Social media has changed the way we connect with companies and find new products. Where companies used to rely on print media and commercials, now companies can connect directly with consumers and potential customers through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. So what makes a great social media campaign? Here are some of the best social media campaigns and what the companies used to reach their audience.
Humor
One of the best ways to connect with potential customers is by using humor. Make people laugh and they’ll remember your name. If you enjoy their videos, you’re more likely to share it and watch other videos you’ve posted.
One of the most recent examples of this is Purple, which produces comfort products through a business that started with a mattress. Things got really crazy in January 2016 when it released a new marketing campaign. Purple used a basic concept: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Makes sense; in the story, Goldilocks tries three beds, finding the first one too hard, the second one too soft, and the third one “just right.” Goldilocks tells consumers that the “just right” mattress is the Purple Mattress.
But really what made the video successful is that it’s entertaining and includes a cool egg test where hundreds of pounds of force come down on raw eggs to see which mattress keeps the eggs from cracking. The video has had more than 42 million views on YouTube, leading to thousands of sales, plus the company expanding from 40 employees to 340 employees.
Get consumers engaged
Qdoba engaged its customers by having them vote on their favorite queso flavor, helping the company decide which one it would keep and which one it would get rid of. Customers could vote on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Employees worked to keep the count updated, so everyone on social media knew how the quesos were faring. You can imagine that customers were watching to make sure their favorite queso won.
Another option that falls under the engagement umbrella is to create some sort of hidden content that fans have to search for. When Jon Stewart was preparing to leave The Daily Show, Comedy Central added hidden videos online that revealed his replacement, Trevor Noah. However, the videos could only be found through nondescript Google ads. Once some were found, a hunt began for the rest, with media outlets joining in to help fans search.
Create things that people want to share
It’s pretty obvious that creating something that goes viral is the best way to be successful on social media, but figuring out what that is is a bit harder. Perhaps instead of creating something and posting it online, hoping that it will go viral, create something in real life that people want to share.
In anticipation of the upcoming release of Ant-Man, tiny billboards with movie advertisements on them were placed throughout major cities. People definitely took notice, with many taking pictures and posting them to Instagram and Facebook. For people walking along the street, a tiny billboard was just such an odd sight, people couldn’t help but share.
Create a phenomenon
Back in 2014, the Ice Bucket challenge was all the rage. Once someone was challenged, her or she had to either donate money to the ALS Association or pour a bucket of ice cold water on his head. The result raised more than $115 million, a huge increase over the ALS Association’s typical donation amount. Of course, the main reason it took off was because celebrities did the challenge on-air and then challenged others. It spread from there.
Social media campaign ideas
Using videos in social marketing campaigns is without a doubt an easy way to reach your audience. Create something that’s fun, emotional, engaging, or humorous, and viewers are more likely to share it on their Facebook feed or other social media formats. Plus, Facebook promotes videos over other types of content in its algorithm, so you’re more likely to hit your target audience through videos than any other form of media.
Use humor
Above, we discussed the use of humor. So what’s the best way to create a campaign that uses humor? Use funny experts, of course! Purple, for example, utilized the Harmon Brothers, who are masters at comedic campaigns. They’ve created videos for ChatBooks, SquattyPotty, Poo-Pourri, and VidAngel, all of which have been shared over and over on social media. If you want to use humor as the route to reach consumers, then find the best and brightest in that area to help you.
Share audience contributions
Share the awesome things that your customers do. It could be art that they create on your product (think laptop covers, helmets, and skateboards). Share it on social media while tagging the creator. If you have a large enough customer base, more and more customers will attempt to create cool artwork just so you’ll share it, which will bring in more likes, shares, and followers.
You’ll also see this on many of the late-night talk shows. Jimmy Fallon shares tweets from viewers that follow a particular hashtag The Tonight Show shared on Twitter. He also shares funny images, letters sent in by kid fans, and more. Steven Colbert has a segment on The Late Show called Midnight Confessions. Most of the time these are his own, but sometimes he switches the format to share confessions from audience members. This makes the audience feel like they’re involved in the process, which keeps them engaged.
Share your product through social media influencers
Search for a social media influencer who you feel connects well with your brand and find a way to involve that person in the process. The main thing is not necessarily to promote your product front and center but to give audiences a chance to see the product used. One way is to provide them with a free product, with or without the expectation that they’ll talk about it. If they love it, they’re sure to mention it on social media, but if let them decide if and how they’ll do it, it will come from a place of honesty that audiences will pick up on.
Another option is to invite these influencers to post on your social media platforms. This switches up the content a bit, so it’s more varied and creative, and it brings their audience with them, so your followers, likes, and shares increase.
Mercedes-Benz has done this in the past, providing influencers with a car and setting them free. It allowed the brand to share its cars in a new way. One of the posts led to 173 million views and 2.3 million likes and comments.
Tug on the heart strings
This one is a hard one, but if you can do it right, it’s a great way to align your brand with good feelings. One example of this is the “Thank you, Mom” videos that Proctor and Gamble released around Mother’s Day in 2012, 2014, and 2016 in honor of moms that help their Olympic-hopeful children succeed. These videos are sure to be shared by mothers because they figure if it makes them cry, then other mothers will want to watch them too.
Another example is the Budweiser commercial that was released directly after the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series. This video, though, was not an advertisement. It was a video that showed an underdog defying the odds. It also had audio and video clips from beloved Cubs announcer, Harry Caray. Caray, who called games for the Cubs for 16 years, died in 1998. Using clever editing, Budweiser put together a video in which Caray appeared to call the final out of the Cubs’ World Series victory. The video went viral, garnering millions of views.
The trick is to pull on the right heart string. If you’re at all off on how the information is presented, the video will have the opposite reaction and will be booed by the many who see it. To understand that, just consider Pepsi’s ad in which Kendall Jenner hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer during a protest. Instead of connecting with a younger audience and promoting a global message of unity, which was its purpose, it sparked a huge backlash from social media with claims that it trivialized Black Lives Matter.
With these social media campaign ideas in hand, what are you going to do to get your brand out there, to make your mark?
