How to Develop a
Social Media Marketing Campaign
 Guest
article by Shannon Suetos
from
Resource Nation
When implementing any type of marketing campaign it is wise to first take a step back
and decide how to develop your campaign. Many companies are have made the
executive decision to go forward with social media—they just aren’t so sure what
to do.
Decide where your target audience is engaging
Tackling a social media campaign is much like, if not exactly like a traditional marketing
campaigning. The first order of action is to decide where your target audience
is. You could have the latest and greatest product or services in the world,
but if your core audience isn’t hearing the message there is no benefit to your
company.
According to a
study
conducted by Chitika (a full service online advertising network) broke down the
users of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Digg.com. This study concluded that:
- 47% of Twitter users are there for news
- 52% of Myspace users are there for video games or celebrity/entertainment
- Digg was spread out between news, tech, and video games
Once you have decided on where your target audience is, you can then go to develop strategies
for each site that best fits your company.
Social Tone
The tone of
your campaign should be less formal, and more conversational. This is not to
say you should throw out all social etiquette—but rather a “business casual”
approach. People like talking, especially about themselves, but make sure in
your campaign you provide information not only about your services, but current
events or even industry news.
Staying away
from topics such as religion and politics is a good idea as well—especially if
you have many clients from diverse backgrounds. Staying neutral will keep your
clients happy and keep you out of hot water.
Define Goals
and Measuring Results
Going back to
traditional marketing tactics, you need to have a clear objective and measurable
goals in your social marketing campaign. Knowing how effective your tactics are
can also help you determine your social media ROI and help you decide what
tactics work and which don’t for your company.
TwitterFriends
determines what they call a conversion quotient, which measures how effective
your tweets are on Twitter by looking at how many @ replies you receive as well
as re-tweets. The goal of Twitter for business owners should be to get as many
@ replies (gains you exposure) and re-tweets (helps get your link/links
exposed). Once you know how effective your efforts are you will be able to
decide on the best social media outlets for your business.
Another great
tool
to use has been developed by
Email Data Source. This tool will allow marketers to measure Twitter's impact
on the traditional brand marketing perspectives of reach, frequency and
effectiveness. This tool seems similar to TwitterFriends in the sense it will
help you understand what type of people are re-tweeting you, but explains it in
a more traditional marketing way. This is a great tool for marketers who aren’t
familiar with Twitter yet.
Getting
Creative
This is always the fun
part of any marketing campaign. There are many types of tactics out there that
are useful for brand awareness and fun for the customer as well. Many companies
are using quizzes to do this.
Jennifer Stolte,
marketing director for Celestial Seasonings (who implemented a Facebook quiz
earlier this year) says, “Social media is something that’s really growing. So
many people are online, especially on Facebook, so we’re excited to step into
the water.”
Another company
doing social media right is Dunkin Donuts. Jesse Greco, founder of
PRBreakfast Club
says, “It’s the small things that they [Dunkin Donuts] truly excel at. They
know how to keep consumers engaged and interested on a daily basis and they have
a way of making you feel like you’re special, even as just one of their millions
of consumers.”
In the end it
is up to you how you are going to run your campaign. The main things to
remember is research and use measurable means for your tactics. The world of
Internet marketing is evolving fast, and it is up to you to keep up.
Shannon
Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for
an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing
decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as
payroll services
&
small business services
at
Resource Nation.
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