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3 Distinct Personalities for Successful Social Media Campaigns

3 Distinct Personalities for Successful Social Media Campaigns

By Amy StarkApr 12 /2011


As examined in Social Media the Big Picture, the activities involved with a well-run social media campaign fall into 3 main categories: automated posting, critical thinking and showing your humanity - the social part of social media.

Social Media Big PictureAutomated Activities

 -- Broadcast messages, special offerings, announcing new blogs, coupons, event announcements, etc…

Critical Thinking

--Taking in large amounts of data and deciding what is worthy of attention, stakeholder communication, competitive review, customer service, etc...

Showing Your Humanity

–Humor, empathy, style, imperfection, and personality.

I started graphically doodling with the social media big picture and a great visual emerged to help illustrate how to define the personality of your social media campaign.

Social Media - Diamond instead of Pie ShapeThe automated and critical thinking activities require little personality, if any. The personality of your campaign comes from the humanity piece of the social media pie chart.

Instead of a pie shape I inserted a diamond, because social media campaigns that shine, those that stand above the crowd, those which can be heard above the Internet noise, will catch the most attention.  Think of it like using a mirror to signal to someone standing on the opposite side of the Grand Canyon. Your campaign needs to sparkle like a diamond for it to be noticed.

As I continued to graphically doodle I took away the “Big Picture” portion of the image so that I could focus on that bit that sticks out. That tiara shaped piece that helps your social media campaign attract more attention.Social Media Stand Out

You can stand out simply by producing consistently good content, acting ethically and adhering to the social media principles of: transparency, honesty, accountability, reciprocity and gratuity.


Social Media Shine Brilliantly


Or you can add a little extra sparkle to your social media campaign by allowing the campaign’s personality to shine through, this will generate more shafts of light to catch the eye of passers-by. This little bit of extra shine attracts more attention from the social media influencers, too. When you catch their eye it can give your campaign a real boost if they pass it on to others.Razzle Dazzle


Or you can pimp your campaign much like the cars are made over in the MTV show “Pimp My Ride”. This is where you attract the most attention, but it is not suited to everyone’s temperament. It garners more attention but it’s riskier and some may even dislike the campaign thinking it to be garish. The amount of razzle dazzle must be defined. 

These are progressive personality types and the Big Picture Pie Chart needs to be complete before selecting one of these tiaras. As a Social Media Community Manager it's my job to clearly understand the client's personality and make certain it shines through.