The idea of being successful with real-time marketing on social media can seem daunting. Most marketers understand its value but I don’t often come across brands who are really nailing it. We all remember the Oscar selfie, seen by 33 million people the day after the ceremony, and estimated to be worth between 800 million and one billion dollars - it’s a rare example of real-time success.

Building an effective and innovative RTM campaign might seem tricky at first glance. Usually, it’s all about concocting a masterful blend of creativity, impeccable timing, and relevance for your brand. So how can you get this right? And how can you make it work for you without relying on luck? Here are five simple steps for real-time success:

1. Identify opportunities early

It might sound like an obvious place to start, but efficient preparation is the foundation of real-time success. Begin by creating a calendar of upcoming events, accounting for content that can’t be planned as well as content that can. This will allow you to actively seek out opportunities for real-time engagement, and allow your team to be armed with ideas ready to adapt in the moment.

2. Anticipate resources

Real-time marketing demands the ability to move quickly, and to shift resources just as fast. Define your goals, and have the right team members in place to achieve them. Efficiency is key in the moment. Speed up content creation by using templates, empower your team to make the necessary decisions quickly.

3. Listen to customers

Real-time resources need to enable your teams to identify opportunities to connect with your fans. Listening tools that can help you drill down into the audiences that are talking about different topics are a good starting point.

4. Be quick and careful

Doing things fast does not mean doing them without goals in mind. Real time execution requires generating a lot of ideas quickly, and pruning them just as fast. The ability to clearly articulate what the finished product will look like, what its appeal is for your specific audience and how it will help you reach your goals is important.

Some brands choose to set up ‘war rooms’ - a dedicated space for a team to implement their real-time strategy. This might sound ambitious, but a physical space can breed the necessary focus for producing content in real-time.

An approval structure is also a must-have for real- time success. Appoint a team member to own final sign offs on any content. Once something is ready to go, wait, even if it’s just a few seconds, and take a final look before distributing, to make sure it’s on brand and up to your standards.

5. Measure success

Successful real-time marketing makes an immediate impact. There’s value in shares and impressions, as well as in involving your brand in more social conversations. Each real-time campaign, whether it’s for a short event like a sports match, or something spread over a few days, like a conference, should be followed by a thorough debrief to understand results and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Stringent planning, the right game-plan and striving for improvement should be the building blocks of any real-time campaign. If you can arm yourself with the best team and the right insights, you can avoid the mistakes of other brands and be one of the few that are raising the bar in real-time engagement.

By, Ulrik Bo Larsen, CEO of Falcon Social

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