#RoadTo2021: 5 cardinal tips for creating interactive social media campaigns

Ambika Sharma from Pulp Strategy shares few actionable tips to help create engaging & interactive social media campaigns that help overcome the changes & challenges brought about by COVID-19 in the industry.

Consumers are on social media constantly. But how do you engage with users that are on the platforms for various objectives. Here are a few tips to create interactive social media campaigns. Take a look:

Understand where you stand, before you start

Pull out the data hat. Analysis of your current social engagement levels is important. All things about data said and unsaid are true, it is important to have a clear understanding of where you are at (without the pushy contests).

How many shares and likes does your social content get at an average and what kind of content does your social media community prefer. How are they currently engaging with your content and what are they saying? That’s right it's always recommended that you read through a healthy number of comments. It’s a great way of getting a sense of what your community feels about your content and messaging.

Know your consumer and what they are up to

Beyond the demographics lies the consumers hear and soul, (cliché!) but true none the less. Most of us know the consumer profile and then the basics in age, demographics, of the social audience.

Uncover some more, what do they care about and what are they engaging with, what are the topics and trends close to their heart?

How are they consuming your content? Most importantly where are they within the social media platform, which groups and groups communities are they part of? This information will be critical in defining your engagement strategy.

Also Read: #RoadTo2021: How to ace storytelling in 2021?

Personalize!

There is a strategy beyond engagement, Be true to your strategy and voice of the brand, define your consumer journey, and then personalize! personalize! personalize!

Consumer research will tell you that not all your consumers care about the same thing, their needs from your brand or product will also be vividly different.

Create content that is personal to them. Remember that what works on Instagram may not do as well on Facebook. So, create content that is unique to the platform. If you are a widely distributed brand, consider regional language content, it’s not nice to speak to someone in a language they are not comfortable in. (that’s a lot of content!). It’s a lot of necessary effort that will pay off well.

Simplify and focus on delight

Engagement is best when spontaneous, while consumers may need a little encouragement to engage with what you put out there, pushing them is not the way to go in 2021. With all the ad tech available to us if the creative does not speak to them then the chances that they respond or join the conversation are slim.

Define and work hard on the encouragement, what is that one thing which will be a campaign highlight. Deploy a micro-influencer strategy, if you have a cool ad tech engagement built-in for example. Or focus on relevance with virtual trials, create a response mechanism that has a positive impact on their social currency. The focus should be on using technology to create delight while sharing your brand story.

Have a conversation and celebrate response

It’s not enough to just listen you need to sit back and let your audience own the narrative. Celebrate responses, not just with a “like” but loudly celebrate, make them a part of your story by focusing on collaboration and co-creation of content.

Consumer content is powerful, like a peer review, the numbers add up exponentially.

Keep a part of your budget and effort to celebrate with the consumers, create content featuring your best advocates.

It’s the experience of engagement that will keep them coming back and share with their peers.

This piece has been authored by Ambika Sharma, Founder & MD, Pulp Strategy.