One of the most common scenarios that clients approach me with is:
“We have a Twitter and a Facebook. We have a big event/campaign/product coming up soon and we want to spread the word! How do we get started?”
It’s important to build out a plan of attack for any social media push, but before beginning you must have a solid marketing plan in place. Social Media is a tool best utilized as a supplement to the an overall strategy. While it requires it’s own strategic planning for content and channels, a baseline plan like the one below is a great starting point to get you thinking.
Remain fluid with the plan and tailor it to your individual needs. Most importantly, never lose site of the fact that it’s called social media because it’s meant to be social. The worst thing you can do for your brand is begin using Facebook and Twitter as another vehicle to push out corporate content. Engage your audience and converse with them. Be your own sweet self and you’ll gain more than just customers- powerful ambassadors.
For this example I will be using The Ad Club’s Maven Awards as a case study.
The 2010 Maven Awards: Social Media Plan
Nominations Open: now – TBD
Event: 9/16/10
Audience
Who are you trying to reach? Why are you trying to reach them?
Also consider: how does this audience behave online? Who else can you reach via this audience?
• Media Planners & Buyers
Content
What are your talking points? What is going to make your event interesting to your audience?
• Nominations
• Past Winners
• Sponsors
• Event
Vehicles
What media will you use to share this content? What media will you use to converse with your target audience and engage them? How will you encourage your audience to promote your content to their network?
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email blasts (share button)
• Website integration (share button, widgets)
Timeline
Consider how long before/after an event you would want to engage with social media. Will this be an ongoing effort and when do you plan to re-evaluate? Will you roll your plan out in stages?
• Nominations: Now- Submission Deadline (early Sept?)
• Highlight past winners: Now- Submission Deadline
• Sponsors: Now- Event
• Event: Now- 2 weeks Post event
Objectives
What are the goals for your project? What outcome do you want to see from your social media efforts?
• Solicit nominations
• Increase visibility of event
• Increase sponsorship of Awards Show
• Promote attendance of Awards Show
• Promote participation with Media Auction/ Media Day
New Ideas
What new ideas are you going to try out? Social media is constantly evolving, so it’s important to experiment with new tools and directions.
• Utilize LinkedIn group to connect with Media Planners
• Promote e-mails & news/blogs with “Share” button
Metrics
What will you use to determine the success of your plan? How will you use this data moving forward?
• Utilize LinkedIn group to connect with Media Planners
• Promote e-mails & news/blogs with “Share” button
What would you add to your initial planning? What would you remove?
