02 Feb Creating Social Campaigns in an Ever-Changing Digital Climate
Gone are the days of slapping a retro filter onto a photo and using #blessed to achieve all your social goals. Things have certainly changed since Facebook and Instagram first graced our phone screens, and it takes a lot more than just a pretty picture to capture an audience’s attention…
But, with algorithms constantly changing and the rise of new platforms every other week, how can your business create the next best social media campaign?
Whether you’re looking to boost your brand reach, launch a new venture or re-highlight an existing part of your business, the key is in creating a strong overall goal, knowing what market to tap into and, most importantly, understanding your demographic.
STEP ONE: Establish your goal with the SMART technique.
Everyone in the marketing sphere has heard all about this (and probably implemented it hundreds of times), and yet it still remains the perfect starting point for any campaign. Here’s a quick rundown:
Specific – what are you specifically trying to achieve through your campaign?
Measurable – what are your statistic goals for each stage of your campaign?
Achievable – is your goal something that can realistically be accomplished?
Relevant – why do you want to achieve this goal?
Time-bound – within what time frame do you want to achieve this goal?
Here at LUYA, we recently launched a campaign for Harry Guy’s upcoming Chester restaurant launch, X by Harry Guy.
We used the SMART technique to establish an overall goal around boosting brand awareness across social in the run-up to launch. This social campaign included a series of static social posts and short video clips, revealing snippets of the brand whilst telling a story of its origins. By pre-establishing each parameter of the campaign, we were able to successfully achieve growth in followers, reach and engagement across the board.
STEP TWO: Learn the ins and outs of your target demographic.
And no, we don’t just mean taking a peek at backend data! Really understanding your target audience takes a lot more than reviewing gender and location statistics. It’s actually all about getting to know them on a personal level.
This includes heavy research into other brands achieving similar goals, engaging with your audience through interactive stories and comment prompts, and reviewing what content has worked for you in the past (a little bit of insight research is a must here). Take the time to get to know who you’re targeting and the rest of your campaign will feel like a breeze.
Locke Hotels do a great job at tapping into a ‘cool’ younger audience through regular giveaway campaigns, fun video footage, and demographic trends (such as launching a series of portraits throughout their hotel inspired by pioneering women).
Photo credit: Locke Hotels
STEP THREE: Identify which social platform/s to use.
You’re on first-name terms with your target audience, so now it’s time to figure out which social platforms are going to do the most for you.
Ask yourself these questions; what kind of content do they want to see?; which corner of the internet are they most active?; how do they behave on social media?; and what are they using social media for?
For example, The Hoxton aim to target a younger demographic of couples, friends and families. They’ve established that their audience likes to see ‘real’ people, they’re most active on video/photo sharing platforms, they tend to spend most of their time watching reels and responding to comment prompts, and they use social media as a form of inspiration and ‘fast’ entertainment.
With all of this in mind, Instagram and Facebook make the most sense for their campaigns.
Photo credits: The Hoxton
STEP FOUR: Put your campaign into practise.
Once you’ve established all of the above, it’s time to start putting your ideas into practise!
Social media is a game of trial and error, so it’s important to go into any campaign flexibly. Be ready to change your focus at the drop of a hat as your target audience starts to engage with your content, and always be prepared for things not to work (you’re basically becoming a social psychologist, after all).
We recently launched a long-form campaign for The Queens Hotel, with the aim to re-highlight the hotel as a modern space for eating, sleeping, socialising and co-working. The hotel has multiple demographic targets, but we’ve put our main focus on younger businesspeople, friends and couples.
Throughout the campaign, we’ve utilised Instagram and Facebook to share fun user-generated content, exciting reels and various promotional launches/giveaways. Since our campaign began, we’ve increased page reach and post engagement by over 100%.
For ways to combat those pesky algorithms, here’s our advice over keeping up with changes.
In need of a few extra hands to get your social off the ground? Get in touch with us for help managing your businesses social channels, including creating killer campaigns to achieve all your business goals.
We’d love to hear from you: mailto:hello@luya.co.uk