Succeeding in social media marketing goes beyond regular content posting; it requires much more effort. This is precisely why some brands outperform others in social media.
Brands that have mastered social media marketing understand that the key to success lies in deeply understanding their audience and effectively tailoring their content to that audience. Thus, it’s not just about consistent posting; it’s equally crucial to ensure that the content aligns with the needs and preferences of your target audience.
Examining the most triumphant social media marketing cases reveals a consistent theme: the content resonates profoundly with the intended audience (Geyser, 2023).
Netflix decided to extend the Halloween spirit into the Christmas season to promote its new series “Wednesday,” a spin-off based on “The Addams Family.” To create buzz around the show and introduce the character Wednesday Addams, portrayed by actress Jenna Ortega (known for her roles in “Scream 5,” “X,” and “American Carnage”), Netflix’s marketing team employed a combination of innovative marketing strategies, including stunt marketing, billboards, and social media.
As part of their promotional efforts, Netflix shared a video on YouTube featuring “Thing,” the iconic disembodied hand known for its helpful tasks in the Addams family and serves as Wednesday’s companion in the series. The video showcased “Thing” in the streets of New York, capturing the surprised reactions of pedestrians and commuters.
Netflix also uploaded a photo of the Thing on its Twitter account as it held onto a subway handrail. The message on the image says, “Hang in There.” Meanwhile, the official Wednesday Addams Twitter account featured a photo of the main character drenched in blood and the caption: “I love to start my weekends with a good blood bath.” Netflix activated the account in June.
“Wednesday” started airing in November 2022. The show’s 1.19 billion viewer hours for its first 28 days make it a close contender to the new season of “Stranger Things,” whose viewers clocked 1.35 billion hours.
What They Did Right – Refreshed the brand’s look to broaden its business communication relevance.
Zoom‘s logo underwent a makeover to highlight the brand’s identity as a full-fledged collaboration platform, not just a video-conferencing app. The branding refresh was the most strategic campaign it conducted to stay relevant in 2022 as more schools and businesses restored in-office and in-person meetings and operations. The move also intended to help Zoom keep in step with its rivals Slack, Microsoft Teams, Miro, and others.
The extra O’s between letters Z and M (six O’s in all) contain one graphic for each of the services under Zoom One’s full suite: Team Chat (formerly Zoom Chat), phone, meetings, rooms, events, and contact center.
The company’s new products for this year include the new whiteboard, an omnichannel contact center for personalized customer support, and its customer conversation analysis tool, Zoom IQ for sales.
What They Did Right – Piggybacked on the popularity of a post-pandemic trend.
[View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/tv/Ca7XAQ-MC5I/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)[A post shared by Jordan Fisher (@jordanfisher)](https://www.instagram.com/tv/Ca7XAQ-MC5I/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
The campaign harnesses the power of influencers in promoting Baya to a young audience that has become more health-conscious after the COVID-19 aftermath. Members of the Lab are known for their “feel-good” content, matching the message of the new energy beverage. Besides Fisher, also a Twitch streamer and TikTok user, the Lab includes award-winning AI and augmented reality director Karen X Cheng, vibraphone musician Justin Vibes, digital effects artist Cache Bunny, graphic artist and photographer Tommy Lundberg, and designer-illustrator Lauren Hom. The team members all have a robust Instagram following.
Besides forming the Energy Makers, Starbucks also tapped the Energy BBDO ad agency to create a 30-second film as the flagship content of its 360 marketing effort for Baya titled “Energy That’s Good.”
Apart from TV and social media exposure, the company held a nationwide sampling tour, which ran in the spring and summer of 2022 to heighten the visibility and authenticity of Baya.
What They Did Right – Focused on a Cause That Resonates With Their Audience.
Dove, a brand known for its focus on social causes, particularly related to women’s empowerment, diversity, and challenging beauty stereotypes, has launched a new campaign. This campaign, called #DetoxYourFeed, addresses the influence of social media on young girls, highlighting how influencers can have as much impact as parents in shaping their beliefs about beauty and identity. Dove encouraged mothers to promote their daughters’ self-esteem by fostering open communication and encouraging healthy social media habits, such as unfollowing those who promote harmful beauty practices.
