Working in social media is great, you just sit scrolling and posting on Instagram all day, right?
One of the biggest challenges social media marketers face is the lack of understanding around their role and the in-depth theory and planning it takes to build successful social media channels… Campaigns don’t take off as quickly as they do in Emily in Paris!
Here are some of our secrets to a successful social media campaign with everything from strategy to execution and reporting.
Before we can flex our creativity, and get into the meat of the campaign, we need to plan! We start with our old friend, SMART objectives. It is vital that we know exactly what we are aiming towards, setting measurable goals, and ensuring they are achievable in a timely manner.
Top tip: ALWAYS refer back to your objectives throughout the campaign process. It makes sure you’re staying aligned with the overall goal and allows you to make any tweaks, should you need.
Outline specific timeframes where you will compare your progress to campaign KPIs, this will help guide you through your campaign. For example, at 25% the way through, are you where you want to be?
We don’t call it spying, we call it research. Scoping out your competition and seeing what others are doing in the industry is a great way to build your knowledge, gain inspiration, identify gaps, and highlight where you can be doing much better.
Interactive sessions. Grab a whiteboard, word doc, notebook, or anything that suits your working style. It can be hard starting a campaign from scratch, so start by collating as many ideas as possible, and jot down all of them no matter if you think they’re good or bad. Grab your teammates because the more the merrier and two heads are always better than one!
Top tip: We always find it useful to create a skeleton template, it helps ideas flow if facing a creative block.
Ultimately, your strategy underpins everything, it should all build towards smashing that revenue target or hitting that follower increase.
Executing the campaign can seem daunting, but make sure you reach out. Everyone has their own specialities, so make sure you have the right team members on board and briefed, ensuring they have PLENTY of notice.
We do love spontaneity and flexibility, but this is where planning is our best friend. Have an Excel spreadsheet or your preferred campaign plan that plots out the different platforms, specific communications, execution dates and milestones, this becomes your campaign bible, you will never not know what is going on.
Top tip: Set time 10 minutes aside every morning to check this is all up to date, it makes life so much easier!
Numbers, love them or you hate them, they’re here to stay. Reporting can be tricky, knowing where to start, what to optimise or even panicking if the campaign will hit its targets. Start with the numbers. They are telling you everything you need to know, break down each metric, and work your way through it slowly. For instance, say you started with CTR - what is it telling you, is it low? What can you do to increase it, is it certain posts/audiences that are bringing it down?
Top tip: Graphs can be really helpful here if you don’t like numbers! It gives a much more visual overview of performance.
When reporting, refer back to your SMART objectives! What were your KPIs, are you on track? This will help you inform your decisions and optimisations.
Top tip: Review the data with others. Sometimes people can spot different trends and have a different view, collaboration is key.
Sophie Loveday, Social Media and Content Manager
One of the biggest challenges social media marketers face is the lack of understanding around their role and the in-depth theory and planning it takes to build successful social media channels… Campaigns don’t take off as quickly as they do in Emily in Paris!
Here are some of our secrets to a successful social media campaign with everything from strategy to execution and reporting.
Before we can flex our creativity, and get into the meat of the campaign, we need to plan! We start with our old friend, SMART objectives. It is vital that we know exactly what we are aiming towards, setting measurable goals, and ensuring they are achievable in a timely manner.
Top tip: ALWAYS refer back to your objectives throughout the campaign process. It makes sure you’re staying aligned with the overall goal and allows you to make any tweaks, should you need.
Outline specific timeframes where you will compare your progress to campaign KPIs, this will help guide you through your campaign. For example, at 25% the way through, are you where you want to be?
We don’t call it spying, we call it research. Scoping out your competition and seeing what others are doing in the industry is a great way to build your knowledge, gain inspiration, identify gaps, and highlight where you can be doing much better.
Interactive sessions. Grab a whiteboard, word doc, notebook, or anything that suits your working style. It can be hard starting a campaign from scratch, so start by collating as many ideas as possible, and jot down all of them no matter if you think they’re good or bad. Grab your teammates because the more the merrier and two heads are always better than one!
Top tip: We always find it useful to create a skeleton template, it helps ideas flow if facing a creative block.
Ultimately, your strategy underpins everything, it should all build towards smashing that revenue target or hitting that follower increase.
Executing the campaign can seem daunting, but make sure you reach out. Everyone has their own specialities, so make sure you have the right team members on board and briefed, ensuring they have PLENTY of notice.
We do love spontaneity and flexibility, but this is where planning is our best friend. Have an Excel spreadsheet or your preferred campaign plan that plots out the different platforms, specific communications, execution dates and milestones, this becomes your campaign bible, you will never not know what is going on.
Top tip: Set time 10 minutes aside every morning to check this is all up to date, it makes life so much easier!
Numbers, love them or you hate them, they’re here to stay. Reporting can be tricky, knowing where to start, what to optimise or even panicking if the campaign will hit its targets. Start with the numbers. They are telling you everything you need to know, break down each metric, and work your way through it slowly. For instance, say you started with CTR - what is it telling you, is it low? What can you do to increase it, is it certain posts/audiences that are bringing it down?
Top tip: Graphs can be really helpful here if you don’t like numbers! It gives a much more visual overview of performance.
When reporting, refer back to your SMART objectives! What were your KPIs, are you on track? This will help you inform your decisions and optimisations.
Top tip: Review the data with others. Sometimes people can spot different trends and have a different view, collaboration is key.
Sophie Loveday, Social Media and Content Manager