Creating exceptional social media marketing campaigns might seem daunting, but in actuality, with a good plan, you should be able to get the hang of it. The truth is, we normally see larger companies with deeper pockets always hitting the front pages of our social networks. So how can I compete with these mega-companies without resources or time? You might ask. Well, you should know that the beauty of social media marketing is that you don’t need to be a top-tier ad agency, or have more money, to run a great campaign. Just come up with a good strategy, of course, based on your industry, campaign type, and social media platform, and you will definitely have a chance. Keep in mind that the strategy should be designed in a way that helps you connect with your audience, new and old, build strong on-platform relations, and ultimately drive long-term sales. We understand that however simple as this might sound, to some, especially the beginners, creating such a strategy might be super challenging, which is why we’ve included some easy steps that you can follow to produce and launch marketing campaigns on social media.
Research your competitors – doing some research on your competitors is a very crucial step to creating a successful campaign that a lot of marketers forget to take, regrettably. It is through this research that you will know what’s working for your competition, and therefore, use the insights obtained to improve your own campaigns. Also, if you do not agree with your competitor’s campaign-style or are not on social platforms, you can look for other campaigns that inspire you and figure out a way to apply certain elements of those campaigns such as a similar style, aesthetic, level of engagement or a specific message to your campaign. Ultimately, uncovering your competitor’s strategies might help create an even stronger strategy for your brand, giving you the edge in the market.
Craft your strategy – you need to come up with a strategy for your campaign. To create an effective strategy, try breaking it down to the basics, as follows:
- For starters, determine the goal of the campaign. For instance, are you looking to build an online community, promote your blog, or drive more leads to your site?
- Next, determine the metrics to monitor. Say that you are looking to drive leads to your webpage, then you might want to track the number of users contacting you or clicking on links that are promoting lead magnets.
- Lastly, when crafting your messaging or content, you might want to do it in a manner that the audience will find appealing. This will be achieved by considering current trends – like live streaming and Instagram stories – being informative, and also creating unique and compelling visual content.
Promote one message using different forms of content – once you’ve finalised your preferred message, you will deliver that message to your audience through different formats, such as videos, infographics, as well as blog posts, to determine the one that works best for you. You will get different reactions to each format, and therefore, being able to favour the formats that receive the more positive reactions. Also, the fact that you will be sharing one message, means that your message will be repeated all through, and so the users will retain it. The truth is, this repetition will lead to familiarity, which will then foster trust between your message, brand and product, and your audience. After all, redundant messages stick.
Balance promotional and non-promotional content – here is the thing, if, for instance, you share non-promotional content only on your social platforms – say Facebook or Instagram – you won’t achieve the kind of results you would hope for, and if you only share promotional content, users will become uninterested and will eventually stop following you. So, you need to balance both types of content. In so doing, your audience will perceive you as being super helpful, and therefore, will want to engage with you even more.
Publish unique and trending content – this might sound like a great strategy to implement, but how can content be both trending and unique? – You might ask. Well, how about you find trending strategies and topics and try putting your own unique spin on them. For instance, if marketers are saying how Facebook Zero is going to damage reach, be the one to write about how businesses that strive to connect with their clients will benefit from it. Being unique and authentic will make you stand out, giving people a valid reason to want to follow you instead.
Optimise your campaign – you need to optimise your campaigns and routine using a scheduling software so as to streamline the process. Maybe you can create a calendar in advance, enabling you to schedule posts to be published at specific dates and times. Doing this reduces the amount of time you’d, otherwise, spend bouncing from one platform to the next to upload content, thereby giving you more time to focus on engaging with users and creating great content.
Engage with your audience regularly – as an efficient social media marketer, you need to set aside time to directly engage with your audience by liking or replying to comments and responding to their feedback. See, doing this gives the users a personal experience they will always remember, and that might play a role in keeping them invested in your brand.
Come up with a unique hashtag – when advertising on Instagram and Twitter, hashtags are quite powerful, as they not only help in driving engagement, but they can also help you track your campaign’s results. When you create a unique and branded hashtag for your campaign, you can track engagement and user-generated content more easily, even when the users don’t tag your brand directly.
Go live – today, live streaming has been the biggest trend on social platforms, and it is expected that in the next few months, it will become a $70 billion industry. What this means is that if you are not taking advantage of it, you seriously missing a big opportunity. Consider going live on Facebook or Instagram discussing topics that are related to your products or services. Furthermore, in order to boost engagement, you can host Q&A sessions to answer all the questions your viewers may be having. Utilise both platforms to the best of your ability for the best results. As a matter of fact, you can run an A/B test, say, Instagram vs Facebook marketing campaign and then compare the results.
Analyse your performance – the fact that your campaign has already started and is progressing well doesn’t mean that the work is done. You need to analyse the results of the campaign as it progresses, and when it is over, you will need to carry out a close evaluation, to determine if it is worth the investment or not. You will also be able to identify the strengths of the campaign, which you can put more emphasis or focus on when you run the campaign again.
To sum it up, social media has taken the world by storm, and regardless of what you think about it, it is here to stay and is presenting golden opportunities to businesses around the world. By running social media marketing campaigns, the businesses are able to remain relevant and also promote their brand effectively and efficiently. Those that don’t take advantage of this opportunity risks being left behind in the competition. Don’t let yourself be one of them!
