By Jillian Anderson | April 28, 2009
- Photo credit to spodzone
- Social media campaigns should have a start and finish. BUT campaigns are only a piece of the social media marketing puzzle.
For several months, I’ve had an issue with people using the term “campaign” when talking about social media marketing. This bothers me because, overall, social media marketing needs to be looked at as ongoing process/strategy and it should not be thought of with a beginning and an end.
Last week, Tracey, Kyle and I attended a presentation by social media strategist Jason Baer.
His talk was lively, entertaining, to the point and right on – breaking down 7 ways to use social media:
#1 – Reputation Management (Heard that before)
#2 – Customer Service (Excellent point, but I knew that too.)
#3 – PR (Same story)
#4 – Client Acquisition (So I already know that’s a perk of social media. Wait, what’s this about campaigns and having a beginning and an end? Now I’m listening.)
And then it hit me. When done for client acquisition, you can/need to have a beginning and an end (campaigns). Depending on your marketing objectives, promotional campaigns (with a more precisely targeted strategy and objective) are an excellent component of social media and traditional marketing. BUT…don’t forget that the campaigns are ONLY a COMPONENT of the complete and ongoing online marketing strategy.
Social media marketing is NOT a series of campaigns!
Given the nature and purpose of social media marketing (relationships and conversation), campaigns have no place on their own. The big picture (strategy) needs to be the foundation of all social media marketing endeavors.
Promotional campaigns (with a beginning and end), should only be used to fan the flame of your social media marketing efforts. If you plan to survive in this realm, your strategy will have no end – you’re in this for the long haul. The strategic foundation is essential as, when done right, the conversation and social media presence will continue for months or maybe even years after a campaign is over.
What do you think? Please, feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, questions, etc. below!
I’m not going to leave you hanging. In case you were still wondering what Jason’s last three points were:
#5 – Customer Loyalty
#6 – Thought Leadership
#7 – Networking
His complete sideshow is embedded below.
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About the authorJillian gets emotional over food, prefers baths to showers and still uses personal checks despite the Visa commercials. She is fascinated by the intricate elements of organic gardening, loves Truth, and says nice things only when she really means it. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
2 people are conversing about "A time for everything, even social media campaigns"
From Dave Shustler | April 28, 2009 at 1:14 pm:
I’m going to have to disagree with you because a lot of large companies ARE implementing social media campaigns all the time with no long term goals in mind. The reasoning is that they have no internal resources to keep the campaigns going after their ad agencies finish the promotional campaign.
These campaigns are also very successful and cost efficient.
I do agree that it would ultimately be beneficial for most companies (mostly mid to small size) to have a long term strategy in place but sometimes it’s just not in their cards.
From Jillian Anderson | April 28, 2009 at 2:31 pm:
Dave,
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment! I agree with you that there are some companies (large corporations) that can get away with social media campaigns and be successful without a long term plan…but only to a certain extent. And there are several companies that have a strong market presence, dominate traditional media, and already have a high top of mind awareness that, as of right now (today), might not even need engage online.
I would also say, though, that without long-term involvement and monitoring they are missing out on the value/purpose of social media.
Again, I also agree with you that the social web lends itself more naturally to mid/small sized businesses as they are easier to put a face to. Full-blown social media strategies are not right for everyone. But, as competition rises and more businesses develop their online presence, it will be a lot more difficult to have a successful social media campaign without an already established presence/network/relationships/reputation/system, etc.
I’ll still say, though, that “If you plan to survive in this realm, your strategy will have no end – you’re in this for the long haul.”