The One Question You Should Ask Before You Rush to Create Your Next Periscope Campaign

Snapchat and Periscope (and a lesser extent Meerkat) are the new social media darlings of the moment. All the social media marketing types are writing their endless listicles, blog posts, news articles and podcast episodes about why your company should be paying attention and jumping on them. Or else, you are going to be left behind.

They lead with how Snapchat has 100 million users, and that 1 billion Snapchat stories are viewed every day.

And, how Snapchat and Periscope are revolutionizing storytelling. 

Or, how another brand is “winning” on Periscope with a new creative campaign. 

Or even why you should start embracing vertical videos because of Snapchat.  (Just no. This is NOT okay people.) 

Or my personal favorite. Why you should be building a “Snapchat community.”
(FYI: Snapchat is a network. Just like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Snapchat can be a great tool when used appropriately for growth and brand awareness. But, that doesn’t make it a community. Not even close.) 

With every new post created by a social media marketing pro, you can practically see the FOMO grow in the eyes of the hordes of social media managers frantically reading and sharing the article. Then, diving headfirst into starting their brand’s next game-changing Snapchat campaign. And, so begins the endless cycle of copycat campaigns. 🙁

I was struggling to put my finger on why this latest craze makes me more snarky than well usual. I finally put my finger on why. It’s because this is nothing new. While the platforms are different, I’ve seen this exact phenomenon play out before. Multiple times even. If I would have to pick a tipping point, it would be all the marketers chiming in about how Twitter is the future for brands back in 2009 and 2010. The difference back then for me was that I was one of the hordes of “social media types” – with the FOMO-laced eyes- racing to check out the next campaign. And the one after that. And so forth.

The biggest thing all of these “trending articles” are missing is THE WHY. There’s always going to be a place for prediction posts and case studies. However, these articles do a massive disservice because they focus so much on the telling and do a piss poor job articulating why any of this may matter for your specific brand.

Before you rush to start the next Snapchat or live-streaming campaign, do yourself a favor and go back to the basics. START WITH WHY.  Why should we do this campaign? Why should you be on Snapchat in the first place? Don’t use generalizations, like our competitors are on it. Just because your competitor does something doesn’t mean you should. Instead hone in on WHY you are doing something. Then, focus on the WHAT. What are you hoping to gain from this new Snapchat campaign? Again, no generalizations allowed. Focus in on that one core business KPI that this campaign will contribute directly too. That’s how you build successful, sustainable social media strategies.

Start with Why is an awesome, must-watch TED talk by Simon Sinek by the way. 🙂

Successful social media strategies tie back to core business objectives that you can measure. (Yes, I know it’s hard to measure social media. But, it’s crucial).  They should NOT be driven by shiny object syndrome or FOMO.

Jessica Malnik works with B2B SaaS and professional service firms to build marketing moat that compound over time using her signature content framework. As both a strategist and executor, she helps clients develop strategic content marketing roadmaps, scale content production, and provide guidance on campaigns and individual pieces.
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