Greatest Social Media Campaigns of All Time

Business-Social-Media

So, as Process Industry Forum have already showcased the Top 10 Social Media Disasters of All Time, we thought we might as well show you the other end of the spectrum, the Greatest Social Media Campaigns of All Time.

Have a scroll through our Top 10 to try and find some inspiration for your own company:

10. Dumb Ways To Die

Thinking outside the box was the key to this social media campaign by a public transport authority in Melbourne, Australia. The quirky music video ended up going viral due to its catchy tune and appealing graphics.

The video aimed to promote railway safety, which it ended up doing on a global scale. Instead of trying to scare youngsters by showing graphic videos, the transport authority thought they could gain the attention of young people by explaining how 'dumb' it would be to get hurt on the railway tracks. The video has ended up acquiring almost 50,000,000 views on YouTube.

Creating viral content like this can often lead to spin offs, in this case an iPhone/ iPod game was created enabling them to broaden the reach of the safety message even further. The game also went viral, getting into the iTunes Top 10 in multiple countries.

You can see the video here: Dumb Ways To Die or download the spin-off game directly to your iPhone: here.

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LESSON: GET CREATIVE AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, EASIER SAID THAN DONE, BUT WHO WANTS TO READ OR WATCH THE SAME TRAFFIC SAFETY VIDEOS OVER AND OVER AGAIN? 

9. IKEA Facebook Showroom

IKEA's social media campaign was introduced solely on Facebook, the marketing agency were on a tight budget.

The aim of the campaign was to promote the opening of it's latest store over in Malmö, Sweden. However, the marketing agency decided not to just target potential consumers for the Malmö store, they also wanted to reach out to people all over Sweden.

To do this, they decided to utilise the 'photo-tagging' feature. On behalf of the store manager, they would post up images of the latest showrooms from IKEA, the first customers to tag themselves onto a specific item would win it, it's as simple as that. The marketing campaign generated a lot of buzz as nobody had done something like this before.

Have a look at the marketing agencies video explaining the campaign in more detail: Facebook Showroom Campaign

Gordon Gustavsson IKEA tagged Facebook photo

LESSON: UTILISE THE FUNCTIONALITIES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS. OFFERING PRIZES AS INCENTIVES CERTAINLY SEEMED TO GENERATE SOME POSITIVE PUBLICITY FOR IKEA. 

8. Heinz's 'Get Well' Soup

In October, 2011 Heinz ran a campaign directly from their Facebook page that allowed consumers to order personalised cans of tomato soup to their unwell friends for £1.99.

The success and demand from the campaign meant that they were to relaunch it again in January, 2012.

Following on from the original one-month campaign, Heinz managed to acquire 32,810 new 'likes' to the page with over 2000 orders for the personalised cans of soup.

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LESSON: TRY TO PERSONALISE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT, EVEN IF THE ENTIRETY OF THE CAMPAIGN ISN'T PERSONALISED, TRY AND MAKE SURE THE CONSUMER DOESN'T GO UNNOTICED IN THE MIDST OF YOUR SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN. 

 7. Old Spice Guy

When Old Spice decided to shake things up with a new marketing campaign, they introduced 'Old Spice Guy'. He is the man that men want to be like and the man that women want (or so he thinks).

The campaign generated a lot of buzz on social networks with the videos for Old Spice guy gaining millions of hits on YouTube. Just as the campaign was slowing down, they decided to introduce 'New Old Spice guy', a different male model.

Check out the videos for both 'Old Spice guys' by clicking here & here! Which one do you prefer?

The original Old Spice video has notched up an impressive 45,000,000 views with the second video also collecting a respectable 2,000,000 views.

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LESSON: HUMOUR CAN SOMETIMES BE ESSENTIAL IN CREATING ENGAGING CONTENT. ALTHOUGH NOT EVERY COMPANY CAN UTILISE COMEDY, IF IT'S POSSIBLE, THEN WHY NOT USE IT? FOR THIS CAMPAIGN, COMEDY IS KEY AND IT HAS DEFINITELY PAID OFF.

6. Nike #makeitcount

For the year of the Olympics 2012, Nike decided to launch a campaign based around Nike athletes who would be associated with or are competing in the games. Because Nike isn't an official sponsor of the Olympics, they had to be very careful with their marketing strategy as any direct links to the Olympics could land them in trouble.

#makeitcount was a success and lead to the involvement of consumers from all over the world using the hashtag to tell of their goals for the year. The photographs that Nike used for the campaign really painted a picture with each one showing an athlete during their most intense moments in training.

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LESSON: MAKE USE OF HASHTAGS. CREATE A UNIQUE HASHTAG THAT YOUR CONSUMERS CAN USE, THIS MAKES IT EASY TO TRACK ACTIVITY AROUND THE CAMPAIGN AS WELL AS BEING ABLE TO INTERACT WITH CONSUMERS. 

