FOUR STEPS TO LAUNCH A SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN IN SOCIAL MEDIA

We will all agree that social media are changing public relations practices and have become an important part in the business planning process. Commonly, we link them to brand awareness and reputation management. But they have also proven to be a powerful tool to manage conversation, brand positioning, and continued brand sustenance. Regardless of the domain you would like to enhance with the adoption of a public relations campaign, social media will help you to keep the conversation going. In this context, “communication with (rather than marketing to) a target audience” is what sets successful campaigns apart from others and what triggers engagement with the audience.

  

“COMMUNICATION WITH […] A TARGET AUDIENCE” IS WHAT SETS SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS APART FROM OTHERS AND WHAT TRIGGERS ENGAGEMENT WITH THE AUDIENCE.

                              

We translated characteristics of award-winning campaigns extracted by academic researchers into four steps, which will help you to create your own award-winning public relations campaign in social media.

1 TELL A COMPELLING STORY

Digital storytelling and entertainment are the core of your social media campaign. So start with a compelling story that relates to your audience’s emotions. Your can use this story as a basis for the development and production of entertaining content. This will ensure sharing among your target audience’s social network. Your brand shall become a part of your audience’s community and the topic of their conversations.

2 OFFER WAYS FOR OFFLINE ENGAGEMENT

In order to ensure the continuity of your conversation, give your audience something to talk about offline. Offline engagement will enhance and extend your conversation. Tools to create offline engagement may be a game, reward, or again story telling. To get your audience to talk about you offline, will generate further sharing, which in turn accelerates online conversations.

3 DESIGN YOUR CAMPAIGN A PARTICIPATORY FASHION

Your audience likes to take part in your campaign. Creating possibilities for them to engage with your brand will promote further online and offline engagement, and will help you to keep up the conversation. So for example, let them vote, let them tell their story or incorporate pictures they produce for you in your campaign.

4 DON’T NEGLECT THE IMPORTANCE OF MOBILE DEVICES

Social media interactions are happening increasingly on mobile devices. Therefore it is fundamental that your content addresses the characteristics of this platform. As an example, create content that makes use of the gesture-based control functions available on most modern mobile devices. You may implement them into the game you created in step 2.

                       

CHECK OUT THE MELBOURNE METRO’S CAMPAIGN TO SEE IF YOU RECOGNIZE THE FOUR STEPS

 http://www.dumbwaystodie.com

Now it’s your turn. Start your next social media campaign following these four steps and tell us about your success!

Do you have any further suggestions what makes a successful public relations campaign in social media?

We are very interested in your opinion. Please feel free to leave a message in the comment section bellow.

ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

VERA SPRING

Vera Spring is a corporate communication graduate student at the University of Amsterdam with a background in banking and psychology. She has a keen interest in public relations practice and the endless possibilities the avenue of social media has to offer.