5 Things to Consider When Starting a Social Media Campaign

Sunday, June 20th 2010

These days, you probably feel like if you don’t already have a social media presence, you are already behind the curve. Despite that feeling, you shouldn’t rush into creating accounts on every service you can find without a clear idea about what your goals are and how to achieve them. Here is a simple list of 5 things to consider before taking the social media plunge:

1. Social Marketing Goals
Establishing a presence on social networks isn’t a goal in and of itself – it should be part of a larger communications and marketing strategy. While you may not already have a social media presence, you likely do already have marketing goals. When most companies embark on a social media campaign, they’re merely looking to boost traffic to their website or engage with customers. Instead, think critically about how to use social media to advance your company’s existing brand and agenda.

2. Defining a ‘Conversion’
Take goal creation one-step further by defining a ‘conversion’ or desired user action. It could be downloading a white paper, viewing a webinar, signing up for an email list, or purchasing a product. By defining a conversion (and, hopefully, attaching a realistic monetary value to conversions), you’ll have an easier time evaluating if your campaign is working and calculating your return on investment.

3. What Social Media Platforms Are Right for Your Business?
It seems that everyday, there is a new type of social media site – which ones should your company have a presence on? Resist the urge to go out and create an account on every service; instead, think strategically about how social media channels can integrate with your existing website and allow you to leverage existing content. Don’t simply duplicate your messaging across the many social media platforms.

A good place to start is with a company blog – remember, to achieve conversions, you probably need to drive users to your website. A blog can act as a great gateway between social media sites and your website. Then, use appropriate social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Vimeo, Digg, Del.ici.ious, and so on to market assets and drive viewership and, hopefully, participation.

4. Update, update, update!
I know we’re all beyond tired of the cliché that “content is king”. Perhaps in this 24/7 age of status updates, “liking”, Tweeting, and checking-in, a more apt statement is that newness (or novelty) is key. How many tweets a day do you see in your timeline and how many status updates on Facebook?

While great content can go viral, getting reposted again and again, many blog posts, news stories, and videos have a very short lifespan on the web. To ensure consistent exposure, in addition to making GOOD content, you must FREQUENTLY make good content. Depending on your industry, its competitiveness, and the social media properties you’re using, a blog post or two a week probably won’t cut it. Aim to put out one asset daily, whether it’s a post, video, white paper, Power Point slides, etc..

5. Monitoring Social Media
Monitoring really is about coming full-circle and evaluating how well you’re meeting your social marketing goals. Depending on the social media properties you’re using, you have different metrics you can monitor to evaluate your effectiveness – followers and re-tweets (Twitter), fans (Facebook), video views (Youtube and Vimeo), and so on. But remember, the real goal is to monitor how your social media strategies are impacting the conversion(s) you defined in step two. Outside tools like Google Analytics can help you determine where traffic is coming from and if you’re achieving your conversion goals. By comparing the time invested in pursuing social media strategies with the value of conversions achieved, you can determine how worthwhile your social media efforts are.

Learn more about the role social media plays in B2B marketing at the B2B Search Strategy Summit on June 23, 2010, in San Francisco.