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February 26 — Campaign objectives, platform strategy, and content calendars

Week 6 · Thursday · Recording · Slides

Overview

Today bridges the gap between audience research and creative production. You’ve built personas and research dossiers. Now: what are you actually going to do with that information? This class introduces the framework you’ll use for the campaign strategy assignment (due Thu, Mar 5).

1. Bridge from Tuesday’s personas session

Tuesday was the personas working session — you built 2–3 personas for your final project. Today shifts from who your audience is to what you’re going to do to reach them.

The sequence so far: Research dossier → Personas → Campaign strategy → Production.

2. What a campaign strategy document is (and isn’t)

A campaign strategy is the bridge between your research and your creative output. It answers: given everything you learned in the dossier and personas, what are you actually going to do?

• It’s 1–2 pages, not a sprawling report. Tight and specific.
• It uses this framework: Goal → Strategies → Tactics → KPIs → CTAs
• It forces decisions before production starts — which platforms, which audiences, what goals, how you’ll measure success.

3. Setting a campaign goal

One sentence. One goal. A campaign that tries to do everything accomplishes nothing.

A goal names four things: the audience, the outcome, a number, and a timeframe.

Weak goal:

Grow our Instagram following.

Strong goal:

Increase awareness of Grounds for Change among MSU graduate students (ages 22–30) in Montclair, driving 40 new in-store visits from that segment by April 30.

The strong version names the audience, specifies the outcome (visits, not followers), includes a number, and sets a timeframe.

Connection to personas: Your persona tells you who. Your goal tells you what you want them to do.

4. Strategies vs. tactics

This is the distinction most students struggle with. Spend time on this.

• Strategies = why and where. Broad directional approaches. 2–4 per campaign.
• Tactics = what and when. Specific actions that execute each strategy.

Example strategies:

Strategy 1: Build visibility on platforms where the target audience discovers new local places (Instagram, TikTok).

Strategy 2: Create content that communicates our work-friendliness and coffee quality — the two things our audience cares about most.

Strategy 3: Partner with MSU-adjacent accounts to reach students who aren’t already following us.

Example tactics (mapped to strategies above):

• Post 4x/week on Instagram: Tuesdays and Thursdays, Saturday community post, one behind-the-scenes post per week
• Produce 2 TikToks per month: one educational and one showing the work environment
• Run one 2-week paid Instagram promotion targeting Montclair + MSU zip codes, 22–30 demographic

Common mistake: Writing tactics and calling them strategies. “Post on Instagram three times a week” is a tactic. The strategy is why you’re on Instagram, what you’re communicating, and to whom.

5. Platform strategy — picking where to show up

You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be where your persona actually spends time.

Key questions for choosing platforms:

• Where does your target audience discover new things?
• What content format fits your organization’s strengths?
• Can you realistically maintain a presence there?

Platform behavior matters. A content calendar that posts the same thing to Instagram and TikTok on the same day isn’t a strategy — it’s copy-paste. Each platform has different native formats, rhythms, and audience expectations.

What works where (2026)

• Instagram: visual brand identity, carousels for education, Reels for reach, Stories for engagement
• TikTok: discovery, behind-the-scenes, personality, trend-riding
• Twitter/X: concise takes, news hooks, conversation
• LinkedIn: professional positioning, thought leadership
• Email: owned audience, direct CTAs, highest conversion

6. KPIs — how you’ll know if it worked

KPIs = specific numbers tied to your goal. Not vibes. Numbers.

Rules:

• 3–5 KPIs max. More than that and you stop tracking all of them.
• You need a baseline. If you don’t know where you’re starting, you can’t measure progress.
• Pick things you can actually measure. “Increase brand awareness” is not a KPI unless you define how you’re measuring awareness.

7. CTAs — what you’re asking people to do

Every piece of content needs a call to action. Define them upfront so they’re consistent across the campaign.

Three levels:

• Primary CTA: the main thing you want (visit, buy, sign up)
• Secondary CTA: builds community or generates content (tag us, share your experience)
• Engagement CTA: drives algorithm and conversation (reply, poll, question)

Your CTAs should come directly from your goal. If your goal is in-store visits, your primary CTA is “come in,” not “follow us.”

8. Content calendars

A content calendar turns your strategy into a schedule. It answers: what are you posting, where, and when?

Sample two-week calendar:

Key points:

• Each post should map to a strategy and include a CTA
• Mix content types — don’t post the same format every day
• Be realistic about frequency. Three posts a week you’ll actually do beats daily posts you’ll abandon by week two.
• The assignment asks for a two-week sample — enough to show you’ve thought about posting rhythm and platform mix

Assignment reminder

Campaign strategy due: Thursday, March 5 (75 pts)

Use the Goal → Strategies → Tactics → KPIs → CTAs framework. Include a two-week content calendar. Add it to your Google Drive folder — same link as the research dossier.

See the campaign strategy deliverable page for the full breakdown with examples and common mistakes.