We're talking all things social media campaigns! Discover how to effectively market your brand on social media.
What is a social media campaign, you ask? It’s a term that floats around a lot in the marketing world, but what does it actually mean? A social media campaign is a marketing plan that helps you hit a specific goal or even series of goals via one or more social media platforms.
It’s different from typical social media content in that a campaign has a strategic focus with specific objectives, and it typically runs for a set period of time. For example, a summer campaign for a new beverage on market could run for 3 months, with the following campaign objectives: increase brand awareness and revenue by X amount.
Voila. There you have it. Now that you have a grasp on what a social media campaign is, let’s dive in so you can create your very own dazzling social media campaign!
The key to a successful campaign is starting with your goals and objectives, and working backwards from there. What’s your endgame, honey? Be specific, and while you’re at it, make sure to follow SMART goals best practices. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Examples of social media campaign objectives:
Over a 30 day period
Know who you’re speaking to. It changes everything. Do you talk to your sister the same way you talk to your dog? Ok maybe…but you get it. Tailor your content so it resonates with your target audience? What do they care about and need? How can you serve them, while showing up in a unique way? You want to stand out from the competition and make your brand irresistible to the right people. Research target audience demographics and psychographics, utilize market research, and define your audience!
Your content should not only align with your goals, they should also seamlessly tie in holidays, events, market trends, etc. That’s where the relevant piece comes into play with the SMART goals. As our girl Victoria, who’s All Things Social Media, likes to say “When it comes to social campaigns, it all starts with the calendar.” Make sure to take market trends and seasonal factors into consideration.
Where are you going to show up? It’s important that you don’t put all your marketing eggs in one basket. It’s so important, we even wrote a whole blog about it! Where is your target audience showing up? Are they Gen Z who live on TikTok, Millennials on Meta, or Boomers on Facebook? You’ll want to hit a few different platforms and customize your content for each social media platform.
Have a clear start and end date with your campaign. The length of your campaign can be anywhere from a few days to a year! It depends on your goals as well as your product or service. We’ll dig into the ideal length of your campaign in just a bit!
Define your budget for your campaign. That way you know exactly how much you can spend on content creation, ads, tools, etc. Cut out the unnecessary expenses and use your budget to measure ROI.
Did you knock it out of the park? You’ll only know if you track the results! Pull social media reports to see what worked and what didn’t. You should be monitoring the results along the way in order to pivot where necessary. Present your social media findings to key stakeholders so they can get on board with your efforts. If you absolutely killed it, don’t forget to brag just a little bit…
Shorter campaigns include product launches, holidays and events, and promotions. Think flash sales or an opening event!
Social media campaigns typically last 1-3 months. This amount of time is great for brand awareness and lead generation.
A long-term campaign gives you time to build customer loyalty and position your brand in the marketplace. It’s also a common timeframe for fundraising campaigns such as nonprofit organizations. Donation matches and fundraising can last up to a year!
Since we mentioned a few types of campaigns, we’ll give you the cliff notes version to summarize.
Brand awareness campaigns: Increase visibility and recognition of your brand.
Go-to-market campaigns: Effectively launch your product or service in the marketplace.
Seasonal campaigns: Leverage holidays or seasons to engage customers and increase sales.
User-generated content (UGC) campaigns: Build trust and community by partnering with influencers and encouraging social media followers to create and share content related to your brand.
If you’re looking to boost your brand with a campaign, we’ve got lots more where this came from. Reach out to our social media rockstars, and we’ll help you reach your big brand goals!
