Engaging audiences with interactive campaigns

Author: Nick Watts, December 2011

People talk to people…..

I have a favourite saying “People talk to people, not brands” and as a result it is important for the people behind an organisations social media to understand their audience, know what they like and most importantly, know how to give them what they want to see.

This of course has benefits for the organisation, increasing the conversations you have with your stakeholders, giving them a sense of worth and making them feel involved. This has more benefits like long term increased donations, support and will ensure your content is disseminated as far as possible.

So let’s talk about interactive campaigns and how to get your audience involved in the discussion…

What does your audience want?A few questions you may want to ask yourself;•Where are my audience? (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ etc..)•What content do they share and engage with most? (video, audio, text, photo)•Which media type gives our messages the biggest impact?

It is worth doing your research when it comes to your audience, as understanding them will often lead to meaningful high impact campaigns.

Encouraging involvementThis is what interactive is all about, getting people who follow your cause involved! Getting them not only to join in the conversation, but act on your calls to action, share your content and spread your message.•Ask questions, encourage other people to express their opinions.•Encourage sharing “if you agree with xxx, share it on your wall / Retweet”•Give them a reason to comment, use mixed media give people a reason to comment, tell your story in many different forms.

Be prepared to chat…

We can post links, objects and feeds all day long but the whole point of social media is that it is social!

Be prepared to get comments from people and at the same time be prepared to chat to these people about your cause or campaign, answer their questions and share their excitement with them.

It is great that as we can’t always meet people in person, that people can feel like they have an affiliation with some of the people behind the brand, thanks to social networks. But for a social media campaign to be successful, you have to be prepared to have the conversations online, not just share your links.

Campaign in real time, like a person!Remember that social media is real time, therefore be prepared to react to the discussion that are going on around you.

Give your discussions a human edge, involve your followers, make them feel needed and necessary to your campaign.

Maybe you can post a video of your message, share some photos from the recording and then start a discussion around that…

By doing this you are giving people the option of content, what they want to see and allowing them to look at things in their preferred formats.

Quick tips for interactive campaigns• Make the most of real-time services like Ipadio & audioboo• Record short videos using your phone or flip cam’s as you go

about your campaign, show the world what you are doing• Take lots of photos, they are invaluable to give your campaign

the human element. Keep posts relevant and expand in a blog post.

• Nothing is irrelevant! From the cake in the office to the giant cheque from the lottery – share it and celebrate it with your followers.

• Ask questions and opinions, get everyone involved.• Go across channels with the conversation to reach the widest

possible audience (Videos on YouTube, audio on Ipadio, shared on Facebook and twitter with a question!)

• My most important point….. Be Social!

ContactIf you have any comments please contact:

Nick WattsE-mail: nickwatts@nfpvoice.com Mobile: 07538 36 44 51Twitter: @nickinoxford and @nfpvoiceSkype: nickwattsox