Social media has 2 parts Social, and media. The objective of social media, is to be social. The media is the vehicle that allows this to take place.
I often have the chance to meet small business owners who would talk about the latest Facebook campaign that got so many sales or likes. however, there is usually no follow-up, no plans for re-engaging the people who participated, and no means of cultivating a relationship.
This is perhaps media, but this is certainly not social and arguably, using social media as a one-off broadcast medium is missing the point. I would like to give three reasons why social media is not a campaign.
- By definition, a campaign has an end goal. It could be an advertising campaign or an election campaign, the whole purpose of the campaign is to lead up to some kind of an action. In an election campaign, it is obviously to vote for a certain candidate, in a marketing campaign it is to take action to make a purchase or participate in a promotion. In social media, being social is the point. The whole purpose of participation in social media is to be social, and hopefully, by being credible and helpful, to get people to know, like, and trust you. Treating them as targets for a one-off campaign is not only missing the point, but may actually have the opposite effect.
- Facebook – The main gatekeeper for your content is facebook. It is estimated that up to 1,500 stories vie for the privilege of appearing on your newsfeed. Facebook needs to whittle that down to approximately 300. The criteria is not spelled out but it is safe to say that content that is high quality and adds value to the user will be given priority. Simply putting campaigns on a facebook page without attempting to add value via godo content is a surefire way to ensure the ineffectiveness of future facebook efforts.
- It is Unsociable – Unlike traditional advertising mediums, a facebook feed is perceived as ‘personal space’. People go on facebook to read about what interests them and to catch up with their friends. Companies that simply run campaigns are neither anybody’s friend nor are they interesting. This causes fatigue, much like a friend who only seems to be interested in selling stuff. Those arent friends at all.
SME TAKEAWAY
Treat your social media efforts like wooing someone you are interested in. It takes time but will reap long term rewards.
Social media is not the correct place for short term campaigns and often have negative impact on your brand.