How to Build Digital CampaignsThat Win Hearts & Awards!

42+ tips for creating like a pro

Courtney Smith#BizHeroes w/ @cshasarrived

Everyone wants to be a partof something bigger than

themselves.

Courtney Smith

You have been asked to create acampaign. Where do you begin?

With the plan. Asking the right questions about what the audiencecares about. Understand what success looks like to everyone

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

So important to set your goals so you can make a plan to get there.

@TheDrawShop

Once you know what you want at the end of the campaign, youcan build the best roadmap to get there.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Know end-point goals - work "backwards" from there.

Jessica Roberts @connect2life

Needs to be a clear definition of what success looks like foreveryone, otherwise it becomes complicated instead of complex.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

You always start with - what is the desired END STATE. True inany campaign - digital or otherwise. Fred Aubin @fm_aubin

I prefer listening what client has in mind, then ask right question(audience, goals, specifics, timeline...) then plan.

Iva Ignjatovic @ivaignjatovic

YES! "What will success look like?" Is a question that shouldALWAYS be answered before any campaign or marketing

Mack Collier @mackcollier

How do you keep content & ideasflowing?

Well for me, as a writer, I need to enjoy and have fun with what Iam writing in order for the ideas to flow. But content takes the formof not just writing, but memes, videos, and presentations too.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Content needs to be relevant, language target audience canunderstand and relate to

Joseph Ruiz @SMSJoe

Don't be afraid to get lots of minds involved. Don't be afraid to getcrazy.

Kathryn Kennedy @kontheinternet

Content should inform, instruct and inspire! The 3 I´s.

Martha Neumeister @mne90

The Twittersphere is a hilarious place to watch during a “shared”event like an election or Hollywood awards show because viewercontent can be created on the fly and shared out quickly.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

I crave content that is useful, entertaining, enjoyable, and bold!

Jessica Roberts @connect2life

We love including industry research and featuring expert opinionson our blog. Share the knowledge!

@ThinkSEM

One thing we learned in our #90DaystoEllen campaign is theimportance of adhering to the rules of Improv.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

How important is community in acampaign’s success? Do you buildit & they will come, or do you need

a strong community 1st?

Community is EVERYTHING to a campaign.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Unless you can magically make people love you at first sight, youneed a community of advocates to succeed.

Cendrine Marrouat @cendrinemedia

Community is imperative for a campaigns success! They are goingto be the ones that share it, talk about it. Need them 1st

Brandie McCallum @lttlewys

I believe you build community first and the product or service willtake care of itself.

AJ Borowski @askwhatnext

You do have to build a foundation of people who like what you’recreating or what you stand for. But you also have to create on-pointcreative to get noticed in the noisy socialsphere or in boxes of theworld.Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

So true. You have to light the fire within your community and theywill help spread your message in return.

@ThinkSEM

Depends on the maturity of community. If strong, plan thecampaign according to them as evangelists, if not study theirneeds

Alicia Rodriguez @aroru26

Community & Content must coexist ... build them bothsimultaneously

Joey Lopez @joeylopez0

Small companies don't have bigbudgets. Can a campaign besuccessful on shoestring?

I’ve found in my career that when your idea of success is leads,then you have to throw some bucks at the campaign.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Absolutely! All you need is a killer strategy and clear/reasonablegoals

Kathryn Kennedy @Kontheinternet

If you do it right - you don´t need a lot of money. It´s all aboutproviding value with the right content!

Martha Neumeister @mne90

ROI can be hard to figure out, but it's easy to figure out if you haveno goals.

Josh McCormack @joshmccormack

But if your idea of success is awareness, then I absolutely believe asmall company can get a huge return

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Companies focus too much on the financial side of things. Youdon't need much money to succeed.

Cendrine Marrouat @cendrinemedia

Absolutely. It's a matter of strategizing and creating content peoplelove.

Jeremiah Wright @jeremiahjwright

Has nothing to do with money. Has everything to do with people,process and technology.

Bryan Kramer @bryankramer

How can an agency support acampaign and how do you know

when you need one?

You know you need an agency when you are naked and bleedingin the lobby. Seriously, when a company realizes what they’redoing in house just isn’t working...

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

I think that an agency needs to understand your goals and also tobuild that quality relationship.

