6 Ways to Have a Successful Social Media Campaign

Whether you are a corporate company in need of a great marketing strategy or a nonprofit trying to make some noise for a cause, social media campaigns are a smart way to get your business out there. It is impossible to ignore the benefits that social media has on companies around the world. By just having a social media account a business is exposed to a larger audience. Online campaigns can expand an organization’s digital reach and help them gain more followers. However, in order to have a successful social media campaign, one should follow a set of guidelines.

1.Know Your Audience

Before designing a social media campaign it is important to know who your target audience is. Understanding your audience along with their demographics can help you create a persona online that will attract more people. For instance, Air BNB knew that the majority of their customers were travelers, people who liked to explore the world on a budget. In a Facebook live video campaign, they showcased the many ways that people could really experience a city, so that their customers would relate to it. By branding themselves as adventurous online they were able to captivate more people, strictly because they stuck to a persona. Only targeting one type of audience does not inhibit you, it expands your communication with potential customers.

 

2.Have a Clear Message

It is very important, that when you are developing your social media campaign, you choose one message and stick with it. You do not want your campaign to be unclear. If people cannot understand what the movement is about they will not follow it. A good example of a clear campaign is: #MarchForOurLives. This is a twitter movement that has spread across the United States and has sparked many protests. It is against gun violence in the U.S. and wants more restrictions on semi-automatic rifles. It was started by the victims of the high school Shooting in Parkland, Florida. Their message is extremely straightforward, which is why it has worked so well for them over the course of the last few months. During their protests thousands of people come out to march with them, and they were even able to get celebrities involved during their Washington D.C. protest.

 

3.Utilize Updates

Every few months it seems as though a social media network has changed something about their platform. Whether it be Instagram TV or Facebook live, social media changes more often than most people can keep up with, but it is so important that you do. When a new feature is released, it becomes a perfect opportunity for you to market your company. People are already interested in the new update, and will be quick to check it out. If your business is one of the first to use the feature to their advantage, more potential customers will see it.

 

 4.Create an Emotional Response

One of the best ways for a campaign to become viral online, is for it to conjure an emotional response from the public. People are more willing to dedicate their time and efforts to something if it has meaning behind it. Moral outrage is a strong tool to use in building a movement. A perfect example of this is: the public uproar in the U.S. caused by a viral picture of a little girl crying when her family was searched by border patrol agents. This image was the center of a movement that bashed U.S. President Donald Trump for having illegal immigrant children separated from their parents. The picture of the girl was spread all over Twitter and even featured on Time Magazine.  Ironically the little girl was not actually separated from her family during the search. That being said, more than 2,000 children have been separated and the picture inspired so much outrage that eventually Trump changed his policies on the matter.

 

5.PROMOTION, PROMOTION, and more PROMOTIONS

Having a promotion for your company is the easiest way to start a social media campaign. If you offer up a special deal to your customers, it will gain traction and go viral online. Last year, a not very popular, online store offered up a free bathing suit to any girl that reposted the picture of said bathing suit on their Instagram and tagged the company.  The company went from being unknown to being recognized worldwide in the matter of 24 hours. Promotions will attract a lot of people so be mindful of what you are offering. You do not want unhappy customers due to an inability to deliver. As long as you keep your promises, promotions are a great way to grow online.

  

6.Be Memorable

Out of all the points this is probably the most important. It does not matter if you have the right target audience, a clear message or a great promotion, if your campaign is not memorable it will fizzle out and die before it even begins. There are many different ways that a movement can become unforgettable online. A movement can be funny or catchy, it can have an outrageous video or cause extreme sadness. Ultimately it is up to you to decide how you want to grab people’s attention. A campaign for ALS  (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) had the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was indelible due to its content: People throwing buckets of ice water over their heads to raise money for charity. The Make-A-Wish foundation had an amazing campaign that featured a little boy, battling leukemia, who dreamed of becoming Batman for a day. They used footage from the boy’s experience and turned it into a way to raise money for their organization. It acted as a short documentary entitled: “Batkid Begins.” These two campaigns were so successful because they were memorable. For years to come people will remember celebrities dumping cold water over their heads and posting them online, just as they will remember the smile on the little boy’s face as he pretended to batman for a day. No matter what your movement is about you have to make sure that people will remember it.

 

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