Social media campaign ideas can be tough to come up with, especially for small businesses. There are a lot of ideas out there on the web, but most of them are pretty expensive and not exactly the kind of thing a small business has the time or resources to implement.
Part of the problem is that there is no one-size-fits-all campaign idea. Really effective social media campaigns depend on your product and your customers; what works for one business might not work for another.
For instance, a restaurant getting customers to take pictures of their products when they order them is going to be much more effective than a parts manufacturer having customers take pictures of their products when they receive them. People taking pictures of their own food is very common (although I still think it’s a little out there…), but people taking pictures of the part their employer just ordered is not exactly exciting social media fodder.
You see the difference? Your product or service should influence the type of campaign you put together. But it doesn’t always have to be about the product–there are some very good campaigns out there that have little to do with the product that the company sells.
Similarly, your social media campaign idea isn’t going to be effective if it’s not suited for your customers. You have to come up with something that your customer is really going to enjoy, something tailored for them. Making a generic campaign that doesn’t target your customers specifically is going to fall flat.
You need to know exactly which of your customers you want to target. Hopefully, you already have some customer personas that you can use to create these campaigns (if you don’t, click here to download our Customer Persona Template). The best campaigns out there target a specific customer.
So what are some cost-effective methods for small businesses to create viral social media campaigns? Here are a few ideas we think you can try in your small business.
Create a Contest and Update the Results Regularly
The best part about contests is that they don’t have to cost you much more than the prize. If you have a great gift that people really want to win, you’re going to get a fair number of entries. This can be especially cost-effective if you are offering your own product or service as the prize (which you should be anyway). Not only does offering something like this save you some money, but it also promotes your brand with every entry.
For this to work right, especially on Twitter, you want to come up with a hashtag to promote the contest with. The hashtag, which entrants will add to their entries, will also make it easier for you to search for the contest and see exactly how many people have entered. Make sure you come up with a hashtag that is simple and not too long–you don’t want people to mess up the hashtag and not get counted.
Contests, like anything else on social media, must be curated to be effective. You can’t just start a contest and then check back once it’s over; you need to follow it consistently and provide updates about how the contest is going. If you can create a graphic to show how the contest is progressing, or have a leaderboard to promote competition (if it’s possible for entrants to have multiple entries or do something to rack up points), even better.
The best contests are active social events. If you were holding a contest in person, you wouldn’t leave the room and just wait for it to be over would you? Stick around and be as social as possible with all the entrants. It will result in more active followers.
Involve Your Customers In Your Process
Hootsuite has some great ideas on this one here, but the basic idea is simple: let your customers and followers have a say in how something in your business is done. This can be very simple, and many businesses do this. For instance, many snack companies let their followers vote on what the next flavor of their flagship snack should be.
While not everyone can have their customers help them define their next product (what color should our next batch of industrial hinges be guys?!–yeah, that might not work), you may still be able to find something that your customers can vote on.
It might be your new logo if you have several options available to you, it might be a new design for your user manuals, but whatever it is, your customers are going to be more engaged with your business if they feel like they have a stake in it. You give your customers the chance to invest themselves in your business a bit, which can turn them into more effective ambassadors of your brand.
Go Outside and Interact with Your Customers In Real Life
A shocking proposition I know, but seriously, the best social media contests are going to involve you leaving the office and interacting with your followers in person. For instance, you might go find the top contenders in your contest and talk to them about it. Or, if your contest is smaller, you might just go talk to the winner as you hand them their prize (instead of giving it to them digitally or through snail mail).
Not only will this really show your followers how much you care about them (and thus make them more ardent ambassadors of your brand), but it will also give you the opportunity to get some great photos, sound bytes, videos, or material for a blog post or social media post.
Donate to Local Charities and Get Your Customers Involved
Finally, starting a contest that involves a local charity is a great way to get involved with your customers while investing in your community at the same time. Most small businesses don’t have a huge amount of capital to invest in something like this, so get your customers involved. Promising to donate a percentage of what your customers will donate is one way to go about this. Another is to donate a certain amount for each like or share.
For this to work right, you probably want to come up with a branded photo to go along with the post, along with a hashtag. Try not to make the contest all about you and your business and how you guys are so super helpful. Instead, try to make it about the charity you are helping. People will see what you are doing, and your business will thus be naturally promoted. You don’t have to sing from the rooftops about how giving you are–let your brand ambassadors do that.
Find Social Media Campaign Ideas that Allow You To Be Involved
Social media campaign ideas are not about promoting your business–they’re about connecting with your customers and followers. When you have strong, dedicated followers who are out there telling everyone about what a great brand you are, that’s when you get that R on your I. You can’t put numbers on having a strong base of brand ambassadors, and an effective social media campaign could be just the thing to create that base.
If you come up with any great social media campaign ideas, send them to us! We love to hear from our followers. And if you’re having some trouble coming up with something, click here to let us know; we’ll see what we can come up with for you.
