Social media platforms are demanding. Just as plants need watering, dogs need walking and cats need brushing, social media require endless maintenance.

That relentless pace has brought the tools of brainstorming back into vogue. But brainstorms are demanding too.

Telling staff that you are planning a brainstorm around social media may not get hearts pounding or creative juices flowing. Mentioning Wikipedia commemorative days may rouse mild curiosity but you may need to lay on coffee and croissants to drive attendance.

Brainstorms fill some people with dread, imagining sheet after A1 flip-chart sheet of unedited, free-flowing impractical ramblings. In truth, fruitful brainstorms are those where ideas can be presented without fear of censure.

The best brainstorms are stage managed and grounded in rigorously curated examples of best practice. Wikipedia’s commemorative days lend themselves to fruitful storms.

Stage one

You might start slowly by asking for ideas for Instagram or Twitter. It's likely people will have seen some examples that caught their eyes—most will also have ideas that they’d like to have heard, so this step can be productive. Sometimes others will welcome the chance to vent concerns about existing content.

Stage two

After the ideas dry up, you mention commemorative days. 

The commemorative days are listed on Wikipedia by month and are a mixture of serious events and oddities. For example, in January we will have World Laughter Day, National Science Fiction Day and Hugging Day. On Geek Day, for another example, people will be typing #geekday into Instagram and Twitter and this gives your brand a chance to be seen.

Restart the brainstorm by showing one month’s days, not necessarily the current month. (You can also do this as an online brainstorm with one person sharing their screen and moderating.)

That’s stage two, and it should be clear to people quite quickly that tweets and Instas can be easily generated. Many of the days will have a clear connection with your brand.

Stage three 

Call out a few unpromising days and let people consider them.

At this point you need examples you’ve prepared earlier. Take an unpromising day and show how unrelated brands have used it. For the brainstorm you may even invent one.

A good real life example is Soil Day, perhaps used by an air conditioning company to add earthy, natural values to their brand. A bug control company added production values to their Insta feed by retweeting about Soil Day. They were able to add Insta-friendly visuals while showing their green credentials. A coffee company used ground coffee in a visual pun with soil.

Keep the examples that you show relevant to your company, aspirational and attractive. Include some humorous ideas. The examples will build the idea that core and peripheral brand values can be incorporated. Begin with sensible examples and move to surprising examples where aspirational brands have showed a naughty or playful side. You want participants to go from “I suppose I should” to “I want what they’ve got”.

Stage four

... is optional—the moderator can decide whether or not to include this stage based on their reading of the energy in the group and the quality of ideas. It is an editing stage, where people are invited to have a ‘black hat’ moment where they raise concerns about ideas. This is immediately followed by a ‘green hat’ phase where solutions can be proposed. Keep this final session short, and if you had fun get the pastries out and reconvene in a month’s time. 

The experts at ALHAUS have years of experience in social and can assist you in planning a successful content strategy. Contact us today to find out how we can drive impressive results for your brand.  

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