Planning Campaigns – Pre-launch phase : Social Media Handbook Part 3

This post is a part of our Social Media Handbook series. Please read the previous parts here: Social Media Basics (Part 1) & Leveraging Creative Properties (Part 2)

Planning interesting campaigns on social media platforms is the need of the hour for brands. Brands spent $3.8 billion on ads in 2011 and a strong call to action can make these ads worth the money spent. Also, interesting campaigns generate more reach from the ‘Friends of fans’ pool and can drastically reduce the per fan cost on the overall media spent.

The most important aspect of planning campaigns is visualizing the entire user experience. It is like wearing both the director and the scriptwriter’s hats at once. Here are some points that lead to a superhit "movie". I will focus on Facebook campaigns, as they, according to me, are the most exhaustive campaigns to work on and are most called for in the market.

Teasers

The initial phase of the workflow needs to be planned in detail. It needs to be thought through if the campaign needs to have a teaser, as it may feel a bit forced at times. The ‘largeness’ of your campaign can help you determine if a teaser will do justice before the launch.

Pre Rolls

Plan for an effective pre like and a post like tab, it will make the brands media spends more sensible. Also, make sure you get the Google analytics code set up for these tabs; it helps one check the drop outs post a click on a stamp ad.

Storyboard

Work on a storyboard, which is also termed as the application wireframe. Every screen needs to be planned strategically to ensure that the activity does not lead to user fatigue and he does not seem to get lost mid way through the application. The average time spent on the application should neither be too short nor too long.

Instructions

The most difficult part of any game/application is to understand how to play it! There need to be detailed instructions about how the application needs to be played. Look for a provision for a demo mode if there is gameplay involved. The How to Play tab needs to be available to go back to at all times.

Plan hacks

There are a number of smart nerds out there who can hack into your application to scream through to the top of the leader-board, especially for gratification led contests. One needs to get a coder (preferable in-house) to play the role of the auditor for the applications.

Blonde Tests

Now this is really interesting and has worked really well with me in the past - plan for a ‘blonde test’ for your applications. Basically get the applications tested by, ahem, smart girls or guys, who know nothing about the activity. Their reactions towards the application will give you enormous insights on how the application will fare once it is live.

SMS/Email Integrations

Plan for ideal plugs where SMS and Email integrations will help. For example, I plan for email reminders for idle users who do not turn up for a long time where the user can play a number of times. It works!

FB share-ability features

Plan for each and every opportunity that can help us get to the friends or followers of your users. Integrations need to be planned right at the time when you are planning the workflow. It also applies for opportunities where, say, celebs are involved in the campaigns. Reaching out to their fans in an optimum manner needs to be strategically planned right during the initial phase.

T & C and Privacy Policy

In India, a number of campaigns on Facebook are incurring no wrath from Facebook despite violating basic terms like announcing winners on wall, not conducting contests on the wall, etc. This does not mean that you can take chances with your brand. The communication needs to mention that link to the post, like to the app itself, is in full agreement with the ‘Terms and Conditions’ and the ‘Privacy Policy’, with both the terms hyperlinked to the respective pages/pop ups, like done here. Also, Facebook’s non-involvement in the promotions needs to be mentioned explicitly.

Do share your experiences or feedback in the comments section below.

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