5 Hot Social Media Campaign Tips
A social media campaign is a hyper-focused content strategy that helps a business or brand support a specific initiative. A campaign could be centered around a product or service launch, a message, a movement, or a cause. A strong campaign supports a bigger goal and rolls out over a specified period of time. The ideas below are for an organic social media campaign, not a paid campaign.
Add these into your marketing strategy to get you started.
1. Get your followers on the waitlist for a product launch
If you sell products and plan to release a new design or candle scent, build excitement by posting about the new ‘coming soon’ product. Direct your followers to a waitlist and gather emails to build your newsletter and email marketing strategy. Keep your list up-to-date on the launch date and any promo or discount codes you might be offering.
2. Do a giveaway
Partner up with a local influencer to help you drive brand awareness and increase your followers. Offer your own product or service or partner with local businesses to offer gift cards or local goods. Partnering with your local community is a great way to reach a broader audience and increase your reach.
Sometimes a giveaway may be answering a question (as a qualifier to win).
3. Encourage user-generated content
Create a branded hashtag (#yourbrand, #yourproduct, #yourmessage) and prompt your followers to tag you in how they use your product or how your service has improved their life. Monitor your hashtag and tags from others to queue up in your content schedule. You can share user-generated content in the stories and on your feed.
Bonus tip: If you re-post to your stories, create a highlight, so your followers live on your profile. People love to be seen on social!
4. Show behind the scenes
Another way to engage your audience is to show what’s happening out of sight. You could focus on how you make your product or introduce yourself and your team members. Try “a day in the life of”… People love to see the authentic personality behind a brand, and you can’t get closer than a personal introduction.
5. Share your brand’s story
In a series of posts, create a campaign around how your business came to be and some significant milestones along the way. Share your ups and downs, your big wins and your lessons. Your community will love being in the know, appreciate your honesty, and will feel a stronger connection to your brand by learning about your journey.
How to Create a Social Media Campaign (unpaid)
Pull up your content calendar and start mapping out a plan for your campaign. If it’s a product launch, give yourself at least two months to build excitement. You can start with a couple of posts a week and then increase your posting as you get closer to launch day. If your campaign is centered around storytelling, maybe you dedicate one month to a topic and post a couple of times a week around that topic.
Hootsuite offers some fantastic social media campaign templates to get you started. Once you’re in a groove with planning and promoting your campaign ideas, you can customize your template to support your work style. As long as it works for you and your team and gets the job done, that’s all that matters.
Don’t forget to keep your goals in mind! Your goals should drive every campaign you run. You want to support your big picture and see the results of your social media efforts pay off.
If you need help organizing your social media schedule, check out our post: How to Create a Social Media Calendar: Tips for Finding Content and Organizing Your Posts.