Jordan Giza

May 14, 2015

Social Media Campaign

Social Media Campaign Plan

Overarching Goal:

The main reason Influmedia needs a social media campaign is to establish a presence, and gain exposure. This will increase the amount of traffic to the Influmedia website by the target audience, in order to make a profit off of potential clients. The target audience throughout this plan will be identified as marketing managers, but will be defined in further detail later on. By increasing the exposure of Influmedia using a variety of communication strategies, the number of potential clients for the company will grow. The goal of this social media campaign is to increase the number of views on the Influmedia website, as well as increase the number of potential clients. In order to say this was a successful campaign the Influmedia website would need to have gained at least 20,000 views, and there would need to be at least 30 new clients wanting Influmedia to provide them with their service.

This entire campaign plan is based on engagement, and developing a loyal community of followers. After completing my research and interviewing one of the top 100 power influencers in the world, it was clear to me that engagement is the most effective way to gain and keep the attention of your audience. Throughout this plan there are numerous examples of how to engage with the target audience, whether its sharing posts, retweeting posts, commenting on posts, direct messaging followers, or having face-to-face interaction with someone. The best way to motivate your audience, is to interact with them.

Objective #1:

The first objective of this campaign plan is to gain 5,000 total followers between the Facebook and Twitter for Influmedia. The audience youre attempting to reach, and that Im identifying as marketing managers, consists of: social media experts, social media directors, chief digital officers, web marketing specialists, digital marketing managers, and so forth. I project that the target goal of 5,000 followers will be divided up and 70% (3,500) of the followers will be on Twitter, and 30% (1,500) will be on Facebook. This projection is based on researching the networking capabilities between the two sites, as well as the level of involvement marketing managers have between the two. If this objective is able to be accomplished through the following strategies and tactics, the second part of the plan is put in position to be highly successful.

Strategy #1:

Make 500 posts of creative content divided up between Facebook and Twitter, in order to motivate the target audience to interact with you. The term creative content has a number of meanings, much like engagement, but creative content is the bait that will hook the target audience and encourage them to begin sharing, retweeting, and commenting on your posts. The types of creative content Influmedia would post include: posting original content providing tips on how to attract or not lose an audience, posting photos, retweeting or sharing content from other legitimate influencers, providing links to blog posts, and more. These 500 posts of creative content would be completed within three weeks of the starting point of the campaign.

Tactic #1:

Generate and post original content to demonstrate leadership, and promote engagement. This type of content would include links to the Influmedia blog or interesting articles about whats happening with Influencer Marketing, case studies from past clients, etc. These are example posts that are similar to the type of content Influmedia would create:

Tactic #2:

Listen to at least two events, utilizing hash tags, and visual content, so marketing managers can retweet, share, or create relevant posts. Listening to an event is essentially a way to be at an Influencer Marketing conference, but not actually attend it. This is when you figure what the hash tag being used at the specific conference is, and you collect the information from marketing managers who are posting live tweets from keynote speakers, events at the conference, etc. This tactic is a sufficient way to build trust with current Influmedia followers, and create new relationships with those you are receiving the information from, as well as those who will be receiving the information youre posting.

Tactic #3:

Encourage representatives of past clients to create content about Influmedia for their following to see, as well as retweet or share the content posted by Influmedia. The environment Influmedia wants to create is one that promotes community, interaction, and trust. The idea behind this tactic is to make sure the representatives understand, if you help us, well help you. This is the perfect example of working together and building relationships to gain more exposure, and likely lead to an increased following for both parties.

Strategy #2:

The second strategy is actually attending an Influencer Marketing conference in order to make direct contact with potential clients. This strategy would have a positive impact because of the likelihood Influmedia has of creating new relationships. Influencers from around the globe attend these conferences, which means that one interaction with the right person can lead to them mentioning you in a tweet or post; and now the entire of following of that person comes across your name. Depending on whos being interacted with, if this situation occurs enough times, then thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people have the opportunity to see Influmedia being supported by a third party.

Tactic #4:

While attending Influencer Marketing conference, Influmedia would provide a brochure to handout to whoever you interacted with. The brochure would be highlighting Influmedias social networks and blog. This tactic is meant to create an easy opportunity for you to initiate conversation about Influmedia with those youre interacting with. The distribution method would be to have brochures in the hands of Influmedia representatives at all times throughout the conference so its of easy access to handout. Another method would be setting the brochures on side tables next to furniture that a high number of people will sit-in throughout the day.

Tactic #5:

While attending the Influencer Marketing conference, live tweet from at least three events, using the appropriate hash tags. Unlike tactic number two, youre now the one providing information about the conference to those who are attending. This is an efficient way to produce original and creative content that encourages those who see it to engage with it, which will lead to gaining trust and credibility from your followers.

Tactic #6:

Between the Facebook and Twitter social media accounts, go and follow or like 350 people that attended the same conference. The only way to accomplish this tactic successfully is by doing some investigative networking. This will be achieved by going through all of the interactions you made while live tweeting and attending the conference; then take it another step further by researching who those people were interacting with while they were live tweeting, and interacting with others. This tactic could be a bit time consuming, but the more time spend on it, the more opportunity there is to reach new groups of followers, and potential clients.

