5 Clever Social Media Marketing Campaigns that Went Viral

 

Social media has provided marketers with some powerful new tools. They are global, potentially viral and free.

Businesses will often have entire teams dedicated to communicating with followers, and will spend a significant chunk of their budget acquiring new leads from the Internet.

From blogging to pay-per-click advertising, there are plenty of ways to establish a web presence. Most businesses will use multiple techniques in order to maximize results; however, as the years go by a new form of marketing has emerged; viral marketing.
We’ve all heard the term, “it went viral” when referring to heavily viewed YouTube videos, comedic memes and social media games. Businesses are now using this free technique to promote their products and services.
We have compiled 5 examples of social media marketing campaigns that went viral to prove just how powerful it can be.

1. Cadbury’s giant chocolate Facebook thumb

When Cadbury’s wanted to boost their Facebook likes they decided to construct a giant Facebook thumb out of their own signature Dairy Milk bars.  The idea started as a thank you gesture to fans for helping them reach one million likes, but quickly went viral and led to another 40,000 followers within a short space of time.  They even decided to stream a live real-time video to document the making of the thumb, which was watched by over 350,000 fans throughout the world.
Nothing draws the eye more than a mouth watering image; however, giant chocolate bars are certainly nothing new. Chocolate and Facebook are universally loved and by incorporating the thumb, Cadbury’s have cleverly managed to create an image that’s contemporary, unique and instantly recognizable.

2. WATERisLIFE’s first world complaints YouTube video

Non-profit organization WATERisLIFE created a controversial social media campaign that was inspired by humorous memes.  The company – who are dedicated to bringing clean water to the third world – produced a documentary complied of clips of the underprivileged alongside captions of common complaints from the privileged. Such examples include:

• “I hate it when my phone charge won’t reach my bed.”
• “When I go to the bathroom and I forget my phone.”
• “I hate when my leather seats aren’t heated.”
• “When my mint gum makes my ice waster taste cold.”

The video was a huge success and managed to amass over one million views within the first day. The ending caption, “First world problems… aren’t problems” significantly boosted interest in their Twitter feed as followers made their own captions and posted them on social networks along with the hashtag, ‘#firstworldproblems.’

3. Wilkinson Sword’s santa claus hostage video

During the build-up to Christmas 2013, Wilkinson Sword released a hostage video featuring three elves who are arguing about whether or not they should shave off Santa’s beard.
The video was promoted via the brand’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages and received widespread attention throughout the UK. What’s genius about this social media campaign is that it was designed to get followers involved. The video was left on a cliff-hanger with the phrase, “CLICK TO #SAVESANTA” at the end.
Voters are now eagerly anticipating the follow-up video this year which will determine the fate of our truly beloved Saint Nicolas.

Aside from establishing a marketing campaign that gets the fans involved, Wilkinson Sword have created an on-going series which will bring voters back each year and remind them of their famous razors – which just so happen to be the perfect stocking filler.

4. Heinz’s “Which bean are you?” quiz

When Heinz launched their new Five Beanz product, they created a quiz on their Facebook page named, “Which bean are you?” Fans used this quiz to determine which bean they were based on questions about their personality.
In addition, Heinz gave participants who shared the quiz ten times on their Facebook page a goodie bag.
The facts and the results:

• The campaign lasted for two weeks
• Acquired 22,000 likes
• 10,000 shares
• Overall reach of 11 million

Everyone likes a personality quiz. They’re a great way to get fans actively involved with a marketing campaign without using too much obvious promotion. Television shows and film production companies have been using this promotional method for years; but until Heinz, the food industry hadn’t utilized it. Since the success of the Heinz’s quiz many other food companies have gone on to use the same marketing method with huge success.

5. Urban Hilton Weiner’s selfie coupon codes

Urban Hilton Weiner weren’t a particularly big name before their ‘pay with a selfie’ campaign, but now they’re one of the most talked about brands in fashion.
Their marketing campaign awarded those who posted a selfie wearing their clothes, along with the hashtag #urbanselfie, a $10 coupon.

 

This ingenious marketing technique accomplishes everything that any retailer would want from a social media campaign – it exposes people to specific items of clothing, encourages social sharing, and most importantly, gets people in stores and buying clothes they wouldn’t have otherwise purchased.

While the $10 coupon may seem excessive and put many companies off taking such a bold move, it’s a small price to pay for such widespread and effective exposure.

Wrapping it up

The power of social media marketing cannot be denied. Real-time marketing has become the “it” thing in advertising and nowadays all one has to do is login to a social network and within seconds they will be exposed to some form of advert; no matter how discreet it may look.
Internet marketers are now placing an increasing amount of emphasis on building communities via social networks and are integrating each platform to deliver a constant stream of exposure. In fact, acquiring a ‘Like’ on Facebook or new follower on Twitter is held in higher regard than unique website traffic. However, what’s most appealing about social media is that unlike other forms of online marketing – such as PPC and SEO – it’s completely free.
Guest Author:  James is a self-employed blogger and wannabe entrepreneur and works with Distinctly Digital. His passion is in SAAS tech and innovation. You will find James at many of the leading technology conferences across the UK and Europe.

