7 steps to creating a stand out Facebook campaign

With over one billion active daily users, Facebook is undoubtedly the goliath of social media channels. Having brand presence on Facebook is therefore a must for any consumer focussed brand wanting to communicate with customers without barriers. But with size comes competition. Simply having a presence is not enough to drive engagement, reach and the golden chalice that is advocacy.

On the base level, your brand will have identified with Facebook’s values and be driving engagement on a daily basis. However, in order to maximise the full potential of the platform, a dedicated Facebook campaign can catapult you to exciting new levels. Taking it a little further, delivered well, it can drive market share, sales and be clearly evaluated. Obviously there are varying levels of campaign types normally dictated by budget, from simple on-page contests to fully branded campaign apps, and whilst the results may differ wildly, the conceptualisation and preparation remains the same.

To deliver an effective campaign, there are essential steps to follow:

Define, define, define 

Before starting any detailed planning, there must be a clear objective of what the Facebook campaign needs to deliver. Campaigns have the ability to deliver a multitude of results – awareness; engagement; education; data capture; targeted couponing – to name just a few. But each objective will directly impact on the campaign idea – activity that is purely designed to drive awareness will have a different creative route than one that’s designed to get consumers engaged. The more sophisticated you get, then the more objectives you can incorporate. Our recommendation is to stick to one or two objectives and deliver them well.

Making APPs work hard

In particular, the incorporation of a dedicated campaign APP allows you to become far more sophisticated in your approach and ability to deliver against your objectives. Depending on your requirements (and budget) there are varying degrees of APPs that can be used.

Standard off the shelf competition APPs are readily available and deliver promotions usually around photo or video uploads; they are often quite cost effective and have the ability to collect data. The catch? Given that they are off the shelf APPs, the results can be underwhelming in comparison to the budget invested.

At the larger end of the scale are bespoke APPs. These have the opportunity to deliver the greatest KPIs but often have a greater price tag. Within these, your own branded game/challenge is a highly popular form of promotion. Delivered successfully, it can tick all the boxes of awareness, education and even driving sales through earned coupons or exclusive discounts. Users are incentivised to play your game within your branded environment with instant wins. Prizes can include exclusive discounts which, having been ‘earnt’, have a higher perceived value and increased frequency of redemption. What’s more, it can drive growth on all the brand’s social media channels, by incentivising users to gain another turn by liking another social media presence (e.g. Instagram) or sharing with their peers via Twitter for example.

The five second rule

With so much noise on social channels, the instructions for the user to engage need to be obvious and within five seconds – what does your visitor need to do to get involved and what’s in it for them? If they don’t get it, they won’t engage.

Don’t scrimp on quality

The importance of high quality assets can never be underestimated. Firstly, it delivers the required professional impact to consumers. Secondly, it will ensure it gets prioritised by Facebook’s algorithms. From the APP design through to the images posted on Facebook, the strength of quality will determine how many people see your activity and your brand’s reputation, which will be extensively shared.

To ensure the best standout, video has the strongest impact with Facebook giving even higher importance to this content format. And, of course, it can provide a highly creative and impactful asset for your consumers.

Mobile is number one

Any Facebook campaign needs to be responsive and planned with mobile as the ‘first screen’. With over 60% of adults now owning a smartphone, your activity needs to be seamless on mobile as well as desktop. That can include making sure any games can be played using both fingers for mobile and mouse for desktop.

Content v advertising 

Creating the idea is just 50% of the challenge. To ensure it reaches as much of your community as possible and wider, paid support on Facebook is essential. Use it well and it can have a significant impact on the success of your campaign as well as your overall community size. With the ability to target consumers similar to your existing fans or with particular interests that are pertinent to your brand, the bought support can be extremely targeted and work hard to drive reach and likes.

Outside of Facebook, it is ideal to also incorporate banner ads, PPC and SEO in order to drive as much traffic to your activity as possible. If you have a database, promote it there too as a loyal fan is very likely to engage and share. 

Keep the buzz going 

During any campaign, it is ideal to retain a strong level of campaign related support content. Topic related micro competitions run via straight forward posts are perfect ways to maintain buzz and excitement throughout the campaign period. In addition, your day to day content should reflect the campaign theme without bringing too much repetition.

Every day millions of your prospective customers engage with social media for entertainment and escapism. Facebook campaigns ‘done well’ provide the opportunity to appeal to this demand and allow your prospects to have fun whilst learning about your products, not to mention the massive sales opportunity. What better way to get your brand noticed?

By Hayden Allen-Vercoe at Orbital Media