We’ve all heard that saying, “There’s no such thing as a bad idea in brainstorming.” Well, I’ve got news for you, that’s just something your teachers told you in elementary school to avoid stunting your creativity. We’re not saying we don’t love your ambition and completely support the creative process, but when you’re pitching campaigns to your client, you need to recognize and weed out the bad ideas early. You don’t want to end up wasting your time, and more importantly the client’s time on ideas that aren’t realistic, or worse, find out an idea can’t be executed when the ball is already rolling.Spare yourself the pain, and be sure to ask yourself these questions while brainstorming...1. Is your idea within budget? There are a million great ideas out there that would make for an AWESOME marketing campaign. You could partner with Ray-ban and offer a free pair of sunglasses for everyone who signs up for your promotion. Caitlyn Jenner could love your product so much that maybe, you could ask her to make a 15 second Instagram video driving fans to your brand page. Or even better, you could just put your Facebook URL on the moon.All of these ideas would be a great way to drive people to your socials! You would get thousands of entries and tons of buzz from the press. But can they be executed? Unless your client has ample money to give away, a close personal friend of the Jenners or building a time machine with NASA, it’s probably not going to happen. Take those ideas, file them away on the off chance you end up with a budget to make them possible, and channel that creativity towards the attainable.

2. Is your idea on brand and designed for your target market? When approaching a brainstorm, you need to be EXTREMELY clear on the brand image. Let’s look at Taco Bell. They recently launched a delivery service to much excitement from their fans. And depending on your age, you might be thinking… Who wants Taco Bell delivered? I will tell you who wants Taco Bell delivered…. poor, lazy college students who are probably too intoxicated to stumble to the nearest Taco Bell. Taco Bell has built an empire off of this by leaning into the “Late Night Munchies” demographic for years. They cater their tone on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to that crowd and the fans eat it up (literally). But, could any brand do something like this? ABSOLUTELY NOT. You might think the “stoner comedy” tone and a late night delivery service is funny in theory, but that doesn’t work for a brand like Tender Greens. They have worked to set the stage for a healthy, wholesome alternative to fast food and suggesting a switch in tone to something like “Late Night Munchie Meals” (especially delivery) would alienate and confuse the preexisting demographic.

3. Can this idea realistically be executed seamlessly? Ok, you have the budget, tone and it’s the perfect way to get your audience excited and drive new fans to your social platforms. Now, ask yourself, can this actually be executed? To answer this question, you need to factor in a few things…a. Do people understand it? I’m talking, your mom, your significant other, your crazy uncle in Nebraska? You want to make sure the general population understands the requirements of this promotion. They are the ones who will be participating, and you don’t have the time to be fielding 800 questions.b. Legally, are all of your bases covered? For any kind of promotion big or small you will need a set of rules and terms & conditions. This will protect your brand, in the event you have some sore losers.c. Do you have the man-power? If you want to put a Wheel-of-Fortune type wheel in every Islands Burger across the country and give fans an opportunity to spin it and win a free burger, you need to make sure that can happen. If you can’t be certain this can be executed, tweaks to your promotion are needed. If you can’t execute your plan 10 times out of 10, you are going to end up with a slew of complaints and problems.4. Is this idea appropriate or socially acceptable? This is the most important factor, because whether your idea is for the social space or not, if it is an inappropriate idea, it will go viral and become part of the social story. You need to remember when releasing content into the social sphere, you cannot control who sees it. Marketing materials are out in the world for public consumption, and if they are at all inappropriate or offensive, you will suffer the wrath of your consumers.5. Where should your campaign live? Now that you’re sure that you are within budget, on brand and catered to your target market, you need to consider the best place to showcase your campaign. Each platform caters to a specific kind of submission and you need to be aware of that.Let’s say you’re HGTV and want to run a giveaway where the Property Brothers will re-do your bathroom. Asking fans to submit a photo of their “before bathroom” using #HGTVBeforeBathroom should absolutely be hosted on Instagram. Why? Because Instagram is a photo driven, hashtag friendly social platform.

While users could enter a photo post on Twitter it is not likely to gain the same amount of traction there. Twitter is driven by 140 characters. This makes Twitter a great platform for word based entries. This kind of contest creates an even lower barrier to entry and should drive up submission.Now, you may notice we haven’t mentioned Facebook. A great Facebook campaign may require a little more oomph. Ideally, you may want to build an app (similar to the Honest Co. example to the left) in lieu of a microsite to give your fans somewhere to sign up and submit their entries. Building a “contest hub” on Facebook can allow you to house entries from any platform and give fans a nice landing page to find out all of the information they need.If you have answered a resounding “YES!” to all four of these questions, then there’s a strong possibility you don’t have a bad idea! Go forth and brainstorm your hearts out.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.