4 Golden Rules To Rock Your Social Media Campaign

Social media (SM) are definitely changing the PR industry. In fact, their intrinsic characteristics (interactivity and relationship building) make them a winning formula to implement a two-way communication with the target audience. 

However, academics have shown that organizations and public relation professionals still underutilize SM capabilities, and are mostly using SM as a mean to disseminate one-way messages. So, how can practitioners trigger interaction, engagement and participation? Here are 4 golden rules to improve your SM strategy, based on the recent publications by Charest, Bouffard & Zajmovic (2016), Allagui & Breslow (2016) and Watkins (2016).

1. Size actually matters

Did you know that, on average, consumers check their phones 40 times a day? The recent Global Mobile Consumer Trends report revealed also that 78% of global consumers own a smartphone, 9% own wearable devices, 54% own tablet and 7% own all three. Thus, when designing your content for SM, don’t forget to consider the diverse devices that will be used by your audience. SM are close to become an exclusively mobile experience, so you should optimize your contents for mobile displays by respecting the three major screen ratios 16:9, 4:3 and 3:2. 

 2. Be resourceful

Being resourceful, in the SM era, does not mean provide the audience with useful information. Instead, it refers to the number of platforms where you publish or share your contents. The more resourceful your campaign is, the more the audience will be engaged and willing to start a conversation. But, be careful: you should not just copy-paste your content across different SM. Each platform has its own personality, specific type of contents and audience. Remember that older millenials prefer text-based SM (Twitter), while younger generations, like Generation Z, lean towards image-heavy contents, which will be mostly posted and shared on Instagram and Snapchat.

Not a digital savvy? Have a look on this Bulldog Reporter insight on how to mix&match different SM platforms.      

                                      

3. Carpe diem

Stay always updated about the current trends on SM. Be timely and strategic, and ride the wave of events as Oreo did during the blackout of the 2013 Super Bowl. Anticipate the most used hashtags, new styles and topics related to your business. It seems hard to do, but being a step ahead of your audience will help you maintain an engaged relationship. And, Your Social Sidekick is here to help: here you can find the month-by-month latest trends.

                                      

4. Influencers are your best friends

An influencer is someone who actively participates in content and conversation on various platforms and provide added value to a connection, service or product on which (s)he have knowledge. Most practitioners are targeting influencer, but it seems that only a few integrate them in their SM strategies.  If you want to create a community around your organization, start using influencers: they could give you interesting insights on how adapt your contents to your audience’s needs. Still not convinced? Read this post on pros and cons of hiring influencer for your campaign.


                                        

Do you have any other golden rules that are worth sharing? Comment and share this post!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Cristina Canale

During the day, Corporate Communication master student from University of Amsterdam interested in social media, crisis communication and brand management. 

At night, rock-n-roll fanatic with an insane passion for Italian food and Snapchat.