retweets are absolutely essential when it comes to generating new customers and leads, as they are what will make you visible to people who aren’t already aware of you.
Favourites
A favourite is not quite as valuable as a retweet. A retweet is a public recommendation, whilst a favourite is more like a quiet pat on the back. Nonetheless, it’s a follower (or non-follower) giving positive feedback on something you’ve posted – whether it’s an article or a reply to a customer enquiry.
Why are these important?
By regularly analysing these four key indicators and how the figures concerned with each change, you will be better able to measure and monitor your Twitter success – or lack of it. In the latter case, close examination of these key indicators will allow you to see where you’re going wrong, and from there you can adjust your strategy in order to better it. Of course, improving your social media campaign is something you should always look to do, no matter how much success you’re already experiencing. It’s all about keeping your eye on the ball.