Page 96 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

» Create an action plan.
» Craft the content path.
» Execute for influence.
» Create partnerships.
» Track the results.

Define your objectives

This may seem obvious, but it is amazing how many of us forget about articulat-
ing the objectives when it comes to an SMM campaign. Your objectives need to be
tightly defined, and they must be practical and actionable, too. The objectives
must be specific to the stage of the marketing funnel that you’re playing in as
well. See Chapter 3 for more on the marketing funnel. Saying that the objective of
the campaign is simply to take a TV advertisement and make it go viral is definitely
not enough.

The objectives must also specify where you’re planning to run the campaign,
whom you’re targeting (which customers and which influencers), the duration of
the campaign, and how it synchronizes with other digital and offline marketing
efforts. It’s easy to forget that no SMM campaign happens in isolation. How you
participate on the various social platforms is always a mirror of what you do and
think in the physical world. If you ignore that fact, you’ll lose your customers even
before you’ve had a chance to meaningfully engage with them.

Develop a powerful story/experience

People’s expectations about how they will learn about your business/products
have changed completely. Because the Back button on the browser is ever-
present, waiting to take users away from your website, you have a very short
window to engage and educate. The days of posting a simple data sheet and a price
are over. You have to work to communicate the intrinsic value of each offer.

Also, because people want to know whom they are dealing with, you need to inject
the why into your business story. You need to let them know why you started your
business and what you care about. The social aspect must be visible. The following
are stories you should consider telling during your campaign:

» Why you are running this campaign: Yes, you want to sell things, we
understand that. But what is the larger picture? Are you contributing to
charity, helping others be successful, providing a solution, or providing
content that doesn’t currently exist? You have to be specific.

80 PART 2 Practicing SMM on the Social Web