David BerkowitzMarketers don’t need to reinvent the wheel and forget everything they learned in business school – or in the trenches – when planning a social media campaign. Having reviewed hundreds of social media campaigns (and planned my fair share), here are four essential elements that great campaigns have in common:

1) It achieves results. This is intentionally vague. Results can be anything from garnering buzz (quantified in some way), driving site traffic, getting people to sign up for an event, attracting a number of friends or followers (as is the case with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or countless other networks), or impacting an offline action. Benchmarking can be difficult, especially if this is your first time running such a campaign. If you’re working with an agency, they may have some rough idea based on other work they’ve done, but that’s not always possible for something groundbreaking.

2) It extends beyond its original borders. Any campaign is going to have its initial planned scope. That may be a social network, a microsite, a group of blogs that have been targeted for outreach, a video sharing site, a social mobile utility, or the marketer’s own site, to name some examples. If there are truly social elements though, it’s going to break past the initially defined set. A Twitter program could be discussed on blogs. A major push on MySpace could lead to a discussion in Facebook groups. Consumers creating videos for a YouTube contest could share those videos with their friends on other social networks. It’s important to look across any digital forum that can be tracked to see where else interest appears, as that can show additional value for the campaign, and it can also lead to ideas for where to run future initiatives.

3) It provides value to consumers on the platforms used. It’s increasingly easy to market and advertise through social networks, which means it continually gets easier to run a really bad (or perhaps worse, mediocre) campaign. Anyone can create a Twitter or YouTube account for free. For as little as $5, anyone can advertise on MySpace or Facebook through their self-service platforms. With the barriers so low, marketers need to tailor the campaign to the community. Most importantly, marketers should figure out how they’re providing value by participating. If you can make an honest case to yourself that you’re delivering value in some way, the odds are much better than the campaign will break through.

4) It ties into broader programs. Any messaging, creative, and goals for a social media program should have some connection to broader marketing initiatives. For instance, a brand should only be conversational and approachable on Twitter if it’s willing to open up elsewhere, such as on its site, or through its customer service hotlines. A marketer that creates a funny video that has a chance of going viral should express that sense of humor elsewhere, such as on its website or blog. If there’s a promotion on MySpace to win tickets to the Super Bowl, ideally there will be some reason for offering that prize, even if it’s just that the marketer will be one of the event’s advertisers.

Those aren’t the only elements to keep in mind, but it’s easy to forget any one of these when trying to do something new with social media.