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Best 3 Ways To Grow Your Business With LinkedIn

Let me ask you a question: Do you ever feel like everyone in your industry is doing the same thing? Everyone’s newsletters look the same. Everyone’s websites are starting to look the same. Same. Same. Same.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone;
I’ve faced this issue many times throughout my business journey. And what I’ve come to learn is that marketing is 10% what you say and 90% how you say it. Now if you’re marketing your company using the same methods as everyone else in your industry not only is it going to be hard to stand out but chances are your business will never be innovative enough to stay ahead of the pack.
And in my opinion there is no marketing tool more powerful in today’s business world than LinkedIn if your business is primarily B2B. With over 300 million users and 49% of those being key decision makers, LinkedIn has ultimately become the most precious marketing resource of the 21^st century.

Is your networking not working?

Gone are the days where you need to spend countless amount of hours implementing marketing strategies in order to get in front of key decision makers for your product or service. LinkedIn allows you to search, connect and develop relationships in real time with anyone around the world 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
No longer will you have to spend hours and hours travelling to networking functions, in the hope that you will make a valuable contact. With LinkedIn you can connect with 100’s of targeted business professional every week.
I while back I connected with a guy by the name of Alex Pirouz from Linkfluencer.com. An Australian entrepreneur who’s achieved a fair bit of success in using LinkedIn over the past couple of years. At that stage I had a fairly good understanding of LinkedIn and its potential but the more I spoke with Alex the more I realised how many different ways you can use the platform to grow a business.
He’s managed to use LinkedIn to grow his various businesses so that you too can start applying them within yours.
Here are 3 key ways to grow your business with LinkedIn.

#1. Personal branding with media exposure

Gaining media exposure on a consistent basis is a powerful way to boost your credibility in the market place, get your message in front of thousands of people and position you as an authority figure within the industry. This will ultimately drive the bottom line if effectively used. When Alex first started using LinkedIn back in 2007 he had just launched his business advisory firm so he was looking to build his personal brand in the market place.
What started off with one or two connections here or there; quickly escalated to well over 250 contacts within 3 months. A network he has managed to successful use to get featured in over 50+ media publications including Forbes, Inc, Entrepreneur.com and many more all without sending out a single press release.
Personal branding is more important than ever before. Make a list of the top 10 publications you want to get featured in and start connecting with journalist and editors who cover stories for that publication.

#2. Joint venture partnerships

In my opinion one of the best ways to grow any business is to form strategic partnerships. A joint venture is a legal term that describes the relationship between two or more parties entering into an agreement to work towards the same strategic goals while remaining separate entities.
Such an agreement might exist between a digital marketing agency and a graphic designer, a web designer and a database management firm, a business advisor and accountant, a hairdresser and beauty salon, or an Internet service provider and an email provider. Just to name a few of the many possibilities.
Following on from his success in using LinkedIn to gain media exposure, Alex decided to also use the platform to connect with owners of accounting firms given they would be ideal joint venture partners.
Over the course of the next four months he managed to connect with 500 accounting firms out of which he secured 20 to come on board as partners producing 60+ qualified leads per month and increasing his revenue by over 328%.

#3. One on one clients

You may have the best product or service but if no one knows about it then you don’t really have a business” I am sure you have heard that saying before. The fact of the matter is regardless of industry, location and target demographic you, I and the rest of the business world all share a common theme:
“We are all in the business of: Marketing”
But in this day and age where people are being bombarded with a barrage of information, products, and businesses, it can be difficult to ensure that your business gets noticed amongst the slew of potential competitors.
In my opinion to compete in a business world that is rapidly changing all the time, learning and implementing the latest sales and marketing strategies is critical to your success in business.
Recognizing this Alex decided to market his business advisory firm differently to everyone else by connecting directly with key decision makers in his target market through LinkedIn. Over the past 2 ½ years he has managed to build his network to over 7,000 contacts and in doing so he has successfully made thousands of dollars for himself and the clients he has worked with.

Everything I Needed To Know About Social Media I Learned From Star Trek

I am a Trekkie! Literally watched every single episode of Star Trek in every series, plus the movies as well. From the time that I first heard James T. Kirk utter those famous words I was hooked. After 25 plus years of Star Trek fanaticism I have come to an important conclusion.
If you do nothing else in your life, but base your business decisions on those famous lines, business would be off the charts awesome!

Star Trek mantra

Think about the original mantra from James T. Kirk. While it has been changed often over the years, the message remains the same.

Space, the final frontier. 

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing 5 year mission is to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilization.

To boldly go where no man has gone before.

Yowzer, that is awesome!

