Social media campaigns are a great way to connect with your target audience, grow that audience and increase your business.

But your campaign will only be a success if it’s planned well and executed properly. Randomly posting things on social media here and there isn’t going to give you the best result. A plan needs to include an audit of what your following on each social media account currently is, the goals you have for those accounts and the methods for reaching those goals.

There are certain do’s and don’ts when it comes to a social media campaign. Here are some tips to get you started.

The Do’s

• Do create goals and objectives, otherwise you’ll have no way of gauging your success.
• Do find out where your target market is hanging out online. If a large portion of your audience is on Instagram and you haven’t got an Instagram account, this would be a good place to start. If you have very little engagement through Facebook, maybe give it a miss altogether.
• Do create a content plan and editorial calendar. Knowing what you intend to post, how often and when will help you stay on track with your campaign and save a lot of time.
• Do measure and adjust your campaign over time. Use Google Analytics to track your results so you can see what’s working and what isn’t. Adjust your campaign accordingly. 

The Don’ts

• Whilst likes and retweets might make you feel good, don’t focus on these alone. Be sure to concentrate on more advanced metrics, such as lead generation, web referrals and conversion rates.
• Don’t copy what your competitors are doing online. You can use what they’re doing as inspiration, but be sure to create your own unique content.
• Don’t post the same kind of content over and over again. Mix it up with your own blogs, other relevant blogs, some direct sales and some general entertainment.

The best time to implement

Most social media accounts will have built in tracking metrics to tell you when your followers are online. Some even tell you straight up when the optimal time to post is. You can also play around with posting at different times and days and see when your content gets the best engagement rates.

If Friday afternoons and Wednesday nights seem to have a good hit rate, be sure to post your most important content then.

Putting a social media campaign together is easier than you might think as long and you plan well and have the right tools at hand. Feel free to contact us here if you want to find out how to apply the best digital marketing strategies for your business.