You’ve planned your social media calendar, thought of a punchy hashtag, creative assets are approved and everything has been scheduled. Now what? Amplify it!
But how? It’s time to look beyond the phone screen. Sure, social media is important. With the average person spending 145 minutes every day on social media, having a social media strategy for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat in place is an integral part of an overall marketing plan.
Once a campaign has been activated, it can be easy to feel like your work is done. But there are so many off-line opportunities to build momentum and create hype around a product or service. With so much online activity used to drive offline behaviors, and almost two years of living through the screen, it’s time to consider how to make your marketing work in the new normal.
In this article, we will share how to make your marketing go further, by creating an integrated, multi-channel campaign that utilizes online and offline platforms and activity to really amplify your message and get noticed IRL.
What is an integrated campaign?
An integrated campaign means that your messaging and idea runs across more than just one channel, i.e. social media. That means that all your marketing efforts work towards the same goal cohesively, rather than each focusing on their own aims.
When your website, emails, paid advertising and social media work in tandem it can be easier for audiences and customers to really understand what your business is and promoting a consistent message will encourage trust.
But how can you make your big idea for social media into an integrated campaign? Let’s look at what channels can best support social media activity.
How to enhance social media campaigns with offline marketing?
Landing Page
Social media content can visually capture the identity and theme of your campaign but often, there is more description required to fully explain and engage your audience. Although there is space to expand your campaign via captions and descriptions, studies have found that 65% of Instagram users don't read captions.
So, creating a campaign landing page is the perfect place to direct your audience to a dedicated area of your website that gives more context to your campaign, and shares extra visual and written content related to your campaign.
Landing pages are also excellent places to help you analyze the success of your campaign, especially if your key performance indicators (KPIs) are data capture, email sign ups or, of course, landing page hits! Adding in forms, pop ups or other plugins can really help you to track the success of your campaign and enhance your campaign for engaged visitors.
Content Is King
As well as your landing page, creating other content that supports your campaign can really amplify the message.
Ok, technically this can be consumed through the screen, but hear us out. You may have heard the phrase ‘Content is King’, and it’s true. Never underestimate the power of optimized organic content. Sure, content like blogs and articles can be used within a social media content calendar (and should be!).
An effective social media calendar template will certainly include such activities.
But content within a campaign offers opportunities to be discoverable to audiences that may not be as active on social media. Conducting strong SEO research specific to your campaign can help to produce web content that is optimized.
Similarly, consider link building as a form of digital PR on the lead up to your main campaign activity to build momentum and interest. Target key press and publications with engaging content and articles.
The Return of IRL Events
The Zoom fatigue is real! Virtual meetings and events mean we’re all sick of seeing through screens. Also long as safety can be ensured, it’s time to revisit in-person events.
In-person events are a great way to engage existing customers, or even increase your brand awareness by drawing in new customers in your target area. There are so many opportunities to work with aligned brands for partnerships, goody bags or even sponsorships.
Consider also a hybrid event. There are several benefits to events that combine IRL and virtual events. Some people may still feel uneasy about attending in person events, so having a virtual element means they can partake in the fun.
Streaming events also means that location and distance needn’t be a barrier for people wanting to join in. Hybrid events also mean that events for press and influencers can also include customers and online audiences can feel involved.
Try looking into a cutting-edge event platform like RingCentral Events that gives you the best of both virtual and hybrid event experiences. You can use customizable landing pages, ticketing, gamification, networking, and other features to engage your IRL and online audience.
Make sure to highlight to guests and attendees the relevant hashtags to share when they post about the event on social!
Experiential marketing
Although similar to an event, experiential marketing, or engagement marketing, does have some differences. While experiential campaigns can involve an event, it's less related to the type of event and more to do with interactions between the brand and the customer.
Events are often bigger, one-off occasions, like the opening of a pop up shop or cocktail evening. However, smaller brand activations, like themed in-store days, a brand collaboration or a social media take-over.
Experiential marketing is a way to allow customers and audiences to connect more deeply with the brand, and a way for brands to show their personality a bit more! It can also help to humanize the brand. It is also a great way to encourage customers to immerse themselves into your brand, product or lifestyle associated with the brand.
Print isn’t dead.
Digital marketing is undeniably the focus now. But, for campaigns, product launches or special occasions, consider print. Much like the return of events, consumers are more appreciative of the physical now.
This too is related to physical marketing. This could be in-home mailers, catalogues or other physical collateral, like flyers or postcards. If you send deliveries, seeding print collateral in with orders ahead of the campaign could increase interest and excitement.
Think direct mail is outdated? Think again. As much as 94% of mail is opened, read, or filed. And for 70% of customers, mail gives a better impression of the company that sent it. It also gives your creative team a rare chance to make tangible marketing material, and get their creative juices flowing.
Top tips for planning an integrated campaign.
Although many companies and campaigns are mobile-first, there are many opportunities to bridge the gap between customers' experience of your brand on and off-line.
Planning your integrated campaign can still start with digital first, with messaging and campaign identity. Creating your digital plan can inspire areas that you can amplify it, offline.
Creative thinking
When it comes to creating the creative assets for the campaign, remember to consider all the formats you need. While social needs optimized vertical video and 4:5 stills, think about how this fits in with your offline requirements.
An easy way to achieve this is to create images both in portrait and landscape formats. This will allow it to be repurposed for different platforms or materials, rather than requiring completely separate time (and budget) for each channel.
Timing is key
Digital has the luxury of having quick turnarounds, and ability to be reactive. Print marketing and events often require much longer planning and production times.
That means you’ll likely need to start work offline ahead of digital, in order for it to be physically created, installed or posted, depending on what form of offline marketing you’re exploring. For integrated campaigns to have the biggest impact, having all your efforts live at the same time will really amplify and increase your visibility.
For example, if you’re posting about your campaign on social media, but your landing page isn’t ready yet, there is nowhere to direct customers. Similarly, if your event occurs before your product is ready, the momentum and excitement driven by the event will be lost while waiting for products to be available.
Final Thoughts
Overall, social media is still central in an integrated campaign with building momentum and connecting multi-channel activity. But after so long living through video calls and virtual events, we’re all craving some screen-free fun.
Having an offline marketing strategy that supports and helps to amplify your social media campaign can increase engagement, brand awareness and enhance overall customer experience.
Clear messaging, a stand-out campaign identity and overarching theme across on and offline marketing will mean that customers can clearly follow the story. Showcasing a relevant and unique to your brand hashtag will help customers relate all your campaign efforts to your brands. This can be shared on social and feature across all online and offline activity to group all your marketing together to create a marketing campaign with impact.
