Launching a Social Media Marketing Campaign

    For a majority of this year, we have talked about content strategies for specific platforms. Now, it's time to understand the steps needed to launch a social media marketing campaign. Chapter 13 says,
"in general, a campaign refers to a set of planned and coordinated activities geared toward achieving a goal." There are three main factors involved in a successful campaign, the before, during and after. Within each of these, there are more specific steps required. To launch a successful social media marketing campaign, one needs to follow these simple steps. 

    

    During the before stage, there are 11 steps. These include establishing goals, choosing a campaign idea, theme and type, identifying the target audience, determining a campaign budget and resources, outlining the campaign parameters, choosing incentives, determining where the campaign will live, selecting social networks, choosing a timeline, developing the campaign assets and content calendar and setting up listening streams. It's important to establish goals before going into a social media marketing campaign. Campaigns should build around specific goals companies want to accomplish throughout the campaign. Once there are established goals, it's time to think about a campaign idea, theme and type. To make the campaign memorable, there needs to be a strong campaign idea. While it needs to be strong, it doesn't always mean being over the top, sometimes simple is better. After there's an idea in place is when choosing a name and theme happen. Including the consumers in this process can make the campaign even more memorable. Once the theme is in place, it's time to think of the target audience. Information about demographics, location and social media networks can help determine this. Next a company must look into a campaign budget and resources. This is where any costs are accounted for and disbursed where needed. Depending on what type of campaign is being held, it's important to determine the campaign parameters, such as if it's a contest and what the rules would be. To encourage participation, incentives need to be in place for consumers. These can include prizes, discounts, coupons or exclusive content. It's also important to figure out where the campaign will be living, whether it'll be on a social media platform or just the company website. Determining where will help have a larger traffic to the campaign. Once location is determined, choosing a timeline is next. There needs to be a set start and end time for the campaign to avoid any confusion. Adding the final touches means having a good color scheme and campaign hashtag. An aesthetically pleasing campaign will draw the attention of consumers. Lastly, it's important to set up a listening stream to follow the activity around the campaign. 

    There are only three simple steps to follow during the campaign. These steps are to promote the campaign, monitor and engage in the campaign and to adjust anything if the campaign is not succeeding. For the after stage of the campaign, there are also only three simple steps, including announcing the winner or sharing the results, following up with all entrants and reporting and analyzing the campaign. Social media marketing campaigns are mainly preparation work. Once a campaign is launched, it's a matter of sitting back and watching everything unfold. What are you doing still reading this? Get out there and launch your social media marketing campaign!