5. The Subservient Chicken

Burger King noticed in 2004 that it was seriously lagging behind it's competition when it came to the chicken burger. In order to try and turn this around, they introduced a character called 'The Subservient Chicken'. The campaign had its own website in which you could get a man in a chicken costume to do pretty much anything you told it to (how else could you possibly market a chicken sandwich).

The campaign went viral with the website being seeded around various blogs and social networks. But, did it lead to more burger sales you might ask? According to the marketing team at Burger King, chicken burger sales increased by over 9%.

So, maybe a dancing chicken can increase sales after all.

The Subservient Chickens website is still online, check it out here: The Subservient Chicken

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LESSON: INTERACTIVE CONTENT CAN OFTEN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON THE CONSUMER. IT'S SHAREABLE, OFTEN FUN AND CAN GET PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTS/ BRAND. 

4. 'Share a Coke' 

Summer, 2013 has seen Coca-Cola introduce the 'Share a Coke' idea into the UK. Coca-Cola have substituted the classic company logo, replacing it with the most popular names in Britain. The idea is to increase the value of each bottle as well as drive sales in retail stores. This campaign is highly social and has inspired generosity up and down the country (although i'm still waiting on my own name to appear on my desk at work)!

Operational Marketing Director of Coca-Cola, UK explained that this was the first time that Coke has ever substituted the brand's logo on their bottles/ cans for something else. Quite a big ask for the worlds 'Most Recognisable Brand'.

Due to the success of the campaign, Coca-Cola have decided to take the campaign on tour visiting the main UK cities to ensure that anyone who happens to have a more obscure name can create/ obtain one of these highly desirable Coke bottles.

Click here to see when the Coca-Cola campaign is coming to your town/ city.

Screen Shot 2013-06-19 at 10.49.36 LESSON: AS STATED EARLIER, PERSONALISATION CAN BE KEY TO YOUR SUCCESSFUL MARKETING CAMPAIGN

3. LYNX Astronaut Campaign

LYNX (or AXE if you're an American reader) continues to sparkle when it comes creating cool and engaging marketing concepts. Their latest campaign offered its consumers the chance to win a trip into space, not a bad prize...!

The campaign was deemed a success, coinciding with the launch of latest LYNX fragrance 'Apollo'. The thing that we enjoyed most here at Process Industry Forum, however, is their out of the box thinking when it came to generating a buzz around the campaign. There were frequent sightings of the LYNX astronauts throughout the UK. They could often be found in highly capacitated areas throughout the UK such as tube stations, shopping centres and even football matches. This has subsequently lead to a lot of talk on social media channels between consumers.

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Unfortunately you are no longer allowed to register for the chance to win a trip into space as the competition has now closed for entries. A massive 87,000 people entered the competition with 820,750 votes being cast in the process.

LESSON: TAKING YOUR CAMPAIGN TO THE STREETS CAN GENERATE A LOT OF BUZZ IF IT GETS THE RIGHT EXPOSURE

2. Evian Roller Babies

If you've watched television in the past 12 months then you are bound to have seen this quirky advert, alternatively, you've probably stumbled across it in blogs and forums.

The campaign was rolled out to encourage people to drink Evian water as it helped preserve the bodys youth. Evian are now recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the 'Most Viewed Online Ad'.

If you haven't seen the advertisement then check it out: Evian Roller Babies

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1. Compare the Meerkats

In 2009, comparethemarket.com launched an advertising campaign based around the frustrations of Aleksandr Kolorov who runs website comparethemeerkat.com. Of course it is all fictional, but it has allowed comparethemarket.com to utilise both URL's for the websites in order to direct customers over to its insurance comparison website.

The company has managed to create great brand awareness. During the launch of the campaign, the TV advert was rolled out alongside a new website (www.comparethemeerkat.com) as well as a Twitter and Facebook page's for their 'make believe' personality Aleksandr Orlov, the Meerkat.

Straight away the Twitter account and Facebook accounts received high amounts of traffic as well as www.comparethemeerkat.com gaining over 2,000,000 hits to the site a month.

Further down the line in 2012, comparethemarket.com offered free meerkat soft toys to anyone who bought car insurance through their price comparison website. The toys were redeemable through the sister site comparethemeerkat.com, driving even more traffic to the meerkats website.

Four years on from the initial launch of the campaign, the meerkats are still going strong and in a £30 million deal with ITV, they are now the main sponsor of Coronation Street.

Check out the Meerkats performing the Coronation Street theme tune by clicking here

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LESSON: MARKETING CAMPAIGNS DON'T HAVE TO BE SHORT-LIVED. A SLIGHT REFRESH OF AN ONGOING CAMPAIGN MIGHT BE ALL IT TAKES TO KEEP GENERATING TRAFFIC TO YOUR SIGHT AND STAYING IN THE MIND OF YOUR CONSUMERS.

What have we missed? Know of any Social Media campaigns that we could include in future blog posts, then feel free to comment and let us know. 

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