In the social media marketing space, I think that there may be a misunderstanding of what a social media campaign should actually be. Many social media campaigns evolve around a promotion, a sale, a contest, a giveaway, or a new webinar. Most of the time the focus is the campaign itself. The missing link and what can go overlooked is what happens before and after the campaign has completed. A presidential campaign has a before, during and after and a social media campaign should be no different.
The before can be considered any former office or career someone has had leading up to their declaration to run. The during is the primary and general election. The job really begins after the campaign has ended. Imagine becoming the President and then not really doing anything at all. That would not be a very good president and that is not how a successful campaign works. In addition, the losing candidate, and those who dropped out during the primary may be forgotten if they do not remain in public office. The same process applies when launching a social media campaign. If you are not prepared with a follow-up plan after your campaign has ended, you run the risk of being forgotten and you do not want to be forgotten.
I have outlined different aspects to consider for every step along the way.
Before
There needs to be preparation leading up to the the start date of the campaign. You will want to answer the following questions:
What is the goal of the campaign?
What is the type of promotion?
Where will it run?
How long will it run?
Who do you want to target?
Will you be running any social media ads for your campaign?
What information will you capture? At the very least get an email address.
During
Once your campaign is running be sure to interact with people. If people are leaving comments or tweeting or posting on Instagram around your promotion be sure to reply. If your social media campaign is attached to an ad be sure to pay attention to your ad metrics. Facebook gives you amazing targeting options. You can really hone in on your demographic. If you see that your campaign is not getting the desired results, do not be afraid to make adjustments.
After
After your campaign has ended, hopefully you have reached your goal, and have gained new data on your customers, seen an increase in engagement or sales, or have collected email addresses from your campaign participants. An email address is very important because now you are able to market to people off of social media. Email marketing can be a very powerful tool. Capturing an email is the “Golden Goose.” However, do not bombard people with frequent promotional emails that shout “buy me, buy me.” That is one of the quickest ways for your unsubscribe rate to go up or to be ignored. This is not to say that you cannot sell with your email marketing. You can and should but there is a process involved. You spent time and money on your campaign, now is the time to nurture and grow these relationships with your existing and new found consumers. The after is really just the beginning.
Identifying your social media campaign goals and laying out a long term and well thought out strategy that details what you will do before, during and after your campaign will increase your chances of success.
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