Collaborating with our Walkers Client and a multi-discipline agency team means we can shape the development of major campaign ideas so they are rich, fun and conversation-worthy, providing perfect ‘hooks’ for us to generate social media content. Think “Win a tenner when it rains” and “What’s that flavour?”. The content we develop creates an audience that is incredibly engaged, but also one that has high expectations of what will follow.
Indeed, if you don’t have a considered social strategy, your audience could be left hanging until the next major campaign – which might be weeks or months away. In itself, this presents a problem, but it becomes exacerbated if the brand is engaging consumers within Facebook…
As soon as you stop delivering quality content, you’ll drop off users’ News Feeds; and once you drop off, it’s very difficult to get back on. This is especially important as 90% of likers consume content via their own page, not the brand’s page.
To maximise exposure on News Feeds, our social media team shapes content strategy around NFO (News Feed Optimisation). Their skill lies in understanding the implications of an ever-changing Facebook algorithm, but in a nutshell, NFO teaches us to maintain a fair frequency of high quality content that is easy to engage with.
So we know that it’s vital to manufacture compelling content to plug the gaps between major campaigns. In principle, this is straightforward if you follow some golden rules:
- Firstly, recognise that this requirement (‘plugging the gaps’) is just as important as amplifying core campaigns and build it into your annual comms planning from the start
- Develop ideas to a consistent ‘social proposition’ (the brand’s role in social spaces – why are you there & what are you offering that will appeal to your audience?)
- Remember why your likers (or followers) came in the first place
- Make (at least some) content exclusive to the channel
- Keep any competition or game mechanics really simple
- Constantly evaluate the success of different types of content – ‘golden rules’ can only take you so far – nothing can beat your own learnings
Nurturing a permanently engaged audience won’t just drive long-term loyalty measures, but your shorter-term sales-focused campaigns will also work much harder & their effects be felt for longer. In effect, you get a bigger bang for your buck! The most successful campaigns create a ‘groundswell’ of excitement and conversation before the significant media investments kick in. This happens best when your social audience is already switched on and tuned into your brand. So don’t treat them mean; be generous and keep them keen.
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