7 Steps For Better Social Media Campaigns

Social media marketing is currently one of the most important communication channels, with high user engagement and brands fighting for user attention. So how do you overcome the buzz and make a difference?

According to Smart Insights ("Global social media statistics research summary May 2024"), up to 62.3% of the world's population uses social media, with the average daily time being 2 hours and 23 minutes. This value includes people who don’t use social media at all, so the actual usage of these platforms can be even higher.

But what do 2 hours and 23 minutes mean in practice? In a 24-hour day, one spends one out of every twelve hours on social media. Over a 12-month year, this adds up to one full month and nearly a week for the additional 23 minutes.

With a full month (no sleep, no work, no other leisure) of user attention, brands fight mercilessly for as big a slice of this time as possible. Crafting an engaging and interesting social media campaign is one of the best ways to win this war.

What Is a Social Media Campaign?

A Social Media Campaign is a coordinated and planned set of actions companies take to promote their products and services on social media. The goals of the campaign usually include (but are not limited to):

• Boosting brand awareness
• Increasing sales
• Promoting products and services
• Targeting a particular audience with offers and information about the brand or product

The goals mentioned above are only top-of-mind picks at a high level of abstraction. More specific goals depend on the company's industry, scale of operations, current goals or challenges, and current needs.

Which Social Media Platforms to Use for the Campaign?

Depending on the factors mentioned above, the company should pick a fitting social media platform that will support its goals and come with a good fit for the desired audience.

• Facebook: Meta’s flagship has constituted what we call now social media and has introduced multiple innovative features that we take for granted today. The iconic “like” button was one of its inventions, among others. Facebook can be considered a jack-of-all-trades among social media platforms, reaching multiple demographics and target groups.
• Instagram: Initially a mobile app designed to share and tune up photos taken with mobile phones, Instagram is one of the most popular image-based social media platforms. This service is perfect for promoting visually attractive or interesting products and services—from fashion and apparel to hair styling or bakery services.
• Facebook: Meta’s flagship has constituted what we call now social media and has introduced multiple innovative features that we take for granted today. The iconic “like” button was one of its inventions, among others. Facebook can be considered a jack-of-all-trades among social media platforms, reaching multiple demographics and target groups.
• Instagram: Initially a mobile app designed to share and tune up photos taken with mobile phones, Instagram is one of the most popular image-based social media platforms. This service is perfect for promoting visually attractive or interesting products and services—from fashion and apparel to hair styling or bakery services.
• Twitter/X: Heavily political and heated with debates, Twitter/X is a melting pot of the internet where brands can leverage their ability to do real-time marketing or showcase their witty nature.
• LinkedIn: The largest professional and career-oriented network, LinkedIn is perfect for B2B marketing and recruitment ads, making it easier to find and target individuals from particular backgrounds.
• YouTube: One of the world’s leading social platforms that lets users and brands publish and comment on videos. YouTube is an extremely versatile tool that offers multiple ad formats and supports a multitude of business goals.
• TikTok: TikTok is a popular platform for publishing short clips, usually with music. The tool is popular among younger demographics and lets users either publish their own clips or comment on clips published by others. Heavily political and heated with debates, Twitter/X is a melting pot of the internet where brands can leverage their ability to do real-time marketing or showcase their witty nature.
• LinkedIn: The largest professional and career-oriented network, LinkedIn is perfect for B2B marketing and recruitment ads, making it easier to find and target individuals from particular backgrounds.
• YouTube: One of the world’s leading social platforms that lets users and brands publish and comment on videos. YouTube is an extremely versatile tool that offers multiple ad formats and supports a multitude of business goals.
• TikTok: TikTok is a popular platform for publishing short clips, usually with music. The tool is popular among younger demographics and lets users either publish their own clips or comment on clips published by others.

Check how to tailor Facebook and Instagram DPA (Dynamic Product Ads).

How To Make Better Social Media Campaigns?

The details regarding a social media strategy heavily depend on the particular platform and context. Yet, there are some tips and best practices that work regardless of the size, scale, or specific goal of the campaign.

