This is an article I wrote on my blog at http://www.sociatic.com It is one of my most popular blog posts on social media and it was even featured on socialmediatoday.com

1. 25 Characteristics of Highly Effective Social Media Campaigns By KwameBoame http://www.sociatic.com

2. INTRODUCTION There is so much rock and roll going on involving businesses running social media campaigns. However, there are not many social media rockstars. Their guitars vary. Some rock hard and some… not so hard. Some even have broken guitar strings. We don’t notice the size of their guitars though. What we notice is the kind of music they produce. There are certain characteristics that differentiate the effective social media campaigns from the boring ones. You need to learn these characteristics if you also want to be effective with your campaigns. Don’t worry if your ‘strings’ are broken. You can fix it. Here are 25 characteristics of highly effective social media campaigns (from the rockstars) and some tips to help you rock like them.

3. Points 1-4 1. They spread like wildfire. Effective social media campaigns spread very fast. If your campaign is not spreading, it is not effective. Test the waters with micro campaigns. Learn to swim before attempting to ride the big waves. 2. They are not spammy. Don’t just promote your site links; share something insightfulabout your company or product. Don’t send out the same message to your community. It is spam…and it is very annoying to them. Even to you. Admit it. 3. They provide value. Value can come in the both physical and mental forms. Effective campaigns provide value in any or both of these regards. 4. They are well branded. Clothe your campaign from head to toe with your company’s identity. Use your logo, your USP or slogans, your colors, and any other thing that defines your business’s identity. Add your brand to every video you produce; don’t add just your website address.

4. Points 5-8 5. They are measured. You need to track your social media marketing efforts. Whether you install Google Analytics on your Facebook fan page or you use Post rank to measure your effectiveness, make sure you work with the data. 6. They have excellent copy. Leave a positive impression in just a few words. Using big vocabulary is not the way to go; making sense is what matters. 7. They don’t ‘sell’. Instead of selling, you should work at generating leads with your social media campaign. Sell to those leads later on. 8. They build relationships. Don’t just broadcast. Interact. Building relationships helps build even more relationships. It also increases the perception of value and builds loyalty.

5. Points 9-12 They build trust. Be as honest in your campaign as possible. Trust is very hard to earn back once lost. Your campaign should build and maintain trust in your build. They are innovative. Regular campaigns mostly go unnoticed. Innovation adds ‘flavor’ to your campaign. It is the aroma of your campaign and the one thing that will convince most people to take action. They have ears. Your campaign will not be successful unless you listen for feedback. People may have something to say so listen and show appreciation or let them know you are working on it. Never delete a negative feedback. 12. They are well organized. Your campaign needs to be well planned. It should have a first step and an nth step (where n is the number of the last step). Follow through from step 1 through to step n. Don’t go from step one to step 3 to step 2. Plan your steps well so it is easy to follow through step 1 to the last step.

6. Points 13-16 13. They are maintained by humans. Don’t rely on automation when it comes to marketing on the social web. It just won’t work. Besides, it destroys trust. Put a human being in front of, in-between and behind all your social media campaigns. I want to talk to a human being not a robot. 14. They are consistent. You need to be consistent with your update (or broadcast) schedules and interact with people who leave replies and comments. If you broadcast once a week and change to 5 times a day, people will begin to question your actions. Unless you give them good reason why you have changed your schedule. 15. They have bait. You need to have some sort of bait to convert visitors into leads. Try eBooks, free products, white papers, discount codes, samples, free vouchers, et cetera. Bait them to get them. 16. They use leverage. They leverage the subscriber bases of their communities and other people’s communities. They also leverage their company strengths.

7. Points 17-20 17. They include a blog. I suggest you have a business blog before you start your campaign. Your blog should be the hub of your social media campaign efforts. Make you install social media sharing buttons to make it easier for others to share your blog’s content. They engage other blogs. You can do this too. Apply as a guest writer for blogs in your target market. Read blogs in your niche and leave thoughtful comments (not just a “thank you”). 19. They are not everywhere. If you want your campaigns to be successful, don’t register for an account on every social media site. That will only burn you out and your campaigns will be fruitless. 20. They have humor. Adding humor to marketing is a cool way of saying “we are a friendly business”. It makes your marketing memorable. A priceless result.

8. Points 21-24 21. They share company events. If your company is being bad mouthed, tell your customers about it. Tell them the truth in it and the lies. Don’t give them the chance to second guess your company. If your company is nominated for an award, tell your community about it. If your company wins the award, tell them. If you lose the award, tell them. 22. They integrate offline marketing. Print some T-Shirts, with your logo, Twitter handle, Facebook fan page URL and your slogan on it and give them out to your customers. Send out paper printed catalogs to your online leads. Add your Twitter and Facebook URLs to your contact address. Integrate offline with online. 23. They use the right networks. Even though Facebook supports videos, video campaigns will do better on Youtube than on Facebook. 24. They use photos and videos. Photos and videos leave a lasting impression on peoples’ minds. The best photo you can use is your logo. When you make a video, put your logo on it.

9. Point 25 25. They have a call to action. What is the essence of a marketing campaign without having a call to action of some sort? I suggest you use your social marketing campaigns to generate leads before trying to sell anything. By the way, “signup below” and “call us now” are not the only call to action examples. “Click to view our portfolio” is an example of call to action. Your call to actions must follow a sequence; from your homepage to the last page. Click here to visit Sociatic.com for more social media and marketing articles, tools and resources. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking here.