Although I have used it before, I detest the word campaign in the phrase “Social Media Campaign”.

Conversations trump campaigns and the word “campaign” has a military undertone I’m not comfortable with. The people you’re supposed to be having a conversation with are not enemies to be raped, pillaged & plundered.

Although I will continue to use the phrase, it would be nice to find a more accurate way of describing how brands initiate conversations with true fans (see also: Seth Godin’s Tribes)

Until that happens, I will continue to use the word campaign because:
1. It’s pretty much a standard phrase when social media is a part of the marketing strategy, which means that:
2. It is the most efficient way of having conversations with other people involved in the social media landscape

I realize I’m deviating from the original reason these words began to be used in this context to begin with; and that is exactly what I’m saying we might need to do.

One conclusion I’ve come to so far is that although the Sun Tzu route may work in a certain context, there’s a need to draw a line somewhere so that that hawkish mindset doesn’t carry over to the conversations brands should be having with their fans.

Otherwise, we would just be paying lip service to the social in “social media”.

I will now proceed to shut up & return to looking for a word to replace “campaign”.

Any suggestions on where to begin?

Here are a few of the posts that have given me food for thought about the “campaign” part of the phrase “social media campaigns”:
Chrome + Art of Story Telling = Google is the web communication Sun Tzu
The Myth of the Social Media Marketer
Sun Tzu and the Art of Social Computing
Marketing warfare strategies (wiki article):
Sun Tzu Marketing (the book)

If you’re up for a good read, take a look at Mashable’s HOW TO: Grow a Startup 300% in 3 Days? SocialMedian Tells All.

The title is bloated, but the article is important for at a few good reasons:

• People are the heart of any worthwhile business model (See also: Happiness as a business model)
• Listen to user feedback and actively do something about the feedback you’re getting
• Change should not be implemented lightly. Or slowly
• Forget traffic. You’re nothing without engagement
• Always build a good user interface. Always.

Here’s a quote from the interview to get you started:
“Goldberg has stated several times, “Our model at SocialMedian has been:  small, fast, and listen to users.” You have probably noticed that you do not see any advertising or many press releases plastered all over the major news sites. Essentially, SocialMedian has been built through its user base. The only “press coverage” you tend to see are reviews from various blogs, including here on Mashable.”

I’ve used the site long enough to know that

• SocialMedian actually pays attention to user feedback
• They take change seriously
• Once prioritized, changes are implemented quickly

Don’t work without a system
Although it’s easier to see the connection between creating media and art, code too is an art. Managed chaos is required so they can all work well together: each creative process should work within a framework with defined ways of going about it. A lot of it maybe uncharted territory so at the very least, clearly communicate the big picture.

Don’t set unreasonable goals
This is worse than setting no goals at all. Stretching the team too far guarantees that Monday through Friday, everyone’s simply showing up to put in their time and go home. That attitude has eerie ways of showing up in online communication and people have a second sense for these things.

Don’t implement changes lightly. Or slowly
The only thing we know about change is that it will come. We don’t know how or when, but we do know it will happen (for example, blogs are now officially “old school”). Think hard before you adopt a (small or large) change. If you do decide to accept it,  go after it like your life depends on it because while you were thinking, someone else started going for it.

Don’t get greedy
The effect of a well executed idea has a way of multiplying in significance, but it’s also the same thing with mistakes. Dream all you want, but make sure your focus is on what can be achieved in the short term (along with the lessons you’re going to be learning constantly).

Don’t assume you can “catch up” later if you get off schedule
In the same vein, don’t expect you’ll stay ahead of schedule later because you’re ahead of schedule now. In fact, you’re probably better off without a schedule altogether. You’re dealing with people and they won’t always keep to your well-organized schedule, no matter how great your intentions are.

Don’t take shortcuts or relax standards
I’m going to assume you know all about this so there’s not much to add here.

This is the 3rd, and last, post on what it takes to have successful social media campaign (you can read the 1st one here and the 2nd one here).

1. Create & follow a Social Media Campaign Plan
Obviously it is important to plan out any project before starting out. At the very least, establishing a basic idea of what you hope to achieve means it’ll be easier to keep everyone involved on the same page.