To illustrate their point, Dove invited mother-daughter pairs to view beauty-related content from social media before showing a clip in which a mother supports a questionable beauty tip like baby Botox. They used deepfake technology to demonstrate how social media advice can strongly influence young followers regarding their appearance. The campaign encouraged social media users to share their experiences using the #DetoxYourFeed hashtag on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Survey results were also featured, revealing that half of girls felt that social media content with beauty stereotypes lowered their self-esteem, but seven out of ten felt better after stopping following creators of such content.
What They Did Right – Emphasized accessibility amid tighter subscription management trend.
Learners complete 2x more lessons per day after joining a Duolingo Family Plan.
Yet, not all Family Plans have all 6 spots filled.
The #DuolingoAdoptionCenter is here to fix that. Learn more when you learn together. ????
— Duolingo (@duolingo) September 20, 2022
Duolingo established an “adoption center” to boost its Family Plan subscription numbers. The initiative aimed to motivate foreign language enthusiasts interested in joining Duolingo’s family plan, which permits access for up to six family members.
This campaign aimed to attract customers by highlighting the stark contrast between Duolingo’s inclusive approach and the practices of other service providers. For example, unlike Netflix, which charges additional fees for password sharing, Duolingo’s family plan offered a more flexible and accommodating option.
What They Did Right – Specific Audience Targeting with Emotional Messaging.
The British Army addressed public concerns about robots potentially taking over the armed forces by 2030 in a new recruitment campaign. The campaign highlights that soldiers will continue to be the army’s most valuable asset with the tagline “Nothing Can Do What a Soldier Can Do.” While showcasing technological advancements, including robotics and cyber intelligence, the campaign emphasizes the irreplaceable judgment and intelligence of soldiers. The campaign features the #FutureArmy hashtag and messages like “As the Army becomes more advanced, technology will help us do incredible things. But nothing can do what a soldier can do.” The goal is to convey that soldiers will remain indispensable to the army’s future, and the closing message is, “The Army of the future still needs you.”
[View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfeBYIPIet0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)[A post shared by British Army (@britisharmy)](https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfeBYIPIet0/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
What They Did Right – Redefined a learning disability into a marketable skill.
Virgin Group and Made by Dyslexia (MBD) collaborated to change the narrative surrounding dyslexia, emphasizing the strengths of individuals with this condition. Led by dyslexia advocate Richard Branson, the campaign promoted “dyslexic thinking” as a valuable skill on LinkedIn and celebrated the creativity of famous dyslexics. Dictionary.com also embraced the phrase.
The campaign’s impact was substantial, with a significant increase in positive mentions of dyslexia on social media and a notable decrease in negative mentions after its March 2022 launch. Over 10,000 LinkedIn users added “dyslexic thinking” as a skill, leading major companies to actively seek candidates with this skill. The campaign garnered extensive global media coverage, with an earned media value exceeding £1.5 million or $1.8 million.
What They Did Right – Sharing fraud prevention tips to improve the brand’s credibility.
NatWest took to social media to bring the UK government’s drive against financial scammers to the web-immersed population.
Known for its clever audience targeting, the London-based retail and commercial bank has regularly posted tips on Facebook and Instagram throughout 2022 on how to detect scams.
[View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/ChEd8hXKkcb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)[A post shared by NatWest (@natwest)](https://www.instagram.com/p/ChEd8hXKkcb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
NatWest’s social media campaign warned people about direct debit refund schemes and sales of luxury items at unbelievably low prices. The bank’s social media posts provided tips or links to its webpage, where the information was available in greater detail. In time for Halloween, actor Simon Callow narrated real-life horror stories of fraud victims featured in NatWest’s book, “Scammer House of Horrors.” NatWest’s Facebook posts promoted this illustrated collection of scam stories and directed followers to the bank’s webpage, where they could access the PDF version of the book and videos of Callow narrating each of the three chapters.
