Publicity and Advertising done through social media have their own differences and always come with their own essence and consequences. The primitive force on which social media publicity and advertising depend is the basic difference of motive particular to that campaign or strategy. The strategist needs to be crystal clear on the line, that why is s/he using them!
The Base: To present the DO’S and DON’Ts of social media publicity and advertising, I need to make this essential base. The base is the answer to the question – Why a social media publicity and advertising strategy is being used or required? In general, it might seem like an ordinary question that arises in the field of social media. But on the actual note, this is the basic question that defines the boundaries and the scopes of each and every social media publicity or advertising campaign.
To answer the above question – generally, there are two primary focuses or motives of each and every social media publicity and advertising strategy, namely branding perception and final sales. So, the strategist needs to decide whether he wants final sales or just wants to create the brand image.
What these two bases lead us to? When we have these two bases, we can now have two different sets of do’s and don’ts for each of them. In a finer tune, these two sets resemble at many points and yet they differ because of the basic objectives attached to them.
The basic do’s are:
- Do prepare your blueprint first: No matter whether you are applying social media publicity & advertising strategies for a branding or selling
purpose, prepare your blueprints first. Give them a proper time and consider all the possible positives and negatives as well as the resistance and growth support factors. Calculating these things beforehand, positions the strategist to back his/her strategy on valid grounds. For example – GAP last year had a situation where it considered the reversion of its logo just because of the fact they did not do their homework well. - Do follow the value driven norms: If you are in a position where you exactly know your target audience and the platform for that exact publicity and advertising stunt, you should be aware of the fact that it is only your audience who can and will make it happen, and not just the offer/s you have come up with. So, every such strategy should concentrate upon the fact of delivering value. Depending upon your core
product or service, this so called value and its delivery process may be different but it is the essential part. For example – Geopulse Inc. a publicly listed junior exploring and mining company from Albuquerque, US uses its Facebook page to keep their small number of fans updated about the investment topics. In the form of those Articles they are delivering value to a targeted audience and at the same time they are creating a base of their future investors. - Do consider the social part: People nowadays stress more upon the social recommendations/reviews more than the mere search engine optimized recommendations/reviews. The power of being social, being actual rules this game. Consider the fact that no one would like to incur expenses based on the recommendation from a stranger or an online recommendation that merely validates the actual experience. So, while targeting a sales campaign, one should consider this important factor of being social up to the nearest possible level. And it could be possible only with a proper strategy used to engage the targeted audience.
- Do consider the ethical part involved: Though most of the social networking platforms do not tolerate the unethical and misleading stunts, I must say that they must have some kinda software or few guys to handle it at the level of profanity on display. Beyond that the responsibility lies upon the strategist that he doesn’t plot something unethical and misleading. It not only hampers the presence immediately but also effects the long term impression of the considering company or the organization.
- Do have a look at what others have to say: Social media, being a relatively new field of study, requires that we learn every publicity & advertising stunt as we grow in this new sphere. As a social media strategist one needs to learn from others the way successful strategies are being planned, incorporated and executed. Simply it is not a suggestion for a copy paste but a developmental process where we learn by watching others.
Just like these basic do’s there are few basic don’ts as well. Whether you aim to attain the final sale or the brand image, these do’s and don’ts play an important role. On a varied version, the don’ts are attached solely with these basic do’s. And as an editorial team member of SMC, I aim to cover these don’t s in my next article. So, if you get it, share it.