(In a similar vein, don’t overdo the planning or it’ll end up hurting more than helping. Be like water.)

2. Empower campaign personnel
Who manages your communication channels? What tools do they need? Do they work in an environment that actually helps them work better? Thankfully, the tools needed to run social media campaigns are well priced (read: virtually free) and you don’t have to break the bank to get a top notch toolkit.

3. Minimize red tape
Bureaucracy slows things down, which is always ugly. Always. If you’re starting from the top, a successful social media campaigns will require contributions from a wide variety of people (design, writers, customer service, marketing, PR and a host of other little pieces. Please think carefully before you clog the channels of communication with unnecessary (and pesky) obstacles.

4. Establish baselines & manage changes to it
“Social media campaign” is just a fancy term that basically amounts to allowing people to communicate with others online. Because the keyword in that sentence is people, there are certain goals you cannot establish as requirements because people can (and will) make up their minds for themselves. Social media isn’t a magical pill that will change minds in 2 days, 6 months or even 5 years. Nothing in real life does (except maybe fear, but that’s another story).

5. Take periodic snapshots of the campaign’s progress. Replan if necessary
Things happen: a new tool comes out you can’t get into (just yet),  the “competition” comes up with a better feature, etc… In other words, real life happens and you’re better off learning from what did or didn’t work right now. Make sure you don’t go overboard on this one. Points #3 & #4 are your guiding principles on this one.

6. Re-estimate size, effort & schedules periodically
Yes, this is related to taking campaign snapshots (#5 above) and although they are similar on the surface, reestimating or replanning without first finding out why you need to do so waters down the effectiveness of your great re-organizational effort.

7. Foster Team Spirit
Content is king only when people enjoy it so pay attention to how happy the team creating the content is. Google provides world class food, 37signals give their employees credit cards and others use the time tested “Thank you” to keep the team spirit alive. Regardless of how you choose to do it, just make sure you are doing it.

This is the 2nd of 3 posts on the general framework of a social media campaign. Read the first one here and come back next week for the last post. Better yet, subscribe to our RSS feed and get posts automatically delivered to your RSS reader.

The next two posts are going to outline what it takes IMO to get a successful social media campaign started so that it can keep going on its own.

The list is based on three pieces of literature and I’d like to tell you a little bit about so we can establish some context:

The first is the article from Alternet, The Growth of Talking Points Memo: A Case Study in Independent Media, which has gone from teeny-weeny personal blog to independent media empire (which is what every well run blog really is). The article is an in depth case study of how technology & journalism can work well together. We can dabble about the semantics of “journalism” later.

The second is a list of Dos & Don’ts for building software productively from NASA’s Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL). I first came across the list in Steve McConnell’s Software Project Survival Guide, which has an excellent summary of the whole list. The next two posts were inspired by, and lean heavily on this list.

In short, the SEL list lays out the foundation for building sound software. And it works well: it increased the quality of their software 10 to 20 times at the same time it allowed SEL teams maintain comparable productivity levels.

Not only is software one half of the social media landscape, it is also the platform where online relationships are built on. It’s not too difficult to see how faulty software can affect the quality of the relationships (think Facebook vs. Myspace).

The third is Seth Godin’s best book yet, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. It’s hard to describe & communicate the potential of the Internet + people & the good ideas they keep coming up with. At it it’s most basic, this is what social media does and Godin puts it all into perspective in this book.

The main ideas in the book that have to do with the following posts are:

• Movements: the only way viable way to turn customers into fans is to start a movement. The fire of revolution dies, people get tired of causes, but movements are a head thing and it’s hard to throw those away. Just ask any Obama fan (better yet, ask a Bush fan and if you are that Bush fan, please let me know).
• Platforms: Movements need a platform, a place to call home. TPM, Google and Apple (to some extent) are places like that. These days, the Internet has the platform part covered so virtually anyone can start their own movement or ind one that fits into the context of their lives.

Admittedly, not much of it is new: the same people that are online are the same people you run into at the coffee shop or at home so the basic rules still apply. The Internet is just another context for these relationships.

Click on the numbers to read the 2nd & 3rd post in the series.