“Behave on social media as you would in real life”. This was the message for users of social networks from an opinion piece written in the Guardian, and could easily be applied to how business should conduct themselves on social media. That is worth remembering when you have a social media campaign ready to launch, but how else should businesses prepare for that moment? Here are our 4 top tips to help you get started:

1. Know your goal: Whether you are promoting an event or offering a new ebook or download, it is vital that you understand your goal. Know what you want to get out of using social media, which will in turn help you determine whether your objectives were achieved by the end of the campaign. Nail down these important details first to get a clear idea of where you are going.
2. Know your audience: Finding out which channels your audience use, and when they go online is vital when planning an effective social media campaign. This involves research, which could take weeks of careful study to get the correct information. Analyse a wide range of platforms, from Facebook to LinkedIn, and from Twitter to Instagram. Pay attention to what people are talking about and at what times they regularly post in those platforms. This will help you go a long way to determining who you should focus on and where you should be posting.
3. Decide how to promote the campaign on each channel: Once you know your goal, who you are targeting and on what platforms you will be targeting them on, it is time to decide what kinds of content you will need for each social media channel. You may think it best to create a short video for Facebook and YouTube, while images could be created for Twitter and Instagram. Understanding the purpose for each channel is key to making the right decisions, and the chosen strategies for increasing positive brand awareness will vary from company to company.
4. Determine your post frequency and schedule: Before kicking off your campaign, it is best to know how many posts you will need to run with, and how regularly you will post. This again will vary from company to company, and platform to platform. Whatever you decide on, stick to it. Spontaneous posting may work for a one off news event that would get everyone online at once, but if you fall behind a planned schedule and rush your posts at random times, you will not see the desired results.

The Guardian writer highlighted some of the downsides of social media in terms of banal content and frequent recourse to abuse posted by some users. In a recent post on our website about anger expressed online we stated that:

“We believe that creating a balanced content strategy is crucial to building and maintaining audience engagement. Businesses need to be true to their values and to engage honestly with social media users, creating content that is informative, helpful, entertaining and intelligent. This can build credibility and credibility creates trust.”

Our experience in running social media campaigns for a variety of businesses have shown this to be strategically effective when combined with the right tactics and planning.