4 Steps to Setting Up an Employer Brand Campaign on Social

With the introduction of algorithmic timelines and more content on our screens than ever, opting for paid media is one route that your brand could be taking in order to reach a larger audience. Here at Link Humans, we follow a 4-step action plan when we’re beginning any new campaign. This helps us develop each campaign with thought and accuracy – and we’re going to share with you the stages we follow now.

STEP ONE: Research and plan

This is the stage where you really unearth the USP of the brand. It’s important to really jump in the deep end and get to know them inside-out. What sets this brand apart from its competitors? What are the brand values and their tone of voice? This is the part of the campaign where you absorb as much information as you can about the brand in question.

What’s the story?

The aim of any content on social should be to tell your brand’s story. Sharing your story will spark emotions in your audience, leaving them feeling inspired, interested, or challenged. In my opinion, making people feel something, no matter what that emotion may be, is the key to your brand’s success. No amount of bland, branded content will get you noticed on social. But content that sparks something in your audience will grab their attention and get them talking.

In this first stage of the campaign, you should be homing in on your brand and thinking about the values and visions behind it.

Questions that can help stage one:

• What’s the value and vision behind the brand?
• What sets them apart from competitors?
• What are some successes that have come from the business?
• Who are our competitors?
• What are our competitors doing?
• How can we blow our competition out of the water?

Where is the audience?

If you’re looking to target 60-65 years olds, then setting up an advertising campaign on Snapchat probably isn’t the smartest thing to do. That’s why it’s important to recognize the audience – this information is an integral part of the campaign. Once you know the demographic you are targeting, you can work out which platform they’ll most likely be on, and equally, which platforms they definitely won’t be on.

STEP TWO: Creative production

Stage two is the part of the project where you have to get your hands dirty and sculpt a campaign.

Stage two is all about turning research into results – so you should be taking on everything you learned in the first stage of this process, and using this to push forward. Your creative team should be able to tell the story and put it into writing, graphics, video, or whatever medium your ads will be displayed in.

Stage two is fun – it’s an opportunity to get your creative juices flowing and experiment with text, graphics, and video.

If you’re a small business, this may be the phase where you get an agency or freelancer to help you create what you’re envisioning. Work closely with them to ensure you get the results you want.

However, editing of adverts should not stop here. Editing creatives, text, and video footage should be a priority for you throughout your campaign. A strong belief we have at Link Humans is that the tweaking of an advert should never stop. Make sure you have the right people on-hand throughout your campaign to help you adjust and improve your adverts from the outset of the campaign.

With Google AdWords, you’re targeting what people are searching…but on social, you’re targeting who they are as a person

Target like crazy

This is also when you should be working out the specific targeting options that will work for your campaign. What’s fantastic about social advertising is the targeting options. For instance, with Google AdWords, you’re targeting what people are searching for…but on social, you’re targeting who they are as a person – their hobbies, their likes and dislikes, and even their marital status.

STEP THREE: Testing

Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.
—David Ogilvy

Testing a campaign is where many advertisers fall. It can be the difference between a successful campaign and a failure. When facing a campaign, many of us think we know exactly what will appeal to the target audience – but the truth is, sometimes results can be surprising. Be prepared to A/B test a whole load of options before you pump a large amount of budget into a campaign that you can’t be sure will work.

Small budget beginnings

The absolutely lovely thing about Facebook advertising is that often, you can get really super results with a very modest budget. Putting some money into testing may seem like a waste of money, but long-term, it’s going to save you splurging on an advert that doesn’t provide any results.

There are a number of things you should be testing in this initial stage of the campaign. First off, it’s the creatives. You’ll want a number of different images and copy styles to test in combination with each other. I often find this part of the process most surprising – as some things I think will do well, never get any results, and vice-versa. This way, you can work out which images, videos or copy will be giving you the most results.

Measure your results

The testing phase is also about testing ways in which you’re going to measure the results you achieve through social advertising. Sometimes it can be as simple as taking data from the Ad Managers that are within reach of the social platforms. But sometimes, it’s necessary to put in a little more work in this initial stage so that you can measure the results a little more.

Ways to measure results from advertising:

• Pixel tracking
• Tracked URLs
• Native insights and reporting tools

Once you’ve tested out various parts of your advertising campaign, it’s then important to analyze the data that you collected. What worked and what didn’t? What demographic group responded to the advert best? Which country or location clicked through on the advert most? Once you’ve had a look at the information, you’ll be able to further edit your advert in-line with your marketing goals.

STEP FOUR: Action!

Stage four is the part of the campaign where you sit back and watch your hard work yield results…JOKE! Work never stops with advertising campaigns, and you should be working as hard as ever to ensure your campaign is getting the results you want.

Ongoing monitoring and adjustment of ads should be of prime importance. However useful the testing phase may be, you’re going to learn new things about the campaign as it’s happening. Be prepared to make quick changes from the results you’re getting in real-time. This will mean your adverts will stay relevant.

Another important thing that you should be considering during your campaign is the general landscape of social at the time of your campaign. Monitoring trends can be the cherry on top of an already great campaign. If there’s a trending topic that’s relevant, why not jump on the hashtag or target users talking about it? Do be careful with this, however, as sometimes a poorly timed advert can have a negative effect on your advert, such as the tweet below.

Poorly timed advert or advert placed due to surrounding content? Either way.. not good. pic.twitter.com/iXoQo5Sa3b

— Andy (@andyiuk) June 12, 2016

Social advertising is a useful tool for brands who want their content to gain a wider audience. Large platforms like Facebook & Instagram are pushing paid media for brands and businesses by reducing organic reach. Yes, it’s annoying, but it means brands are having to step up their game, using social ads. Do you use a particular plan when setting up your campaigns? We’d love to know – tweet us @LinkHumans and tell us!