Six Tips for Social Media Campaign Success

As social media has grown to become an essential marketing tactic, the business world has seen an increase in ingenious and clever campaigns. These strategic social media campaigns, which often use multiple platforms, are designed to help advance a business goal — with a specific target audience in mind. Below is a list of key considerations when building your comprehensive social media campaign: 

Start With Clear Goals and Metrics

Be sure that your campaign aligns with your overall marketing strategy and business objectives. Sit down with your sales and marketing team and determine how your campaign will help advance those goals and objectives. Have an open dialogue about why your company is engaging in social media and what you are trying to accomplish. Is the goal to increase brand and product awareness or sales, attract new employees, or perhaps use social to tell your corporate culture story? Having a single and consistent corporate voice is key.

Once you’ve set your goal(s), examine how you will measure success. Will it be measured through engagement (comments, likes, and shares) or an increased number of followers? Carefully define how you will determine campaign success or failure and develop a rollout timetable. A detailed and tactical timeline is key to staying organized, timely and on point. 

Determine Top-Performing Platforms

The next step is to identify your top-performing platforms. Take a look at the analytics for each platform and look for trends in engagement. What social media posts were shared the most? Which posts garnered the most likes and impressions? What drove new follower count?

It will also be beneficial to identify the leading platform in your industry. Research what your competitors are using as well as those used by industry leaders and influencers. Understanding the social media landscape in your industry will help you craft a campaign that is in keeping with industry norms and expectations.  

Target Your Ideal Audience(s)

Determine your target audience groups and look to see where they are gathering online – and around what types of content. If they are not already in your social media network, consider drafting posts that would most appeal to them.

Also, decide the content type you will share. Will your posts be personal, observational or educational? You will also want to use a voice that aligns with your industry and content. Generally, a casual tone is best for social media, but there may be exceptions, so it’s important to know how to present information and craft posts based on both your corporate personality and specific subject matter.

Develop Compelling Creative and Content

Before launching your campaign, be sure you have a process for creating and using supporting visuals in your posts, such as graphics, images, video, statistics, etc., to grab audience attention. 

Be sure to take note of trending news topics. Tap into timely topics to become part of the online dialogue, spark conversation and demonstrate that your company is “in the know.” 

It is vital to also have a social media calendar. This simple tool will keep you on track, help you plan ahead for each day’s posts, and ensure consistency, which is key to building an audience. 

Elevate Visibility Through Sponsored Support 

Social media algorithms, comparable to a mathematical set of rules specifying how a group of data behaves, have changed what content shows up for users and the level of visibility for posts. Rather than posts appearing based on the publish time, algorithms decide what content to deliver based on user behavior and prioritize posts in feeds based on relevancy. This can present real challenges when trying to increase post visibility — especially when mixed with the growing volume of content posted by users each day. 

If you have the budget, you may want to consider increasing visibility for your campaign by boosting posts, participating in sponsored content opportunities, and/or paying for targeted ads. Paid social allows you to display advertisements on social platforms or promote your own content to reach a higher number of people. All social platforms offer these advertising and promotional opportunities, making it easier for companies to reach larger target audiences more quickly and effectively. 

Monitor and Measure Results

It is crucial to monitor your target audience groups’ reactions and level of engagement with your campaigns. By analyzing what works and what doesn’t, you can adjust your campaign to help ensure maximum return on investment. Lastly, remember to measure campaign results. Gather and review analytics, solicit feedback from trusted members of your network, compare your results to previous campaigns, and continually self-assess for ways to improve. 

At the end of the day, a social media campaign should be approached in the same manner as any proven marketing tactic. Advance planning and smart execution will be the keys to helping your business extend its market reach, engage buyers and influencers, and achieve business goals.