Social media marketing is on a creative high this year with many companies realizing the potential of what they can do to capture public attention. You're starting to see well-worn corporate names finding some new creative inspiration with clever social media marketing campaigns this year. A few of those names might surprise you with their approaches considering their brands were previously a little more buttoned down.
It's the name of the game now to essentially re-brand without necessarily revamping an initial company message. The techniques these companies used also aren't new, though used in more creative ways to allow them to attempt to attract a new demographic.
In many cases, you'll find companies using brand advocates, comedy, and even selfies to tie together new ways to get the consumer involved in the marketing process.
When you can create a symbiotic marketing process with your customers, you bring something truly refreshing to the table. This helps nurture relationships between you and your customers as a way to bring more loyalty and trust.
Take a look at a few of what we think are the best social media marketing campaigns so far this year. Try employing some of their techniques to liven up your brand and customer base in the final two months of 2015 and beyond.
HP Brings Brand Advocates Into The Marketing Picture
Getting customers involved in your marketing is the best thing you can do because of the loyalty involved and their ability to advocate for you. Brand advocates are a great way to allow the customers who buy from you the most to show others how great a company you are.
This year, HP revamped their marketing campaign and sought out brand advocates who were willing to create Vine videos for the company. The result was a group of devoted HP supporters creating Vine videos doing specific physical stunts and using the hashtag #BendTheRules. Many of these stunts included running through glass or monster truck stunts.
If you think this doesn't relate to HP, the gist of it was to tap into a younger demographic HP hadn't ever nurtured. It's a good example of finding brand advocates and letting them have a creative video canvas to prove the worth of your company. Those advocates are possibly younger than you think and can influence others within the same age range.
Groupon And Edgy Comedy
There isn't a doubt that comedy is still a strong concept to use in any marketing campaign. Being edgy is also a popular trend, especially when it has irony.
Groupon went this way when they posted a picture on Facebook of a product called Banana Bunkers. What made this so fun is that Groupon knew, because the Banana bunkers looked like a sex toy, it was going to generate a lot of snide and funny comments.
So the company ran with it and replied to everyone who made comments with sexual innuendo. It ended up as one of the most popular online discussions this year, at least on Facebook where Groupon posted the pic.
The comments ended up creating huge sales for the innocuous banana bunker, which proved how a mix of comedy and social media conversation can create marketing magic.
The World Wildlife Fund and Selfies
Whether you like them or not, selfies are a major part of social media life. The World Wildlife Fund came up with a brilliant idea to incorporate that and their message of disappearing wildlife into an emotionally charged Snapchat campaign that used the hashtag #LastSelfie.
On Snapchat, the WWF ran with the concept of posts disappearing after 10 seconds. When they started posting so-called selfies of endangered wildlife with the hashtag #LastSelfie, they created a powerful metaphor for what could happen to those animals if they aren't saved. I'd show you an example but they've disappeared.
The campaign targeted a younger demographic on Snapchat and resulted in record donations.
It's further evidence of the need to determine where your brand's target audience hangs out so you can bring your message to them.
