How to win at social media

As a social media professional, I have ran over 10 major campaigns and grew over 5 social media communities for government agencies, private companies and now, a startup. From my experience, I noticed that even though expectations and timelines can vary from client to client, this same question comes up often.

Alan, can you make this campaign viral on social media? We do not have much budget, but we need this to go viral.

My imaginary response: “If I could sacrifice the soul of a social media influencer’s firstborn and then sprinkle fairy dust on your campaign to make it go viral, I certainly would.”

If you google about viral social media campaigns and fast ways to grow your Facebook page, there’s a good chance you might find websites offering ebooks or courses. But will they offer a solid formula for virality and rapid growth? I remain skeptical.

You cannot create viral content overnight. Building an advocacy community takes time. Creating consistently “sharable” content takes effort. While this process can be long and tedious, even simple social media practices like properly maintaining your startup’s social media page goes a long way. Today, your social media pages are likely to be your default customer service channel. If your prospects have questions about your products, they would likely turn to your Facebook page or tweet at you. Having an outdated and inactive Facebook page is like having a dusty and vacant shopfront. Your prospects will think twice before making the purchase.

The good news is that with good practices and a consistent content strategy, your startup can be a clear voice above the noise on social media without significant monetary investments. A decent budget can go a long way, but you can always start by bootstrapping this process before you have the means to invest more.

Step 1: Know your product

Understanding your product well and how it benefits your consumers is a good way to start. Put some thoughts into your marketing messages. Think in the shoes of a consumer: Are you offering practical value to the consumer? Are you making an emotional connection with them? Are you making them an offer they could not refuse?

If your ideas do not appeal to you, it probably will not appeal to anyone. If you think you have founders’ bias, bounce your marketing messages off your family, friends or coworkers and ask for honest feedback.

Step 2: Know your audience

If you are unsure about the target audience for your product, do not consider your first Facebook campaign, especially if you are intending to invest some cash in it. Even if you know your target audience, you might want to spend some time thinking about these few questions because this data will help you reach out to your target audience with laser precision.

1. Who is your “typical” customer?
2. What are some of their common behaviour on social media?
3. What are their “social stimuli”?

Step 3: Know where they hang out

This one is a no-brainer: If you want to catch monkeys, you shouldn’t look underwater. There are over a dozen social media networks in the market and each channel appeals to a certain demographic. If you know your customer profile, you should have no problem determining where they lurk online. Focus your efforts targeting only the relevant channels where your customers spend the most time on. If you’re running a B2B business, running a Facebook campaign might not be your best bet.

Step 4: Develop your content

A content strategy is what will keep your followers engaged. As you craft your content strategy, first ask this question: Why should my readers care about my content? Am I providing value? Am I giving a feel-good factor to my followers?

Next, determine your content mix by planning the relevant content types that you should employ for your product. If you are reaching out through visual-based social media channels like Pinterest or Instagram, you should consider infographics and photo reviews. For more generic social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, you can have a broader mix of content materials like videos, podcasts and articles.

Step 5: Quantify and measure

Final thought