Some social campaign pointers.

This term is slowly coming to a close and one of the classes that I will never forget is my Advertising/PR workshop class. My group and I worked the entire semester on this one important project in hopes of launching a successful campaign. Yes, we are talking about the whole enchilada, including the social aspect of it all; we set up a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account. Today, I came across some tips on Mashable for people who are thinking of working with social media for their campaign and realized, social media can take any campaign in a whole new direction.

Our campaign was very successful and I feel that some of the useful tips on Mashable can be seen in the way we conducted our semester long campaign. While my Ad/PR group worked on our campaign for the New York Organ Donor Network, we definitely used our Facebook page as well as our Twitter account to promote our event as well as our cause. We used it as a communication tool and our means of feedback from our target audience. It's very important to know what the goals of the campaign are. For us, it was to create awareness for the cause and to promote our event. We wanted to keep our supporters updated and motivated throughout the campaign, leading up to our big event. As our campaign comes to an end, we must not forget about the supporters that have been there the whole way. So, we will have a reflection/follow up for our supporters! A successful social media campaign is as good as the investment of time into it.

Who doesn't love freebies?

As everything seems to be moving to the social media world, it's nice to know freebies are there too. You should definitely check out this article on Mashable if you'd like some freebies! So, just a brief overview of the options:

1) Type in #freebie or #freebies in the search box

2) Follow them freebie tweeters (check out the article on Mashable for legit tweeters)

3) Checkout TwitterFreebies.com

4) Drop into a Twitter Party

5) Follow your favorite brands

Considering how simple these options are, why not give it a shot? I have been a dedicated follower of all my favorite brands ever since I started my Twitter account, so I can check that off my list. Working my way up the list from the bottom, dropping into a Twitter Party. Wait, they have parties on Twitter? You learn something new every day! Basically, a brand or company would host these events for about 2 hours for discussion as well as coupons and giveaways. I need to drop by a Twitter party sometimes myself. I'm making my way up the list and it can be quite distracting since there are so many freebies out there! Did I just read that there is free handmade soap?! I think freebies on Twitter is a great way to promote brands as well as keep tweeters engaged and interested. We are seriously moving away from the days of coupon clippings and time and date restrictions. Freebies on Twitter lets tweeters know about the newest freebies and the best thing is, there are freebies around the clock!

Would you be friends with your parents on Facebook?

You know how parents love to friend request their kids on Facebook these days? Surpisingly, only 48% of parents friend their kids on Facebook according to a recent survey. I think the reason for this may possibly be the fact that most parents know that their kids wouldn't accept their parents' friend request. I mean, I know I wouldn't, haha. Isn't it bad enough that we have had our parents keeping tabs on us all our lives? If we add them on Facebook, we're telling them that it's acceptable for them to do so. I have reluctantly added several of my uncles and aunts on Facebook. Of course, I don't have anything to hide, but occasionally there is something that bothers me and I like to share it via Facebook status; I can get a bit carried away sometimes. We would think social media is a place where our parents can't keep tabs on us, but parents are catching up quickly! While we know that some parents try too hard by attempting to talk to us in lingo such as "yo" and "what up," there are parents that really know what it means to be just a friend on social media. Lord knows that's not my parents!

Starbucks on Facebook, can it get any better?

I'm SURE the majority of you are not like me when it comes to Starbucks , but this is great regardless! As many companies are taking their products to social media outlets, Starbucks is no different and perhaps one of the first companies to do so. Instead of going to the Starbucks website to check my card balance, I can just check it through the easy Facebook Application. As much as we like to protect our privacy, we know that the consistent changes on Facebook makes it harder than ever, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. By adding any application on Facebook, we are allowing that application access to our information, but isn't anything we put on the internet accessible to others? Even though Starbucks may be one of those applications that can access our information, we know that such a big company won't do anything to risk its image. If anyone ever catches the terms of service and actually reads it, it should say somewhere in there that our information is as secure as when we log in through the actual Starbucks website...right?