This is the easiest part to of a consolidated social media brand messaging campaign, but it’s also one that is not well understood and rarely implemented properly. The standard practice is to have a message, send it out on Twitter and Facebook, and move on to the next piece of news. It’s a futile effort.
What’s better is to layer it. Depending on the timing of the posts and necessity of speed with the news itself, one should plan it out to hit the rest of the world over time and across as many channels as possible. The example in the link above has these assets with which to work:
- Hub story that covers everything but goes into detail about none of it, leaving links to this story and five others on different sites that go into more detail
- Six supporting articles on different sites that break down an individual component of the overall message
- Access to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other social media channels
Now that we know the components, it’s time to layer them out.
Because the hub story links to all of the other stories, they have to be published at once. This can cause logistical challenges but with experience it becomes much easier. Just because they’re published at once doesn’t mean they have to be promoted at once.
Start with the hub. Get it out on the usual suspects – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. If it’s visual in nature, put it out on Flickr, Pinterest, and even YouTube if you can make a supporting video.
If it’s newsworthy, get it on Digg and Reddit. If not, skip those; anything that is not of general interest could do more harm than good if posted on these sites. Regardless of the topic, get it out on StumbleUpon.
Once the hub story is out, support it with retweets, Facebook likes, and anything else you can muster. This is the “big launch” of the content so there’s no need to hold back. Be attentive, respond to comments on the networks and on the blog post itself, then get ready for the next one.
Once the attention dies down on the original post, start repeating the process one at a time (if there’s no deadline on the news itself) over an extended period of time. Don’t rush it unless you have to. Every new batch of exposure to the spoke stories will help to rejuvenate traffic and interest in the hub story.
The layers of your cake can be very delicious if you follow these steps.
