Google is putting out its Wildfire. The seemingly harmonious relationship between the search engine giant and the social software platform is has come to an end after a partnership that lasted about 20 months.
As a part of Google, Wildfire’s aim was to help businesses improve their social media marketing efforts. Google’s interest and investment in Wildfire legitimized social media marketing in the eyes of many observers.
Well, as the NFL has taught us, something being dropped is just as newsworthy as it being picked up. So what does Google dumping Wildfire mean for social media marketing? Is it dead? Has it devolved into simply throwing money at social networks for ads?
I don’t think so. Google has its reasons for its loss of interest in Wildfire, but it should not signal marketers that content marketing campaigns are useless. In my opinion, ads are no good without a solid content basis behind them. That said, creative and integrated campaigns that drive consumers to social channels and encourage them to interact with brands are tough to pull off without some serious strategy behind them.
There are a few concepts and platforms that can help build integrated campaigns, and here are five of them:
1. Use apps.
There are lots of platforms out there besides Wildfire. They may not have Google’s backing, but they work for designing, creating and managing social campaigns with specific goals. For example, you can use a hashtag to encourage user-generated content or run a Pinterest contest that drives traffic to your website. Apps help marketers set and reach goals, and many offer valuable data to evaluate and use as a basis for future campaigns. Offerpop is a great alternative, as its products run from the very specific (Hashtag Gallery) to the broad (referral campaign). Chose a platform that offers great customer service, aggregation tools, and data options.
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