Firehouse Subs Used social media to announce hints for winning rewards in celebration of the restaurant’s anniversary.
For their seventh anniversary, Firehouse Subs, a sandwich chain, introduced exclusive offers and bonus points deals, announced on their official Facebook page. These rewards were offered on different days, and customers needed to download and sign up for the restaurant’s app to be eligible.
To earn bonus points, Firehouse Subs provided instructions on social media for app members to find and enter a promo code on their website.
This campaign not only enhanced engagement and customer loyalty but also supported a donation drive for fire rescue teams. It also increased exposure to their range of sandwiches and other menu items.
Carona Beer applied open letter approach for the brand’s sustainability pitch.
Corona Beer, after achieving a “net-zero plastic footprint,” created a short film called “Imagine a World Free of Plastic.” The film, set in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, showcases a “letter” encouraging the public to recycle plastic and keep beaches and water bodies clean. Volunteers used beach trash, including bottles and bottle caps, to create the letter written in ocean plastic.
The video features the company’s logo and a link to their sustainability page, while emphasizing that words alone won’t solve the problem. It reveals that 494 kilograms of plastic waste were gathered for the project and subsequently recycled. Corona also promotes its social media accounts and its involvement with the Mexico Recicla recycling plant and the “Pay With Plastic” program, where customers could exchange plastic waste for beer in selected countries (Geyser, 2023).
Platforms used: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
What Hello BC did: with air travel down 95% and nearly everyone canceling their summer vacation plans. It’s hard to spin that into a destination-focused campaign, but provincial tourism authority Hello BC hit the mark with their #ExploreBCLater campaign.
Across all social platforms, Hello BC shared a message of social responsibility in the face of coronavirus, encouraging everyone to stay home and #ExploreBCLater. The campaign was a twist on their branded hashtag, #ExploreBC, building on existing brand recognition and usage.
[View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_kb_eNgDp_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)[A post shared by Destination British Columbia (@hellobc)](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_kb_eNgDp_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)
Along with posts by industry partners, the #ExploreBCLater campaign encouraged travelers to share images and videos from their trips across the province, offering vicarious journeys through social media and keeping these travel destinations in mind.
So far, the hashtag has been used over 9,500 times on Instagram, with more posts across Twitter and Facebook.
Why it worked: This campaign is fuelled by user-generated content (UGC), which helps your brand build its reputation through the audiences and social media channels of influential users. UGC also helps brands build up their content library by collecting high-quality visual assets from other users and resharing them with permission.
The #ExploreBCLater campaign is also mutually beneficial to travel bloggers, who have been hard-hit by the global pandemic. Participating in the #ExploreBCLater lets them repurpose their existing assets into fresh posts.
When running a social media campaign, it’s always important to offer participants something of value as well.
What you can learn: Sometimes, you have to roll with the punches and find a way to adapt to challenging circumstances. This campaign is a great example of turning lemons into lemonade, creating a feel-good campaign that kept audiences engaged and interested in BC as a travel destination while sharing a responsible and caring message.
Platforms used: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube & traditional advertising
What Starbucks Did did: In February, Starbucks UK partnered with Mermaids, an organization to support transgender and gender-diverse youth, on the #WhatsYourName campaign.
Combining TV advertising and social media engagement, the values-driven campaign focused on Starbucks’ desire to be inclusive toward people of all genders, by honoring their chosen names.
The campaign builds on a well-known aspect of the Starbucks experience—having your name written on the side of your cup—by committing to respect the names that customers want to be called.
It’s a pretty heartwarming (and award-winning) campaign, which invited users on social media to use the #WhatsYourName hashtag. They also encouraged people to post photos of their mermaid tail cookie, which raised funds for Mermaids, using the campaign hashtag.
Why it worked: This campaign used one of the most traditional advertising methods, a TV spot, to build a buzz on social media. They created a simple, clear campaign hashtag. And they led with their values, which helped this campaign make a real, emotional impact.
