Are you gearing up to launch your first social media campaign and feeling overwhelmed with all of the details? We’ve been in your shoes! That’s why we’ve done the homework for you and put together a handy list of our top tips to run a successful social media campaign as a beginner.
Grab a pen and paper and get ready to take some notes!
Clearly Define Your Target Audience
If you’re about to launch a social media campaign, chances are you have an ideal client in mind that you’re trying to reach. That “person” is your target audience and before you can get started you need to spend some time getting to know them.
Take some time to list the following items and then fill in as much detail for each as you can:
- Age range
- Education Background
- Homelife (married, kids, etc)
- Buying Habits (online, in-person, researched, impulsive)
- Pain Points (what’s bothering them)
- Values
By being as detailed as possible with this exercise, you’ll have an intimate picture of the person(s) that you’re trying to reach with your launch. Keep this in mind as you move forward so you can make decisions based on what suits them best. We have a few different demographics – teens trying to get their license, adults looking to get their CDL license, and drivers wanting a motorcycle license. As you can imagine, these are pretty different groups and we need to tailor our marketing to each of them.
Define Your “Why”
Beginning with the end in mind is a fairly popular marketing tactic for a reason. By understanding WHY you’re launching a social media campaign and WHO you’re launching it to, you’ll be able to make any decisions that go into it. If a decision doesn’t get you closer to your WHY or if it doesn’t benefit your WHO, then it’s not the best decision for this campaign.
So, why are you doing a launch? Is it to build brand awareness? Are you letting your target audience know about your new product or service offering? Or are you wanting to build your email list to better serve your customer?
There’s no right or wrong answer, but you need to be clear about this before you move forward.
How Much Are You Wanting to Invest?
It’s a well-known fact in business that you typically have to spend money to make money. Now, this doesn’t have to be an astronomical sum to reap the benefits but you do need to decide how much you’re willing to spend on your social media campaign.
This amount can either be spent in one channel or split among several social media outlets. If the latter, you may want to invest a larger amount, if possible. However, if you’ll only be marketing to one channel, you can get away with a lower investment at first and then make adjustments as needed.
Decide How Many Channels to Launch To
Before you can decide the finer details of your campaign, you’ll need to choose which social media platform you’ll be launching with. While there are many options out there, each is used by different audiences for different purposes.
Keep your WHY and WHO in mind as we go over the top three social media platforms and what they’re known for.
Considered to be the OG of social media (sorry MySpace…) Facebook is a user-friendly platform that makes campaign launching quick and easy. While older, it’s still an extremely popular social media app and it’s used frequently for purchasing decisions.
After inputting your budget and target demographics, Facebook and its algorithms pretty much handle the rest and it even gives you useful feedback.
Facebook-owned Instagram is another social media platform that should be on the top of your list to consider. It’s one of the top apps for user engagement and they make advertising a breeze. Getting your campaign seen on Instagram is all about using the right hashtags and pictures or videos.
Let’s use our app as an example. Our app helps teenagers get ready for their upcoming driver’s test. We would use hashtags like #DMVtips or #keystodrive. Users can search for these tags and find your product without having to search for you by name.
Are you launching a campaign selling to businesses? If so, LinkedIn is where you need to be. This is the place for companies and professionals to make connections and it’s used by millions of people worldwide. Their advertising is done through the ad auction which is a little different than other platforms but it’s where you should spend your budget if you’re a B2B company.
Determine Your Ad Settings Based on Your WHO and WHY
Now that you’ve decided where to spend your advertising budget, it’s time to determine your settings based on the WHO and WHY that you identified earlier. The exact settings and metrics available depend on what social media platform you’re advertising on but, in general, you’ll be choosing demographics such as income level, age, education, and location.
If you get stuck on any given metric, go back to your target audience and frame the question around them. For every setting that you come to, look at it from their perspective and you can’t go wrong.
Write the Script In Your Voice
The final step before launching is to write the words, or copy, for your campaign. Try writing like you speak and avoid fancy language or industry jargon so you’ll come across as approachable. You want your words to “feel” like a warm handshake and to give your new customers a taste of what it would be like to work with you so just be yourself.
Now, we understand that this is easier said than done and it’ll likely take more than a couple of tries to get it right. Just get your first draft on paper then go back through to make whatever tweaks you think it needs.
Launch and Re-Launch, Again and Again
Now that you’ve worked through all of our steps, it’s time to launch your campaign! The world is about to be the new recipient of your very useful and unique product (we believe it!) but the work isn’t done! It’s time to perfect your offering or service by listening to feedback and fine-tuning it. Your customers will appreciate the updates and keep coming back for more.
It’s Time to Get to Work
There you have it, our best tips to launch a successful social media campaign. Now it’s time to do your homework and get your campaign ready for your target audience. Ready, steady, go!
About the Author: Tim Waldenback is the co-founder of Zutobi Drivers Ed, a gamified e-learning platform focused on online driver education to help teens get their license. Tim founded Zutobi to make world-class driver’s education fun, affordable, and easily accessible for all.