Long Term vs. Right Now

I’m gonna attempt to convey my thoughts here as direct and simple as possible. Sometimes I’m not even sure what I’m saying, but somehow it makes complete sense in my head. I don’t know, you tell me. I’ve been spending a lot of time with other social media minded marketers lately and it seems that everyone is classified to an extreme. The first extremist is great at coming up with ideas to provide long living social media solutions, while the other extremist is wonderful at conjuring up short, dirty, quick solves for getting yourself out there. The extremists tend to not agree with each other, ever.

So where do you want to be? I’m assuming most would want to side with the long term solution, hoping to provide solves that will outlast all trials and tribulations and have whatever is being marketed prevail over everything else, knocking down the baby campaigns that may only run for days at a time. Here we have the argument of Long Term versus Right Now social media campaigns.

I personally feel that there shouldn’t be an argument. Realistically, everything comes down to the client and the budget. Not all clients have the cash to front for the totally amazing social application and integrated digital experience your agency wants to build for them. Not all clients (even the ones with all the money) have the balls to take on a venture like this without you making up some almost-believable assumptions that you’re not positive you can pull off. So what do you do now?

Obviously you know who you’re trying to make this work for, so do some research. Determine what’s going on with your client and their competitors in social media currently. Find out information like who’s talking about them, where are they being talked about, and the big topic at hand. Ask yourself what you wish to accomplish and compare that to what is realistic. Once you get a sense of current happenings, client expectations and general information you can begin to formulate a strategy.

I guess it can be argued that both ‘long term’ and ‘right now’ solutions can directly effect one another. This is true to an extent and essentially means that all social media marketing can have a forever effect on a brand. But to defend short term campaigns everywhere, the world of social media is ever evolving. The fact that I used to have a Friendster account is proof. So if people will eventually migrate from one network to another and so on and so forth, does this mean that there is no such thing as long term strategy? Something to think about.

*Just to be clear, in this instance, I’m speaking of social media marketing in terms of being used an actual promotional tactic and not a communication tool. Why? Because answering questions and interacting with the people should never, ever have ulterior motives. Let me know if you’re confused.*

The most important thing in every social media campaign

Its not as apparent as it should be to most people trying to come up with a social media strategy, so I’ve taken it upon myself to just come right out and say it. The most important thing in every social media campaign is:

FUN.

Yes, that’s right. Whether its building an app, running a contest or writing a tweet, it’s all about a good time. Sure, I guess everyone has got their own opinion of a good time, but the reason why things like “Elf-Yourself” and Rainn Wilson do so freaggin well in social media is because they’re fun. Think outside the box and try to stop taking yourself so seriously. Social media is all about making the party bigger.

Self portrait conjured up over at Madmenyourself.com