Here's a list of 30 things that we, as cross-discipline creatives in the King James Group, have learnt about running social media campaigns over the last year.
Content is more important than channels: as long as people look at the content, it really doesn't matter if they're on the brand website, Facebook or YouTube.
If it's worth creating a social media campaign, it's worth booking some online media spend to support it.
Consumer-generated content is more powerful than brand-created content.
Managing conversations and communities in social media campaigns requires skill and experience (it's not a job for the intern…). [see Social media is a people problem - managing editor]
Be current and be quick.
Go to where your consumers hang out; don't force them to come to you.
The more arb, the better.
The starting point for any campaign should be: “What can we give the consumer of value that they can't get elsewhere?”
Flash sucks (most of the time).
“Virals” do too (as this is causing some debate, it's worth clarifying that while I think getting content to go viral is great, creating a ridiculously expensive, Flash-heavy piece of programming that relies on going viral to be successful, is asking for trouble. I think Sturgeons Law that “90% of everything is crud” certainly applies to the grubby genre of viral marketing).
We're competing with everything else on the Internet; our work better be pretty damn relevant and entertaining.
Social media campaigns aren't a 9-to-5, Monday to Friday, job.
Bloggers are harder to pitch stories to than journalists (they work out of passion; journalists often don't, sadly).
There is a free app for everything.
Don't get caught in a fight about whether Wordpress or Tank is the best platform.
Don't take trolls personally.
The best campaigns adapt and learn as they grow.
We are telling stories with our campaigns. They need mystery, sub-plots and panache.
Don't talk like an ad; people will hate you for it.
Don't drive traffic to a web campaign with print, billboards, TV or radio. It's pointless.
Persuade clients to allow us to post social media content without having to sign everything off - they'll just have to trust us to get it right (this is one of the reasons the Steri Stumpie campaign in particular really works)
Delete things that go wrong quickly...
Don't pretend to be something you're not; someone will notice. [once again, see Social media is a people problem - managing editor]
The first question clients ask us is: “How do we measure this?”
Clients love Google and Facebook Analytics. [learn more about web analytics - managing editor]
You still need a good idea.
Things need to happen in the real world to talk about online.
Actually, there is no such thing as a good social media campaign, only good integrated campaigns (everything else sucks).
Don't ask consumers to upload videos of themselves; they can't be bothered.
Dan Pinch is creative director at Atmosphere Communications (www.atmosphere.co.za), part of the King James Group, and a founding member of +one (www.plus-one.co.za), the social media and dialogue marketing team at King James. Dan was involved in setting up one of the UK's first digital PR agencies in the late nineties and was head of youth marketing unit SLAM (sex love and marketing) at Weber Shandwick London until 2003. Since moving to South Africa in 2004, he has worked on consumer PR and social media campaigns for Cape Town Fashion Week, ghd, kulula, brandhouse, Steri Stumpie and KWV, among others. In his spare time Dan has blogged for psfk.com and Dazed & Confused (UK). Contact him on tel +27 (0)21 469 1574, email him at and follow him on Twitter at @danpinch.
