Social Media 101: 8 Ways Businesses Can create a Successful Campaign

Social media plays an integral role in a business’s everyday operation. The various platforms encourage audience participation and engagement, build meaningful relationships with the business audiences, drive revenue, maintain or reposition the brand’s image, generate earned media coverage and much more. Social media has broken the traditional views and practices of media. It is astonishing, to see that almost everyone is somehow connected online. Businesses and individuals realize the importance of social media as it helps unify people. Social media makes it easier for organizations to create campaigns that can render maximum benefits for the organization.

Strategic Planning

Planning is a fundamental tool for business or an organization. Hence the saying goes, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Well, without planning, failure is doom to happen. For social media campaigns to be successful, business has to use strategic planning. Since every business is different, it is best to tailor the business’s social media plans in ways that fit the business objectives and purpose.

Research

For organizations to locate the right audience for their campaign, they must first do some research. For example, organizations should be asking these question, who am I trying to reach and where can I find them? What are they saying about me? What benefit will I provide to them and how will I retain them? Research can help organizations understand and locate their audiences through demographics, psychographics, Geographic and many other ways. For instance, if a pizza business wants to have a social media campaign. It is essential for the company to find out what type of people will love eating pizza. Will it be college and high school student, single people, or young professionals that are busy with their career and have time to cook their meal?

Goals and Objectives

It is paramount when creating a social media campaign to align the business’s mission and vision with the campaign goals and objectives. The goals and objectives should answer the following questions? Why are you doing this? What do you want to achieve? What is the problem or opportunity you are trying to address? For example, a goal can be “To deliver excellent service and generate profit, To engage customers, or to establish thought-leaders” Have at least 3 to 5 goals and objectives.

Key messages

A social media campaign should have a clear, concise key message that is short, memorable and consistent in every platform. For example, in US President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, his core message “Yes, we can” is a simple, yet powerful statement of hope. It resonates well with not only US residence, but with people of color all over the world, and people that faced various barriers in life. Have a minimum of 3 key messages for each campaign. Remember, a key message is like food. You want to leave your audiences with a lasting impression of feelings with your words.

Tactics and Strategies

Part of the planning process is to develop tactics and strategies that will be implemented throughout the campaign. For example, do you want to generate new customers, or showcase thoughts leaders? How will you go about doing this? Will you run a campaign that allows the participant to win something, or will you share a video of an expert in your company, giving advice? Tactics and strategies are your plans of action. It is always best to have a call of action related to your tactics and strategies.

Relationship building

One of the main advantages of social media is that it helps build relationships between a brand and its audiences. Relationship building involves trust. When consumers trust business, they take on the brand, create loyalty and even become brand ambassadors. Your social media plan must demonstrate that your brand is trustworthy by being transparent and meeting customers’ needs and expectations. This can be achieved mainly through active communication.

Content Marketing

Instead of concentrating on customers to make a purchase, the business can create a unique campaign that captures attention, and help the audience to engage and participate. For example, if the business is situated in a community that has a large refugee population, they could employ individuals that faced language and job barriers. The business can promote or brand themselves as a business that is community focus. Part of the business tactics will involve posting pictures and videos of how they engage the community. These videos can include employees comment, or interviews of what having the opportunity to work for the pizza business has helped his family financially.

Brand community

Businesses can also benefit from social media by creating a brand community. Individuals can log onto the business’s page and find exciting contents like unique pizza toppings ideas, or even questions and answers page that allow communication and provide incentives for community brand members.