What you can learn: Many brands avoid politicized topics, but ultimately, your employees and customers want you to make the world a better place. Specifically, they want companies to lead on issues of diversity and community.
Sharing campaign messages of inclusivity and respect through #WhatsYourName helped Starbucks rebuild trust and respect with their customers, and showed the world what kind of company they want to be.
Platforms used: Twitter
What Pantone did: A one-day campaign overlapping with the 2020 Super Bowl, where Pantone’s Twitter account shared a live play-by-play called #BigGameColorCommentary.
A colorful coincidence inspired the campaign: for the first time in Super Bowl history, the two teams had the same primary uniform color. In fact, the red hues of the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers were just one point apart in the Pantone color index.
Live-tweeting along with the big game, Pantone provided a color-coded breakdown of the action.
Why it worked: This campaign was fun, original, and made creative use of Pantone’s brand identity as color experts. It created a bridge between sports fans and design aficionados, with accessible posts that anyone could enjoy. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events of the year, and Pantone found a way to capitalize on that interest in a surprising way.
What you can learn: Campaigns can be short and sweet! If you lack the resources (or executive support) to launch a resource-intensive campaign, try something fun and finite to test the waters and see how your audience responds.
Also, don’t limit yourself when looking for a timely opportunity to launch a campaign! No one would have ever put “Pantone” and “football” in the same sentence before, but that unexpected angle was exactly why it worked! Think outside the box and you might just stumble across a brilliant idea.
Successful social media marketing campaigns share several key ingredients:
In essence, a successful social media campaign is authentic to the brand, focused, trackable, platform-specific, timely, emotionally resonant, and original.
Whether starting from scratch or looking to improve your current social marketing strategy, you need this essential social media template.
The social media strategy template makes it easy to:
A social media marketing proposal is a document in which you propose a set of social media marketing services for a potential client. You’ll outline the specifics of the work you propose to do for the client, including a timeline and budget and how you plan to work together.
The post advises against copying and pasting the same content across different social media platforms. Each platform has unique requirements, such as hashtag use and content formatting, and posting the same content on all of them can result in poor quality and unprofessional-looking posts. Additionally, it can lead to embarrassing mistakes like inviting followers to retweet on Facebook or pin on Instagram. It’s crucial to avoid audience fatigue by offering varied content on different channels. The recommended approach is to treat your campaign as a connected and cohesive story without being repetitive.
For Facebook, the emphasis is on storytelling and visual content, with videos performing well. Facebook is seen as valuable for building brand awareness and lasting relationships with the audience.
On Instagram, the advice is to align your campaign with your overall strategy, focusing on mobile-friendly and easy-to-follow content in Stories and IGTV.
Twitter, being fast-paced and news-focused, requires clear and concise content with direct calls to action (CTAs). Visual elements like social cards, GIFs, and static images work effectively.
LinkedIn users seek educational content that helps them improve professionally. The content should address their needs and highlight the value they will gain from it.
In summary, the key takeaway is to tailor your content to the specific platform and audience, focusing on storytelling for Facebook, mobile-friendly simplicity for Instagram, clear and value-driven messages for Twitter, and educational content for LinkedIn.
Geyser, W. (2023, February 14). 15 social media marketing examples to inspire you in 2023. Influencer Marketing Hub. https://influencermarketinghub.com/social-media-marketing-examples/
Social Media News – RICK REA: Helping You Grow Through Online Marketing. https://www.rickrea.com/socialmedianews/how-to-run-a-successful-cross-platform-social-media-campaign
| Social Media Content: the Good vs. the Bad | Medianetic. https://medianetic.me/social-media-content-the-good-vs-the-bad/ |
7 of the best social media campaigns (And what you can learn from them). (2020, August 22). Seotomize. https://seotomize.com/7-of-the-best-social-media-campaigns-and-what-you-can-learn-from-them/
30 Free Social Media Templates to Save You Hours of Work – Social News Hubb. https://socialnewshubb.com/2022/12/21/30-free-social-media-templates-to-save-you-hours-of-work/