Cheval John @chevd80

Thinking differently so much more important than spending bigbucks. Zig whil$t others are zagging

Judy Gombita @jgombita

#SmallBiz owners often need to delegate/outsource; an agencymay be the answer. Also, when writing SuperBowl ads.

@RippleBoost

...and they have the budget, resources and energy to put into anagency relationship, that’s the time to outsource.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

An agency can sing a catchy song for an unsung hero. They canget the word out about how awesome your services or productsare.

Madison Jones @madisonjoneshr

An agency can manage the elements of a campaign if its too bigfor your control or reach; need to know your limits

Sabrina @Plumlytics

Key is to stay true to your brand… make sure the agencyunderstand and believes in what you’re doing!

Brian Fanzo @isocialfanz

#90DaysToEllen was an awardwinning campaign to see if social

could lead to lunch w/ Ellen. Itdidn’t. What did you learn?

Essentially, we wanted to prove our hypothesis: That “social mediacan be used to create real friendships and make a powerfuldifference in the world.” At the end, as you mentioned, we not onlydid not get lunch with @theEllenshow but we never even heardfrom her. To this day, we don’t even know if she knew about thecampaign! (but did eventually get to her Exec Producer via Twitter)

But the point is, we DID prove our hypothesis, just in a completelydifferent and unexpected way than we thought. We did make realfriendships via social media, and we did make a powerful differencein the world. That 90-day effort raised awareness of over 100mimpressions and +$1500 for @FeedingAmerica. And you and I arehere on this Tweetchat over a year later still talking about it. That’spretty powerful if you ask me! I think it shows the power of "Lovein/love out" - we were having fun and it showed through!

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

And we got to know @djwaldow= BAM!

Bryan Kramer @bryankramer

What were your secrets to successfor the Ellen campaign? Whatwould you do differently if you

could?

The whole experience gave us such valuable insight into whatmakes the best bones for a successful campaign. After analyzing itfront to end, we found 4 secrets:

Secret #1: Have a simple concept. Humans suck at this. We thinkthat unless something is complicated, it’s not valuable. Theopposite is true! People have short attention spans, so unless anidea is simple, they’ll move on.

Secret 2: Have a solid plan. We learned this the hard way. Insearching for the “Why would Ellen do this?” we chose FeedingAmerica as our charity

Secret #3: Invite people to the party. Since we didn’t have a budgetfor this campaign, we needed a lot of ‘hands on deck' to spread theword. We reached deep into our own personal networks and triedcreative ways to get them excited about the cause. Don’t forget toASK, people love to help when it’s specific and simple.

Secret #4: Apply the rules of Improv. We talked about this earlier –it’s the power of ‘YES, and It includes the community and makesthem want to be more a part of it, and the ideas are great!

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Begin a program with an end goal and your audience in mind first.Makes sense

Brian Moran @brianmoran

I guess that is why we should aim to keep everything simple andnot try for the complicated

Cheval John @chevd80

Keep a campaign simple & fun - like the ice bucket challenge

Bryan Kramer @bryankramer

Keep a campaign simple & fun - like the ice bucket challenge

Joey Lopez @joeylopez

What are some tips for up andcoming digital strategists or

solopreneurs launching socialmedia campaigns?

Try things for yourself before testing on a client, if at all possible.The lessons you learn raise your value.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Better later than never! Don't feel words has to be your onlymethod! Use pics/vids to share your story

Michael Mullady @atlscgrad

Benchmark danggit!! Please do. Learn from others.

Iam¤kema @IamOkema

Partner w/ someone you want to get to know. We took a leap offaith w/ @djwaldow (HA!)

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Don’t be afraid to fail. #H2H celebrates imperfection, authenticityand empathy, we are all human!

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Don't estimate your reach! The vibrations your voice can make aretruly unlimited on social media. Offer your own unique flair!

Madison Jones @madisonjoneshr

Try things for yourself before testing on a client, if at all possible.The lessons you learn raise your value.

Courtney Smith @cshasarrived

Having fun w/ inspiring project can leave lot of clutter. Filter andtest, on yourselves, employees, not on clients.

Iva Ignjatovic @ivaignjatovic

CHECK OUT THE #90DAYSTOELLENCAMPAIGN

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