Next Level Social Media Campaigns: What Does Success Look Like?

Social media campaigns are a must in most marketing, PR, and communication plans today. But, with constant algorithm changes and new digital trends emerging, it’s tougher than ever for brand posts to stand out. So, how can you actually find and measure social success?

We spoke with Joanna Campbell, digital strategy consultant and founder of Show+Tell Social, about how brands can go beyond their own feeds and what metrics really matter when measuring a campaign’s success.

SA: What does a successful social media campaign look like for you?

JC: For a social media campaign to be set up for success, it needs to be rooted in strategy, have clear goals, and measurable results. There are so many creative ways to bring a social campaign to life, but two excellent ways to really raise awareness and increase consideration are to layer on paid support and celebrity partnerships — even better if you can do both!

Social media today is more pay-for-play than ever, and while paid support is the obvious way to amplify brand messaging, leveraging celebrity adds an element of authenticity and credibility.

SA: When partnering with celebrities, what should brands look for?

JC: Working with talent who have a more targeted following that aligns with your target demographic can be a great advantage. They often have higher engagement rates than mega-celebrities and their followers tend to be really receptive and responsive.

Regardless of the level of celebrity you decide on, dig into the audience demographic to make sure it aligns with your brand objectives and who you want to reach. Also review what types of content they typically post and how those posts perform.

Going beyond organic posting, get a sense of how frequently they post for other brands to make sure you’re in good company, and see how their audience responds to sponsored content. This kind of holistic overview is important for thinking about how your brand would fit into the mix and the most effective way to share your brand messaging. You want to capitalize on their authentic voice to elevate your brand!

SA: What’s the best way to measure the success of a celebrity-brand partnership?

JC: It’s often hard to draw a straight line between a celebrity partnership and sales, but there are still ways to track the impact of the campaign as well as consideration or conversion.

The first thing to look at is the metrics from the sponsored content: impressions, reach, and engagement. From there, you can measure the engagement rate and benchmark it against the celebrity’s other posts. It’s also important to check sentiment, so read the post comments to gauge how it was received. This is a great opportunity to hear unfiltered audience feedback.

Next, check brand platforms for an uptick in social followers and increased website traffic. If driving traffic to a brand website is a key component of the campaign, make sure the celebrity partner uses a custom web link to track those results. Depending on your campaign goals and tactics, you can also measure things like online purchases, customized discount codes, and sweepstake entries.

SA: How can you maximize a celebrity-brand partnership?

Paid support! This is what gets celebrity content in front of a larger target audience. There are a few options here:

• Use celebrity assets to create and run ads from brand accounts.
• Boost the celebrity’s posts right from their account (if you have their permission).
• Do a combination of both.

Since one of the biggest perks to working with a celebrity is tapping into their social following, leveraging a celebrity’s audience to refine the targeting for brand ads is a huge opportunity!

There are also lots of inexpensive ways to amplify celebrity partnerships. It can be as simple as including a call to action in the post copy to encourage engagement (work together on this to make sure it’s done in an authentic and compelling way), doing a simple product giveaway that has a low barrier to entry, or saving some exclusive content for the brand’s social feeds.

Joanna Campbell is the founder of Show+Tell Social where she consults on digital marketing for both brands and celebrities. Her specialties are crafting in-depth, strategic social media plans, developing creative social-led campaigns that support larger initiatives, mapping effective paid media campaigns, and focusing on analytics as a means to optimize programs — a powerful combination that aims to tell stories, build brands, and drive measurable results.