"7 Steps in Creating and Implementing a Social Media Marketing Campaign"

The processes involved in creating a social media campaign has been open to many discussions by many people as to how to do it effectively and as I indicated in my last blog I would give a further insight  into one type of approach to social media marketing after my recent discussions with Fi Bendall.  Her approach requires initially setting a baseline so that the success of the campaign can be measured. It also requires that thorough background research be done before the campaign is implemented. Following is an overview of her processes and strategy. 

Step 1: Research & Prepare

This involves the following Activities

• Identify social network channels, e.g; social media neighbourhoods, third party influencers, etc
• Identify activists target habits – online by segment
• Identify Opinion leaders in the group – This is done  by targetting activists who frequently offer or are elicited for category-related advice through Self Designation (opinion leader scales*),  Key Informant,  Professional Activity,  Digital Trace and Sociometry
• Identify the best “Social media marketing” practices against each group and their habits
• Listen and monitor the tone of the communications online, so any social material we create is in the “tone and speak” of the online communities.

Step 2: Engage Due Diligence

No social media campaign should be undertaken without due diligence. The community not organisations owns the social channel. Due diligence in social media is to “listen”. Providing a clear insight into “What’s on our minds”; “What’s our emotive triggers”; “How are we speaking – tone and language” ; “Where are we hanging out online – What is the online social neighbourhood?”.

This research and preparation grounds any strategy and recommendations, it is also a process of ongoing analysis to keep up with our society and their thoughts to best serve the right message, the right engagement, at the right time, for maximum viral input.

Step 3. Monitor Blogs and Provide Feedback

• So you can use blogs for ongoing research and, following the conversation threads to track influencers and engage with them as advocates
• Posting feedback, helping your client through training to conduct an ongoing, resource light post back strategy and implementation
• Providing snap-shot tracking reports
• Monitor the activity with access to your own analytics to see where the uptake and successes are to prove:
• Measure the volume of traffic
• Breakout the volume of uptake generated by the social media marketing activity as opposed to the normal traffic
• Measure the impact of the social media marketing activity

 Step 4. Engage with Blogs

We will engage with specific elements of the blog community to create new highly emotive conversations and useful content pieces to the online wider audience than the traditional activist base you already has. We will create debate to the broadest reach of audience who may not even be aware of the issues. We will put the issues front of mind through powerful emotive commentary that they can connect with. We will understand the emotive arc through the initial research phase of the activity, because we will ask them.

Step 5. Enable Social Media Online Consumer Relations through

• Listening to online conversations
• Identifying opinion leaders
• Developing content based on what is learnt
• Participating, commenting and generating interest
• Becoming a resource
• Supporting your client to build your online personality through the training program
• Syndicating RSS content
• Using your social media user generated content, cut up and repurposed for Online Consumer Relations.

 Step 6. Optimise the Social Media by

• Increasing your linkability
• Making tagging and bookmarking easy
• Rewarding inbound links
• Helping your content travel
• Encouraging the mash-up
• Implementing “Keyword” strategy incorporation
• Developing contextual links within the body of the content
• Citation strategy

Step 7: Reporting

1. Pre-activity word of mouth benchmark report will be supplied at the start of the research,

2. Ongoing snap-shot reports to measure results. The reports will measure social media marketing & advocacy success

3. Ensuring Check’s and Benchmarks are  enabled by:

• Using ‘control areas’ where the word of mouth campaign is run in order to measure the effect of the campaign
• Measuring changes in word of mouth pre-and post-actions and track online word of mouth to measure changes of the ratio of word of mouth
• Tracking recommendation rates and how they change over time
• Including an online element that allows use of web statistics and online feedback to measure reach and participation levels
• Reporting on the brand behaviour within the environment and the impact on the brand as a result of the new social contact methods

4. Final Report 

In Summary What Should be the Outcomes of  the Social Media Marketing?

• Extending communications beyond the organisations traditional borders
• Speaking the voice of the individual
• Targeting influential’s
• Encouraging engagement with the community
• Being sensitive to “social speak”
• Creating critical authenticity
• Becoming highly interconnected
• Make news travel fast
• Enabling feedback and interaction as a fundamental core of your activities