Everyone must’ve suffered writers block at one point in their lives. However, the type of writers block I experienced this morning had nothing to do with writing an amazing lyric or an inspiring poem, it was how to explain the process of growing a social media campaign in words. It’s hard. I couldn’t do it.

This is what you call Art.

So, with the help of a white board, a view of Liverpool for inspiration and a long break for ‘valuable thinking time’ (honest) I set to work on trying to demonstrate how we as a social media company work with clients to achieve their goals.

Firstly, we start with the user who, without doubt, is the most important part of this diagram. Understanding users and getting the messages right will make or break a campaign, and it’s the understanding that leads creatives to the second step which is catchment.

In order to attract users, you’ve got to create something which catches peoples attention enough to make them want to progress to the interaction phase. This is where creatives flourish and their inner-genius get to work. Lot’s of adverts have worked in the past, think the Budweiser Frogs, Terry Tate the Office Linebacker and even the new Nationwide adverts. This is what makes people go to a destination online where they are exposed to a brand and interact.

Interaction is key, as if you want people to tell other people about what they’ve experienced (AKA Viral to you media buffs) then they need to have an interactive experience that hit’s the spot. Regular communication and communication in a language which is familiar to the demographic is key here.

If you get to the point where users become advocates then you’re doing a bloody good job, and you’re probably one of those people that has a stylish haircut and a few tattoos. I’m joking, that’s not cool. But getting people to go and tell other people about your campaign, or to get people to go and interact with your brand in the real world and come back to post their experiences online certainly is.

So there you have it; sometimes drawing out what you’re trying to say helps you say it in a more meaningful way. And it looks better than words too .

1. Totally agree.

   A project manager I used to work with taught me that sketching out your ideas as a drawing is always a great way to start thinking, it lets you see at a glance your main ideas, where there are gaps and which areas can be expanded or reduced.

   Comment by Martin — July 26, 2010 @ 12:16 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post.