Posts Tagged ‘social media campaigns’

Back in April, Mack Collier and I had an interesting conversation about social media campaigns and how they are ineffective. I said that I was going to write a post called “Social Media Campaigns are like Crying Wolf” (but never got around to it until now…). In response to our conversation, Mack wrote a great post about how social media isn’t a one-night stand, but a relationship. 

Why are social media campaigns like crying wolf? We all know the famous fable about the little shepherd boy who entertained himself by crying wolf just to get the villagers attention. Well, eventually the villagers stopped coming when he cried wolf and when the shepherd boy really did encounter a real wolf he was left alone to battle while it ate his flock. 

I think if you replace the shepherd boy with “company,” the villagers with “community,” flock with “customers” and wolf with “competition” I think we might be able to draw a conclusion as to why social media campaigns aren’t effective. The moral of this new fable? It’s never wise to use the social community for attention seeking or self-serving needs. 

However, that said, after much thought I think some social media campaigns are less about crying wolf than they are about approaching social media as the last bastion of lead or buzz generation hope because all other marketing is failing…the social media miracle. And, unfortunately, it’s a miracle that often ends in failure. 

Social media isn’t a marketing miracle by any stretch. But a lot of marketers (client- and agency-side) look at social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogging, podcasting, etc.) as vehicles for self-promoting (or crying wolf) to be just that…a miracle that recreates the lead generation and buzz they once had. And social media just doesn’t work that way. For social media to be effective, a long-term commitment to community relationship building is required…as Todd Defren calls it, uncampaigning.   

Shel Holtz also has a great post on organic social media vs. marketing campaigns in which he states that ‘organic engagement in social media will have greater long-term payoff for an organization, and can even bolster shorter-term campaigns.’ That’s the key to social media campaigns being successful because they aren’t one-off, they are part of an on-going, organic relationship. 

For companies out there considering a social media campaign, ask these questions before you expect a miracle: 

• Do I have an established community that wants to hear from us?
• What does the community want from us?
• How does this social media campaign affect the long-term relationship with our community?
• Will this social media campaign be scrutinized by the community or others?
• Is this social media campaign a quick fix to combat competition?
• If I hold a mirror up to this campaign, will I like the reflection (i.e. are you engaging in social media in response to detractors)?
• Are we doing this social media campaign just because it’s cool or we think it’s buzz-worthy?
• Why is my agency pushing this social media campaign (or why is my client pushing this social media campaign)?
• How are we going to measure the success of the social media campaign? What are the objectives?
• Do we have a contingency (or crisis) plan in place for this social media campaign?

Your turn…do you think one-off social media campaigns work? What’s been effective (or ineffective)? What else would you add to this list of questions?