Create Strategy

Each social media platform requires a unique strategy tailored to its audience and content style. Define your goals, target audience, and the type of content that works best on each platform. While it may seem obvious, many companies operate on social media without having a strategy. On the other hand, “strategy” may sound intimidating at first glance and people tend to associate it with lengthy documents. Yet, the simplest strategy may include “post X times a week, include Y, and always add Z.”

Be Consistent

Regular posting is crucial for maintaining engagement. Develop a content calendar to ensure consistent posting and maintain a uniform brand image and message across all platforms. Keeping consistency is nearly impossible without at least a simple strategy to follow. Yet, with a codified and written strategy that outlines what to write about and how to write, consistency becomes natural.

Create Engaging Content

Produce content that is newsworthy, visually appealing, and relevant to current trends. Use a mix of static images, videos, and storytelling to capture and retain audience interest. The type of content that is “engaging” highly depends on the platform. LinkedIn, for example, promotes insightful knowledge sharing, while TikTok users prefer short, attractive, and flashy content. For example, you can use some product ad templates for creating great content for Facebook and Instagram.

Engage with Your Audience

Interaction is key to building a community. Respond to comments, use live streaming, create polls and quizzes, and post content encouraging audience participation. Some of the most successful social media campaigns are built on engagement with fans in innovative and attractive ways.

Track and Analyze Metrics

Use analytics and campaign management tool to monitor the performance of your campaigns. This data will help you understand what works and what doesn’t, allowing you to refine your strategy for better results. Without analytics, the company loses all potential improvements and renders itself blind and deaf to feedback from its fanbase. Monitoring metrics requires adapting in real-time if necessary. Gathering and analyzing data is important, yet useless if no action is taken based on the gathered insights. Moreover, product feed management software would be helpful.

Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC)

Encourage your audience to create content related to your brand. This not only increases engagement but also provides authentic content that can be shared across your social media channels. In fact, the ability to create and share content is what makes social media platforms so special. Without the social component, there are only “media” that publish content in a traditional way, and passive users consume it.

Implement Social Listening

It may seem obvious, but sometimes it is necessary to repeat the basics. To run a successful social media campaign, especially in the B2C segment, companies need to implement social listening tools. Without them, manual monitoring is virtually impossible. Humans, even a team of humans, are incapable of effectively monitoring all brand mentions and all activities going around.

Social Media Campaign Examples and Ideas

To mogą być realne przykłady lub po prostu przykłady stworzone na potrzeby artykułu. Natomiast zarówno Google (SEO), jak i użytkownicy z pewnością bardziej docenią realne przykłady kampanii social media, które były realizowane w ostatnich latach przez znane marki.

Social media Campaign Templates

All the hints above seem obvious, yet implementing them in real-life campaigns can be challenging, to say the least. Also, due to the high level of abstraction, their exact meaning can be ambiguous. That’s why one may check some examples listed below to see how engagement with the audience or creative content may look in various industries.

Getty Museum's #GettyMuseumChallenge

Launched during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, this campaign encouraged people to recreate famous artworks using household items. It gained widespread participation and engagement, making art more accessible and providing a creative outlet during lockdowns.

Starbucks: The Unicorn Frappuccino

Starbucks introduced a limited-time, colorful drink that changed colors and flavors when stirred. The campaign generated massive social media buzz and user-generated content, driving significant engagement.

Dove's Real Beauty Sketches

Dove's campaign featured women describing themselves to an artist who then drew two sketches: one based on their self-description and another based on how others saw them. The campaign promoted self-acceptance and went viral, resonating deeply with audiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-HqGOCW7UA

Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke"

While not exclusively social media-based, this campaign had a significant social component. Coca-Cola personalized bottle labels with popular names and encouraged people to share photos of bottles with their names on social media, creating a viral sensation.

Better Social Media Campaign Management: Highlights

Delivering better social media campaigns is actually easier than one may think. Of course, "better" is not always "brilliant." Many campaigns do not need to be earthshaking or become a part of advertising history—many times, it is about selling more pairs of sneakers.

Yet:

• having a strategy that is later implemented,
• validated using data,
• and updated to perform better

is always a good idea, no matter how small or niche the campaign is. When supported with user engagement, the campaign will undoubtedly deliver results!