How do you stand out in the increasingly flooded market of social media campaigns? It can seem daunting to the individual marketer or a whole team of creative minds who just can’t seem to find a different approach. The key is controlled creativity. How do you reinvent the wheel without changing its shape or function?
Running a social media campaign is different from the day in day out maintenance of media profiles. The profile reminds everyone that you are there, “hello, it’s us again. Do you remember how great we are? If not, or if you just need a little reminder, here it is.”
The campaign is “Well, hey there, we’ve never met. Look at how new and flashy I am.” The goal of the campaign is to point the customer in a specific direction for a specific time.
So, what are some tips for running a social media campaign?
Strategy
The most important part of a building is the foundation and the most important part of a social media campaign is no different. The foundation of your campaign is the strategy. Having a detailed campaign strategy makes running the campaign easy.
First, you need to target your audience. What motivates them and what are you trying to get them to do? More specifically, what is the objective of your campaign. How does if fit into your blanket marketing strategy? Then you need to zero in on what social platforms are going to be used. For example, do you want the visuals to be in the forefront? Consider, Instagram to highlight your amazing photography.
Which leads us into our next decision, what tactics do you want to use? Are you going to rely on blog posts, videos, or influencers? Next you need to decide, if it is more than just a solo campaign, who from your team will be doing what. The more you can specialize a task the more care that can be put into it. Lastly, and possibly the most important part of strategy, is how are you going to calculate a success? Are you looking for more website traffic, purchases, or downloads, or engagement?
There are so many things to consider when starting a campaign and strategy should be the first step, because it is the most important. With a good strategy you know where you are going, how you’re getting there, and what to do when you arrive.
Be Unique
This one is easy to say but can be quite hard to do. You need to use the social media platforms available to you in a unique way. The goal is to try and get the scrolling to stop and typically being unique gets attention. For example, you can create a different Instagram account and utilize a rare format that people typically do not use. The point is to be different just enough to get noticed.Â
Trending
Trending topics have a way of getting attention. Whenever I see that something is trending, I try to find out why. I immediately google the trending topic or search it on Twitter. The point is that trending topics are a vital source for a social media campaign. They should be utilized if you want to stay relevant and drive up traffic and engagement metrics.
Audience Participation
People love to be involved, at least most do (I’m looking at you introverts), and that is a great way to get people interested in your campaign. By making your audience part of the experience you are more likely to get them interested in what you are selling. A perfect example of this is the newly burgeoning baseball season. To get fans more interested in the games, Major League Baseball created a “cheer” button on their app in which fans can choose to boo or cheer during designated games. By doing this fans felt more a part of the experience.
Who’s Your Audience?
As we discussed earlier, you must know your audience. I’m stating this again because sometimes the target can get lost in all the hoopla. If you do not know who you are trying to reach, what they want, and why they want it, then what is the point? You might as well close the laptop, put down you phone, and put the project to bed. This cannot be stated enough, you are here because of them.
One Platform Campaign
It is easy to get stretched too thin. The Romans did it and look what happened to them. No more Romans. Make your life easy and choose one platform. If you have a large team, sure, choose two, but don’t get too complicated. Keep your message direct and stay on one road.
Features and Technology
These can be scary words because it means, typically, something new. Nobody wants to have to learn something new right as they are getting going on a campaign.
No need to worry.
It’s not scary.
Using new social media features, such as audio tweets on Twitter, or the newest technologies, such as Biteable to create stellar videos, can make your campaign standout above the rest.
Social Ads
I cannot say that social ads are the most exciting, but they are effective. Make sure that you are targeting specific interests. It is also a good idea to run the ad campaign as a precursor to the actual social media campaign to drum up interest before the launch. Think of social ads as your movie trailer.
Tips Are Nice, But Action Is Better
Whether you are a small or large company these aforementioned tips can greatly increase your chances of running a successful social media campaign. But these are only tips. An oar is nothing without the paddler. What is a fan without the power? These items are nothing without action just as these tips are nothing without action. Nothing is nothing without action.
