Modern social media marketing still requires some traditional media campaign methods. Even though the channels and mediums are changing, successful new media campaigns depend on thoughtful target audience segmentation, media selection content strategy reach, frequency and engagement.
Target Audience Segmentation
As the social web matures, rich actionable data is emerging for B2B and B2C marketers. Who are your buyers? Who is are the brand influencers? What geography? Demographic profile?
Media Mix Selection
Start with a campaign that addresses a discreet audience and then select a compatible media mix – Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and blogs are the biggies.
Content Strategy
What are you going to say? How will you say it? What format? Is it portable (easily shared)? How will you track and measure message efficacy? Each must be considered across each medium. Fortunately, we have countless tools, methods and technologies available to synchronize and automate content management and syndication.
Reach
Each medium will require specific tactics to “reach” your target audience. Ultimately, we’re attempting to isolate each segment based on their interests and habits. Where are they congregating? What communities have they joined? What are they reading, watching and commenting about? Monitoring tools can isolate these conversations within each medium.
Frequency and Impressions
Even social media has noise and dilution challenges. Your message may not always be heard. So “frequency”, a legacy concept form the one-way communication era, is still a factor. Message frequency is critical because, subject to etiquette and cultural boundaries, it is a multiplier for impressions and engagement opportunities. The trick is to do it without being spammy nor annoying.
Engagement
Unavailable as an objective during the one-way marketing era, “engagement” is the holy grail measurement with new media. Now marketers can accelerate opportunities for brand relationships, a conversation or a positive brand experience. Short of lead-generation, it doesn’t get any better. Ahhh.
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Zabada, Inc.
Andy Sernovitz
CopyBlogger
Gary Vaynerchuk
ProBlogger
August 27th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Good little reminder that good old terms can also be applied to emerging media/technology. Something to remember so we don’t create one more IT bubble.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Traditional media is not dead! Nor is the concept of reaching people with a message. That’s what media is, right; making something known and creating a conversation or soliciting a response from people?
Social media is just a matter of changing the tone, the approach and the content of your message, focusing more on building relationships with people, talking with them instead of to them, responding to engagement with your brand and empowering existing advocates to become third-party validators.
The same concepts apply. Great post Mark.
November 5th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I have trouble with using the word ‘campaign’ to outline SM activities. Social Media, imo, cannot be campaign-based. It can have activity spikes, sure, but I fear that one-shot, one-purpose campaigns actually leave negative engagement in their wake. Users feel, well, used!
Like Brian says, Social Media is a long-term relationship and needs very long-term overarching goals.