3 Things That Separate Great Social Media Marketing Campaigns from The Rest

Social media marketing is often included in a typical marketing plan.

These are campaigns that include Facebook posts, Tweets and more. While social media marketing can help drive sales and increase brand awareness, not all social media marketing campaigns are successful.

When you invest time and money into the development and execution of a social media marketing campaign, you understandably want to see exceptional results from the effort.

Understanding the factors that differentiate amazing social media marketing campaigns from lackluster ones is a great starting point for improving your own marketing efforts.

Why Most Social Media Campaigns Fail

In previous decades, companies that had a larger marketing budget generally saw better results. However, because many aspects of social media marketing are free or very affordable, this type of marketing has helped level the playing field.

Consumers today have access to marketing messages from a full range of businesses, so consumers now hold the power to make more informed buying decisions.

With a closer look at some of the reasons social media marketing campaigns fail, you may be able to turn the tables strategically. These are some of the more common explanations:

• Marketing plan wasn’t designed with a common goal in mind.
• Failure to research how and why the target audience uses a specific social media platform.
• Not posting timely and relevant content.
• Going for a quick sale rather than offering true value to consumers and developing a positive relationship.
• Failure to interact with consumers via two-way communication through social media platforms.

In-Depth Market Research

Before you can develop a fully effective social media marketing campaign, you must understand the platforms that you are using and what your customers expect to find on these platforms. Your posts, tweets and more should appeal specifically to the values and interests of your target audience, and it may be beneficial to further refine your messages to a specific niche.

When you spend time researching the market before posting on these platforms, you may be able to reduce some of the risk associated with launching a social media campaign. It also may help you to identify where specific opportunities lie and to focus your communication towards these opportunities.

One example of how market research helped to improve the results of a social media marketing campaign is Dacia. Dacia reviewed the data that it collected from past marketing efforts for both mobile and desktop users. Through this research, it was able to better optimize marketing messages based on the customers’ needs.

Perfect Timing

When you publish social media marketing posts, you ideally want them to be at the top of the feed. This can be accomplished through effective timing. Therefore, you need to know when the majority of your customers may be online, and this information can be determined through further research. Keep in mind that each social media platform may have a different high-traffic time, so avoid making assumptions.

A smart idea is to create your posts and messages well ahead of time. Then, you can use automated processes through marketing software to ensure that all posts and messages are delivered in a timely manner.

Some companies have taken full advantage of the timing to gain more interest in their ads. For example, Oreo placed a well-known tweet on Twitter during a previous Super Bowl. Another example is when Chiquita created a popular Twitter post about how a banana shape looked like a moon crescent during a solar eclipse.

Consistent Brand Voice

Some companies overlook the importance of having a consistent brand voice when delivering social media content. The tone of voice that is used with this type of written content could potentially strengthen your brand. Through this effort, you may be able to better connect with your target audience, build trust, and establish consistency across all marketing platforms that you use.

The Houston Astros used an effective marketing campaign before the 2017 World Series. They created marketing material with a mantra that was delivered on social media platforms. This helped to garner widespread fan support across the city and beyond.

Some companies deliver lackluster results for social media marketing campaigns. Now that you understand why some companies get it right, you can spend more time improving your own efforts.

About Ashley
Ashley Wilson is a freelance writer interested in business, marketing, and tech topics. She has been known to reference Harry Potter quotes in casual conversation and enjoys baking homemade treats for her husband and their two felines, Lady and Gaga. Connect with Ashley via Twitter.