Social media is a powerful tool and should have a strong presence in your marketing strategy. Like all parts of your business, the way you manage your social media channels requires thoughtful planning and strategic thinking. Once you’ve established your company’s social media presence, it’s time to start planning your first campaign. But how do you get started?
Keep Your Goals In Mind
What are you hoping to achieve with this first campaign? Your social media campaigns should be focused on a specific sector of your business. Start by setting attainable goals that you are aiming to achieve with your efforts. What service or part of your business are you looking to highlight with this campaign? Before moving forward, set clear expectations and goals from the start so you can measure the success of your campaign.
Know Your Timeline
Before you begin working on your campaign, start with a timeline for how long you want to focus on this specific campaign. Your timeline should look far enough into the future for you to see results, but shouldn’t be so long that the campaign loses impact on your audience. Lay out your campaign month to month so you have an overview of how your entire campaign will play out.
Establish Your Hashtags
Hashtags can help you brand your campaign and reminds your audience of what you are currently promoting. This is especially important if you are going to be encouraging your audience to participate. You will be using these hashtags when posting about the campaign, and your audience can use the hashtags when submitting their own photos or content, when they want to provide feedback, or when they are talking about the campaign online with their own audience.
Pick Your Channels Carefully
To find success with your campaign, don’t bite off more than you can chew. You should only be running your campaign on channels that you feel comfortable managing and have the time to focus on. Think about which channels your target audience will be most active on. This is where you should be promoting and focusing your attention for the best results.
Set an Ad Budget
Before you begin any paid advertising, have a clear budget in mind. Running ads can help you reach potential clients outside of your current network, but you always know how much you are looking to spend before you get started. Make sure you are tracking your spending with your timeline, and that you have an idea of what you are able to spend on this specific campaign each month.
Think Out Of The Box
What are you doing beyond your daily social media posting to help with the success of your campaign? Your additional efforts outside of the channels you are running can help with the overall success of your campaign. You might consider blogging, weekly newsletters, or attending local networking events to spread the word. These additional tools can work alongside your social media efforts to promote your campaign and widen your reach.
There is no simple formula for launching a successful social media campaign; it’s all about what works for you and your company. These tips will help you construct a plan that works best for you, and will help you get the best results with your strategy. Do you have a specific product that you are looking to promote online? Read more about why you should launch your next product on social media.
