This is a Guest Post written by Nick Rojas, a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles and Chicago. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. You can follow him on Twitter @NickARojas.
Last year, Mashable inaugurated the first annual Mashies Awards, figuring that since TV, movies, and so many other forms of media have awards ceremonies, so should social media campaigns. Todd Wasserman says “ Over the last few years, the social media revolution has completely redefined marketing. [social] marketers deserve kudos for making the right calls and applying creative solutions.”
This year, the situation is no different, and on October 31, they announced the “Top 5 Social Media Campaigns of 2014.” The lucky winners were Burger King, AT&T, Tombstone Pizza, Chevrolet / American Cancer Society, and Nestle.
On the surface, the campaigns were completely dissimilar. Some were funny, some sad, some silly, and some clever. Some pulled your heartstrings, while others tickled your funny bone.
But despite the huge range of entrees, a common thread remains. After all, they are all social media campaigns. And in each campaign, no matter the goal, it’s possible to tease out those common threads of what can make a social media campaign successful. This is not to say that we’re creating a recipe for a successful social media campaign: rather, we’re attempting to create guiding lines, essential ingredients that social media campaigns tend to share. If you’re hoping to be successful with your next campaign, check this list off in your head—your campaign should share some of these elements.
Social Media Champs Inspire Participation By Appealing To Something Universal
Burger King’s #motelBK asked consumers to “cheat on beef” with their new chicken sandwich. Clever faux private eye surveillance footage showed sneaky-looking actors checking into motels, only to be caught enjoying a chicken sandwich. It was clever, surprising, and included some participation. Here’s how.
They outfit a real hotel in New Zealand with branded merchandise—towels, robes, the whole shebang, then invited people to come and “cheat on the Whopper.” People posted pictures of themselves in the motels and tagged it with the #motelBK hashtag.
We see that many of the winning campaigns invited participation (often using hashtags). AT&T’s “@SummerBreak” campaign created a web miniseries following teens on their last summer vacation before college. The participatory element: fans could communicate with the cast through apps like Instagram and YouTube. Imagine MTV’s Real World if you could talk to the stars! It was so successful that AT&T chose to extend the duration of the campaign.
Tombstone Pizza inspired participation the old fashioned way: by asking for it! They published a series of Vines called “Bites of Fright” where they attempted to cement an association between their brand and Halloween. They published cute videos, last minute costume advice, and other cool information. Result? 230% lift in Facebook fan acquisition rate, 6 times better engagement than average.
Chevy’s campaign asked users to “purple” their Facebook profile for the American Cancer Society, promising to donate $1 to the organization for each person who did that. The Nestle campaign also inspired participation by asking for personal love notes to be hashtagged with #CMValentine. Selected notes were then transformed into works of art by artists and shared to all the followers.
Common Thread
Each campaign tapped into something that makes us human—friends, Halloween, charity, love, and yes, cheating—and inspired people to participate in the recognition (if not celebration) of those emotions and feelings. By appealing to something universal, they encourage fans to participate and share, and therefore, identify.
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