Social Outreach: What Is It and Why You Should Be Doing It
Anyone with an account on a social network has been there. A casual surf through your feed, checking in with friends, dishing out Favourites and Likes as needed. As you scroll you notice posts from accounts that you aren’t familiar with. A number of these go by, but every once in a while one hits its mark, grabs your attention, and demands a click to check out the story.
These are targeted adverts, created to spark traffic from a specific audience to a specific piece of content. We call it Social Outreach.
Now more than ever specialisation is key. New content arrives online in an endless torrent. It’s a wonderful outpouring but it poses a problem when trying to draw an audience for a specific piece of content. How do you get seen in this hectic and shifting landscape? Social Outreach can help by placing an ad for your content in the feeds of social media users, targeting only those who are interested in the topic of your content.
Now more than ever specialisation is key.
For example, say you are working for a company that builds bicycles and you’re looking to promote a new range of mountain bikes. Try targeting social media users who express an interest in cycling and fitness, or have been known to mention topics relating to outdoor pursuits in their updates. You could even get right down into mentions of ‘helmets’, ‘punctures’, ‘downhill’, ‘ATB’, ‘derailleur’, ‘schrader’ – terms that only dedicated cyclists are going to be mentioning. The more specific you can be the less time and money will be wasted placing your content in front of people unlikely to click.
Social outreach requires a nuanced approach to reap the biggest rewards. The most important variables to consider when crafting a successful campaign are all creative ones. First and foremost is the quality of the content you are promoting. Content that taps into the interest of the audience and provides a mix of storytelling, topical subject matter and engaging visuals is more likely to be read, shared and spread organically to a wider audience. This organic momentum, when the story takes on a life of its own, is the ideal outcome for your social campaign.
This organic momentum, when the story takes on a life of its own, is the ideal outcome for your social campaign.
Next to consider are the posts themselves. Both Facebook and Twitter advertising allow you to create variations of your post. This is an opportunity to be adventurous. Try a range of images and text configurations to see which resonates best with your audience. You might create two serious, corporate posts with professional images and direct wording, but mix it up on the next two will some pop culture references and a well-known meme. Inside tip: images of cats and Bill Murray never fail. Create the post that you would want to click on.
The three pillars of Social Outreach, then: killer content, engaging social media posts and a specialised audience. When these three elements align Social Outreach can be one of the most exciting and effective ways to get your content out there.