The order of the strategies and tactics put into place creates an opportunity for Influmedia to reach a large number of people quickly. Since each of these communication strategies promotes the audience to engage with content and join the conversation, the loyalty of followers becomes extremely high. This is the type of environment all marketing managers want to be a part of, so if done effectively, the objective of gaining 5,000 total followers will be reached.

Objective #2:

Influmedia will continue to use creative content to persuade the 5,000 new followers to share content with their own personal following; gaining 10 new followers per user thats sharing your content (i.e., 50,000 new followers). As long as the new followers from the first objective maintain being a loyal fan base, and continue to engage with the content being posted by Influmedia, then the second part of this campaign will only strengthen those relationships. However even if a portion of Influmedias 5,000 new followers start becoming uninterested in the content, the second part of this campaign will reenergize those followers and inspire them to begin engaging with the content once again.

Strategy #3:

Throughout my time researching Influencer Marketing, I quickly noticed that a majority of the competitors promote their own blog on their social media sites. In order to motivate the marketing managers following Influmedia, my third strategy is to create a blog for Influmedia. Implementing a blog presents a variety of new ways to attract the attention of the target audience, and is also another communication channel that leads potential clients to the Influmedia website. The blog could be fully functioning in a matter of a week, and should be posted on consistently in order to have any impact on your followers. Examples of these posts are shown here:

Tactic #7:

The number of times the blog would be updated is once a week. This provides enough time to create intriguing and informational content, as well as efficiently spend time on other tasks. The importance of having consistency with blog posts is crucial to whether or not your followers will continue to take the time to read what information you provide them with. Also, since blogging allows you to add your own twist to things, its a useful way to build relationships by responding to those who include their input on your posts.

Tactic #8:

In order to start integrating the followers between Facebook and Twitter, as well as increase the amount of content that can be shared or retweeted; begin to use the blog as a way to incorporate cross-promotion between the two social media sites. Cross-promotion is an adequate way to get marketing managers to visit all three of the communication channels, if they arent already. The Influmedia Twitter, Facebook, and blog would provide a way for marketing managers to access the Influmedia website, which means this tactic is effective because it increases the likelihood of the website being viewed.

Strategy #4:

Actively seek out and engage with 200 new users who are found through Twitter/Facebook search using keywords (Influencer marketing, power influencers, creative influence) in order to increase Influmedias following. At this point in the campaign these 200 new users youre reaching out to should be marketing managers whove had a tremendous amount of success, and have a high number of followers. Out of the 200 marketing managers that are sought out, if only a fraction respond and interact with you, it could lead to gaining a large number of new followers.

Tactic #9:

The 200 new marketing managers that you interacted with would now receive a direct message asking whether or not they would be interested in being interviewed, and mentioned in the upcoming blog post for that week. Since these marketing managers are all looked upon as business leaders, their input is valuable and will be respected by those who follow Influmedia. Once this relationship begins, it opens the door to new ways Influmedia can gain more exposure. An example of this type of post is shown here:

Tactic #10:

Similar to tactic number three, once the marketing managers agree to an interview, persuade them to share the link of the blog post theyre a part of on their own profile to direct their followers toward Influmedias blog. Also, have them share or retweet the content you create about them being a part of that weeks blog post. In order to gain the trust of strangers, the support of a third party is imperative. However if the tactics about are able to be executed, then the followers of these marketing managers will see that theyre agreeing with the content Influmedia creates.

Evaluation:

Although the overall purpose of this social media campaign is to attract marketing managers to the Influmedia website, the success of this campaign will be based on whether or not the Facebook and Twitter of Influmedia received an increasing number of followers that reach the goals of the objectives. Therefore after the strategies and tactics for the first objective are completed, there will be an evaluation on whether or not the goal of 5,000 new followers was achieved. The amount of engagement each tactic created for followers would be monitored to help figure out what worked throughout the campaign, and what didnt. The same process would be completed for the second part of the campaign, which means that if the overall campaign were a success, Influmedia would have 50,000 new followers that are loyal and eager to engage with content. I believe this type of evaluation is the most effective because youre always aware of whats working, and whats not. This can lead to making better decisions in the future with either seeking out and engaging with marketing managers, or choosing the types of content you post to grab their attention.

Conclusion:

Throughout the process of researching, learning, and experimenting with Influencer Marketing Ive learned a tremendous amount about something I was completely unaware of prior to the class. By taking this challenge head on Ive learned a number of ways to create a social media following thats main focus is about engagement and interaction. As the semester has gone on Ive experienced things I never couldve imagined, such as: An hour in a half long phone call with one of the top 100 Influencers in the world, and watching the tactics I was coming up with for Influmedia unfold and be successful for my own personal social media account. This process has put me in a position to have a job waiting for me once I am finished with school, and it has brought out a thirst for knowledge I wasnt sure I had. I know that my future has social media written all over it, and Im certain of that because of this project.