How to be a Social Media Trekkie

Have you ever noticed how most intelligent business owners look at social media as if it were from outer space? Watching them writhe at the edge of their seat in discomfort over words like Facebook and Twitter makes you think there is a Trebble outbreak or they were transported into the vacuum of space.
That does not need to be the case.
Once you are done, you will gladly don the four pips of Picard, Kirk, Janeway, Archer, and Sisko. Note: Four pips is a reference to the captain rank. Oh captain, my captain!

Voyages of discovery start with “action”

First, consider the idea of the voyages of the starship Enterprise. No one ever talks about the lurking Enterprise. In fact, the poorest rated show out of the bunch was Deep Space 9. I guess no one wants to watch a space drama where people do not move around that much.
However, throw Janeway in the Delta quadrant, and you have a runaway winner. Maybe it was the fact that she boldly declared that even though they were 70,000 light years away from home, they would never forget their Federation principles (More on the federation principles later). Then she told Tom Parris Warp 6, let’s go home.
Wow! Your entire life got turned upside down thanks to the Caretaker and your main concern is taking bold action to get your crew safely home.
Taking action, and deciding upon doing something with your business on social media fires your passion. It is this “action” that allows you to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Pioneers in business are so called, because they took action before everyone else.

Missions are your plan of action

Do you think that Captain Kirk or Picard would just aimlessly wander space until they found weird aliens that would always be eliminated in 60 minutes or less? Heck no! Kirk had a 5 year mission to explore strange new worlds. But of course, you must be saying. That is why he had more first contacts than any other star ship commander in history. It was his job. No scratch that! It was his mission in life for 5 years.
Can you imagine a Vulcan like Spock hanging around in the Federation if they did not have a plan of action? Of course not, that would not be logical.
You need to have a little bit of green blood in you, so you can sit down and work out what strategies and tactics will work best for your business.
Research the different social networks. Ask your current clients and prospects what social networks they frequent most. Then determine the best course of action for your business.

Seek out new connections, fans, and followers

If your business only flies on impulse, then you will never meet anyone. You need to go to at least Warp speed in order to reach out to people. Warp technology is the sign that a civilization is ready to connect with other species. Otherwise, the prime directive is to leave a culture alone and allow them to grow at their own pace.
Most cultures in Star Trek have a policy similar to the United Federation of Planet’s Prime Directive. The Prime Directive is the directive that no interaction be made with pre-warp civilizations first. While I want to modify this a bit for our discussion, it plays a very important role here.
Most people are afraid to reach out. They have their own Prime Directive, which keeps them in their comfort zone. That is why it is so important for you to be proactive in reaching out to connections, fans, and followers.
If you do not take the first step, then you should not expect prospects to magically appear at your doorstep. I am come on! This is not Harry Potter or something like that. Ooh! That sounds like a great article for another day.
However, with warp civilizations, you can take the initiative, just like Jonathan Archer did when he helped form the coalition of the United Federation of Planets between Humans, Vulcans, Andorrians, and Tellarites. He took the first step in a move that would align these various groups together into a harmonious whole.

Boldly differentiate yourself from your competitors.

I am pretty sure, Star Trek would never have created a cult audience if they only explored the Wisconsin Dells. No offense to the Dells, but people want to be inspired about the future. To do that you have to boldly go where no man has gone before.
This idea captures your imagination.
Well, then imagine how bored your prospects will be when you rehash the same old ideas in the same way everyone else did. Give it a little bit of pizazz!
This article is a perfect example. If I wrote the 5 steps to improve your social media today you probably never would have opened this article.
Instead, I am telling you how everything I learned about social media came from Star Trek. What other nerd could possibly do that?

Even Captain Kirk had Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu

Social media is a team sport. If you go into thinking what is in it for me, then you will never be able to create the dynamic, engaging business you need to succeed online.
Social media is about team building. That means your own internal team to help you produce content and engage with fans, followers, and connection, along with partners who can spread your message across the social media universe.
To do this successfully, you must cultivate these relationships like you do with new prospective clients. It also means, you need to spend as much time on social media sharing other people’s information as your own.
While I will admit that it is not always possible, do your best to help others. The more value you bring to the relationship, the more you can get back in return.

Live long and prosper

As with all strategies on the web, when you continually apply yourself to improving not only your situation, but those around you magical things happen. That is why whatever you do, you need to be prepared for the long haul if you want to prosper from social media.
Otherwise, you are like a Harry Kim hopped up on speed hoping and wishing for a worm hole back to the Alpha Quadrant. Generally does not happen! That is, unless you have a time travelling captain with access to a Borg transwarp hub. Alas, we must travel back to reality.
So, create a plan of action that can help you build your presence on social media. Then take action and create the connections you need to find the targeted clients you want for your business. Deliver tons of value, so you can help your prospective clients get a feel for how you can help them.
In the meantime, I have to ask. If you were to characterize your social media, which character would you be? Kirk, Spock, Janeway, Picard, Sisko, Archer, Riker, etc? Let me know in the comment section below.