Social Media Marketing For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Killing the Campaign Expiry Date

You’re probably used to thinking of campaigns as having a start date and an end date. And they usually need that. You have a finite marketing budget; the campaign is geared around a series of events (like Christmas sales); new products replace old ones several times a year, and that forces you to end campaigns and launch new ones. However, SMM campaigns are unique in that after they start, they may not stop when you want them to. It’s like turning off the lights midway through a dinner party. If you have a conversation going and have gotten a community of people to come together around your brand, product, or campaign, the last thing you want to do is to suddenly disown them. It is very important that you plan for migrating that community of people to a broader purpose or goal.

Here are four ways to do that successfully:

Give participants new reasons to engage with your brand.

Your original SMM campaign has a set purpose and objectives. After they’re accomplished, don’t turn off the lights. Instead, think of the next campaign that you have planned and how you can customize it to this community of people.

In fact, try to weave the campaigns together into a program that benefits these people. As you do this, remember the four rules of participation ...