Ten T's of a Targeted Social Media Campaign

For social media to be effective, it needs to be done right. It should be targeted to the audience you're trying to reach and in a way that represents your company.

Balancing the logistics of a social media campaign can be challenging, but with proper planning and manangement, the task may not seem quite as daunting.

So, here are the 10 T's of a targeted social media campaign to help you get started.

Tools - Choose social tools and platforms only after you have set marketing goals, keeping audience lifestyles in mind. For third-party social media management tools, ask for a demo or sign up for a free trial to make sure it meets your needs and your team is motivated to use it before allocating budget.

Tech - Make sure your team downloads social tool apps and has access from smartphones, tablets, and laptops to respond to community messages during off hours, travel, or away-from-desk times.

Timing - Responding in a timely manner to social messages is important for community engagement and loyalty as well as customer service. While some resources suggest there are "best times to post on social platforms," test your audience and pay attention to their buying or lifestyle patterns. If you’re sharing information for teachers, early morning, lunch time, and evenings might be the best time to grab their attention. Test results by posting at different times or survey your audience about their social and email communications preferences.

Trends - Get to know new social media platforms before jumping on the trend bandwagon. Make sure it works for your audience, and you’re not allocating time and resources to a tool that is popular but doesn’t fit your industry. Notice what’s trending on Twitter or in the news, and develop content that leverages the buzz and “ride the wave” for heightened exposure.

Tact - We’ve all heard stories about tactless social media blunders. Develop messaging guidelines for employees who post to company accounts and provide standard, yet personal response examples for customer service inquiries, complaints, or controversial inbound messages.

Titles - Just as content titles (blogs, email subject lines, page titles) are important to grab attention, they have the similar effect on social media. Think about how you’re sharing your content when you develop your titles - keep them brief, punchy, and spark curiosity, emotion, awe, or conversation.

Tagging - Use Google URL builder to add custom tags to content before sharing on social media to view detailed results and measure social ROI in Google Analytics.

Team - Welcome team participation in company social media communications, especially on tools they are excited about. Make sure everyone follows similar procedures for consistency in voice, post structure, link sharing, and tagging.

Tracking - Track social media campaign results in native tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and review where website traffic is coming from in tools like Google Analytics to understand your audience engagement and adjust your strategy.

Tone - Your social post tone can be just as important as the words you type. Your tone should reflect your company culture and serve as an extension to your brand to keep loyal followers loyal and conversing with your brand.

Rebecca Otis is the Content/Social Media Manager at Digital Third Coast, a Chicago digital marketing agency. You can find Rebecca on Twitter and Google+. Connect with Digital Third Coast on Google+.

Contact Us