by Anthony Lopez-Rizzo
PR stunts have always been a common practice for generating media buzz for years. Social media Staging is getting a network of people to comment (good or bad depending on your goal), liking, sharing, and reposting your content. The only difference is you are controlling the initial reaction and setting the Stage of how you want your message to be received. Now Staging isn’t a magic bullet that will automatically put you in the limelight, it is a subtle process that supports your content over a medium length period of time. You have to make sure it's not apparent you are not staging, and it must have a goal date on when you should stop staging. This technique is good for those business or influencer accounts that are just starting out on the social media platform. Here are 3 basic techniques Social Media Marketers can use Staging to increase your Social Media presence.
Get a Network of 25-30 people that use the social platform of choice:
In order to Stage, you must get a controlled group of users to interact with your posts (Can be friends, family, Group pages, or acquaintances). However, you can’t just pick anyone then stage, you would Ideally want your staging network to be user accounts that your ideal audience would be. So if you are in the plush-merch business, try to have your Staging network made up of people who have an interest in Plushies or Merch. If 25-30 people is too much, try 10-15 people!
Schedule and Cycle Through your Network Interactions:
It is important to make sure your Staging isn’t apparent or you will come off as a spam account.
Staging should look like your popularity is increasing per post and is best to not use all of your network resources at once! The best practice is to use 5 of your network to interact with your post-per the first 5 posts. You will generally increase the number of participants per post up until you reach your maximum of 30. Once you have reached your maximum 30, you reset your network by going back to the first 5 users (make sure you switch up the users) and restart the process. It is important you stage important campaigns that need immediate interactions and staging should NOT be the main gimmick for obtaining interaction.
Important note: All Staging tactics must have a start date and an end date to prevent spam like behavior.
Control the initial Interaction:
Now that you have your network planned out, you control the way the target audience interacts with your posts. If your account is just starting out, start off with the like and comment. After the initial reaction, we go into reposting, saving, and creating threads over the next couple of content. This should start to create buzz from your network and set the initial opinion of the audience along with putting you in high favor of the social algorithm.
A lot of campaigns utilize Staging in numerous ways to create positive feedback or insight drama to get more clout. If staging is done right you will have a successful start to your campaign and get people talking. There is a lot more thinking and planning that goes into staging than the 3 shown but it is great to put the 3 tips of this blog. If you want to incorporate Staging into your PR or Social Media Plans, contact PitchCraft Media so we can provide you the most effective PR/Marketing Campaigns.
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