Plan a promotional campaign

A campaign is a story told across several platforms over a period of time. Instead of writing posts one by one, you decide what the campaign is saying, and each post becomes one beat of it. This guide is for anyone in Convia Pro planning a launch, an event, an episode release or a push behind one idea. A campaign does not need an episode: it can draw on your whole library, or start from nothing but what you want to say.

Before you start

• At least one social channel is connected. The campaign builder asks you to connect one if the workspace has none. See Connect social accounts.
• Your Brand Brain is set up, because the plan and the posts are written in your voice. See Brand Brain.
• Magic Campaign is on your plan, if you want Convia to plan and write the campaign. Picking content yourself works without it. If it is not included, Convia explains what it does and how to add it. See Plans and billing.
• Optional: your posting times under Settings → Publishing. Campaign posts use the times you set there.

Stage 1: Choose the campaign type

The type shapes how the story is paced. Pick the one that matches why you are posting.

The setup step shows these suggestions under What does this mean for your campaign? You can change the dates and frequency for any type. A campaign started from a trend alert takes its length from how urgent the trend is. See Campaigns.

Stage 2: Choose where to start

Where you start decides what the campaign is built from.

• From an episode: open the episode's Social Content page and click Magic Campaign. The dates default to two days before the episode's release through three days after. Move the start date earlier to get more lead-up teasers.
• From scratch, your library or a theme: open Campaigns from the top of the launcher and click New Campaign.
• From an idea or a trend: Act on Idea → Campaign on an idea, or Create Campaign on a trend alert, opens the campaign builder already filled in from it. See Write about what's trending.

Stage 3: Set up the campaign

In the campaign builder, fill in the setup step:

1. Give the campaign a name, and choose its type under What kind of campaign?
2. Under What are you trying to accomplish?, say what the campaign is for in your own words. Convia uses this to ground the story.
3. Under How do you want to build it?, choose Build the story for me (the default) or I will pick the content myself.
4. Use Campaign Brief to describe the main idea the campaign reinforces.
5. Pick the platforms and dates, and a Posting Frequency: Daily, 3x per week, 2x per week, Weekly or Bi-weekly. Picking a type fills in its suggested frequency and, once you set a start date, an end date that matches its suggested duration. In Magic Campaign, the frequency applies to each platform and starts at 3x per week.
6. Optionally link an episode under Linked Episode (Optional).

Dates are required to build a story, because the plan is laid out across the campaign window. Picking content yourself does not need dates.

In Magic Campaign, the Campaign Brief works as instructions for every post: a call to action, a link or a phrase to include. Its chips insert the episode's video or podcast link, where the episode has one.

Stage 4: Build and refine the story

With Build the story for me, Convia lays out an arc split by platform, where each beat says what it needs and when. Every beat is checked against what you already have: a beat that names a clip, post or article is covered, and a flagged beat is something you still need to make.

Planning and re-planning are free, so shape the plan before you spend anything:

1. Pin the beats you like. Pinned beats come back word for word when you re-plan, with anything attached to them.
2. Type what you want changed in the box at the bottom, in plain language, for example "Too LinkedIn-heavy. More contrarian, less teaching."
3. Re-plan, and repeat until the arc reads right.

Once you pin something, the plan is saved as you go, so closing the tab does not lose it. It stays out of your campaigns list until you launch or save it.

In Magic Campaign from an episode, the same idea applies: Create Plan (free) shows the planned arc, and you review it before anything is written.

Stage 5: Fill the gaps

A flagged beat is a to-do item, not an error. In a new workspace with no content, every beat may be flagged, and the arc still tells you what to make and in what order. For each flagged beat:

• Make the clip, post or article it asks for, then re-plan so the beat picks it up.
• In Magic Campaign's plan review, search the episode's clips for one that fits.
• Or leave it: when posts are written, a beat with nothing to carry it becomes a held post with a brief for the asset it needs.

Stage 6: Generate the posts, or save the plan

• Generate posts on the last step writes the posts for the credits shown. Above the button, Convia says how many posts it will write, across how many platforms, and how many are waiting on an asset. The posts go to the approval queue for review.
• Save plan only keeps the arc on the campaign with no posts and no charge. The campaign waits as a draft, and its page offers Generate posts when you are ready, which is also how you retry a failed generation.
• In Magic Campaign, Generate Campaign writes the posts. Then Launch Campaign sends every post for approval, or Save as Draft keeps them as drafts.

A post still waiting on its visual shows Held · needs asset in the campaign's post list. See Magic Campaign and Campaigns.

Stage 7: Review, approve and adjust

1. Click Approvals at the bottom of the sidebar to open the Approval Queue, then Approve or Return each post. To raise a concern instead, open the post and choose Flag / Report problem under More actions. An approved post with a scheduled date moves to Scheduled.
2. On the campaign's page, Campaign Posts lists every post with its status, and the Calendar below shows them by date. Drag a post to reschedule it.
3. Open full calendar opens the main Calendar in focus mode for this campaign, with tools to shift or spread its posts.

Convia will not schedule a post for a time that has already passed. If a campaign's Shift would push any post into the past, nothing moves. See Approval and review and Calendar and scheduling.

Stage 8: Measure the campaign

After posts go out, Analytics → By Campaign rolls up performance per campaign across platforms. With website analytics connected, the campaign page also shows a Website row with the visits the campaign sent. See Analytics and Bring people to your website.

What a good result looks like

• The campaign has one clear message, and every beat is a different angle on it.
• Each platform gets posts written for it, at a frequency you can sustain.
• No held posts are left without an asset by the time they are due.
• Every post is approved or scheduled before the campaign starts.

Common pitfalls

• A window that has already started. An older episode's default dates can fall in the past. Magic Campaign refuses a start in the past and offers Start tomorrow instead, which keeps the window's length.
• No dates when building a story. The story cannot be laid out without them.
• Generating before the plan is right. Planning is free and generating is not, so re-plan first.
• Putting per-platform text in a Magic Campaign's Campaign Brief. The brief applies to every platform's posts.
• Too many platforms for the content you have. More platforms means more beats to fill and more held posts.

Related

• Campaigns: the campaign page, its calendar and managing posts.
• Magic Campaign: planning and generating a campaign from an episode.
• Approval and review: how the approval queue works.
• Get the most from a new episode: a campaign as part of an episode launch.