Planning your day-to-day social media strategy is a task that probably comes quite naturally for most at this stage of the game.
However, from time to time, you might find your business planning for a special event, such as a new product launch or anniversary celebration. Along with all of the other details involved in planning such events, you’ll want to make sure your specific social media strategy for the day is set as well.
Thus, in honor of one of our biggest special events, Opening Day, here are three important things to consider when it comes to planning your social media strategy.
#Hashtags
One of the things you’ll want to nail down in the early stages of planning is a special hashtag related to your event. Hashtags are relevant on almost all of the social platforms, so picking a good one is important. Keep your hashtag short, simple and unique to your event. For example, on Opening Day, we use #BrewersOpener rather than just #OpeningDay in order to set ourselves apart from the 29 other teams in the league. You’ll also want to be sure to include this hashtag on collateral related to the event, such as advertisements, press releases, etc., so people can easily join the conversation.
New platforms
Consider whether or not there are any new social media platforms or applications that could add a new element to your strategy. For example, Snapchat is a platform we embraced last season that has proven to be a fun and unique way to engage with our fans. Similarly, Periscope is a live-streaming app that we enjoy using to give fans behind-the-scenes access to the club. Facebook Live also offers a similar capability.
Monitoring
In all of the excitement leading up to and during the event, it can be easy to forget one key element: social media monitoring. You will want to make sure you have dedicated staff members to keep track of the conversation (using your carefully selected hashtag, of course!) on social media, curate the best user-generated content and respond to your customers.
Of course, you’ll want to be sure to include pre-event promotion, cross-promotion with customers and sponsors, working with your social media influencers, and post-event recaps in your strategy as well.
Good luck and Go Brewers!
-Caitlin Moyer is director, new media, for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club.
