The number of active social media users is increasing rapidly every single day. According to the Global Digital Report 2019, over 45% of the total world’s population is using social media which accounts for 3.5 billion people

You can’t ignore social media marketing because it lets you reach your target audience, connect with it, and build a relationship with it. Businesses are aware of the importance of social media marketing as 73% of small businesses invest in social media marketing. In fact, social media is the top marketing channel for small businesses.

1. IHOP to IHOb

The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) ran a great social media campaign in summer 2018 on Twitter where it changed its name to IHOb from IHOP. It was announced in a tweet:

Of course, it wasn’t real rather it was just a marketing campaign to promote burgers.

It worked great. In fact, the burger sales quadrupled after the social media marketing campaign. Not just sales but this campaign received a lot of engagement. The brand asked its followers to guess what burger king stands for and over 34K people responded and the name revealing tweet was retweeted well over 15K times.

Additionally, it received a lot of mentions from other brands. Here is an example:

Not bad if someone with 79K+ followers talking about your brand.

Why IHOP Campaign Was Successful

The campaign was a massive success. According to YouGov, the company’s word of mouth score increased significantly in the next week when it switched its name. This means a lot of people were talking about IHOP.

There are several great aspects of IHOP social media campaign that made it a success:

1. The element of surprise is critical. It didn’t reveal what ‘b’ stands for rather it asked its followers. This developed interest.
2. It didn’t talk about burgers rather it focused on name change which made their campaign interesting yet intriguing. It was a bold move by IHOP that paid off.
3. It engaged with its followers on Twitter by asking them what they think of ‘b’.

2. Apple’s Share Your Gifts 2018 Campaign

Share Your Gifts is an amazing campaign by Apple. The animated video ad is one of the most watched Christmas ad of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dJCroCMBPM

The ad is delivers a simple message to share your great stuff with the world and don’t be shy. Express yourself and be who you’re.

Why Apple’s Campaign Was Successful

Everything about the ad was perfect.

1. 1. It targeted the biggest event Christmas.

1. 1. It was released at the right time (November 2018) a month before Christmas.

1. 1. It delivers a great message that is appealing and relatable. We all have something that we hide from the world.

1. 1. It’s inspiring.

1. 1. It’s emotional.

Not to mention that Apple didn’t make it look like an ad rather it just delivered a sweet message and it worked.

3. Dove #ShowUS

Dove partnered with Getty Images and GirlGaze to launch its #ShowUs project. Dove conducted a survey and found that 70% of women don’t feel that they’re truly represented in media and over 90% of stock photography is shot by male photographers.

https://youtu.be/7OufbVVpqV0

Based on the results of the survey, Dove initiated its #ShowUs campaign which features over 5K images of females shot by female photographers across 39 countries. Over 116 Girlgaze photographers participated in the project. The images showcase the real beauty of females without any use of Photoshop or editing.The best part: Women that have been photographed have defined their own search descriptions that they think are relevant to them and their beauty. All the photos are available on Getty Images.Editor’s Pick: Favorite Tool for Social Media Campaigns – Social Pilot!

4. Gillette The Best Men Can Be Campaign

Gillette released its campaign to tackle the stereotypes about men. The video was released on Twitter which was greatly appreciated. The video has more than 30 million views, 231K+ retweets, 571K+ likes, and 51K comments.

“Boys will be boys”? Isn’t it time we stopped excusing bad behavior? Re-think and take action by joining us at https://t.co/giHuGDEvlT. #TheBestMenCanBe pic.twitter.com/hhBL1XjFVo

— Gillette (@Gillette) January 14, 2019

According to PRWeek’s Twitter poll, 82% of people think that Gillette’s ad was a success and that brands should speak up.

According to TalkWalker, Gillette received 1.5 million social media mentions in a week after releasing the video whereas it only had around 10K mentions in the previous week. It received 1.1 million mentions in under 24 hours and the hashtag #TheBestMenCanBe was used 187K+ times during these 24 hours.

The numbers say it all.

The video wasn’t liked by everyone though. It received a lot of backlash from all types of people on and off social media. But the numbers speak for themselves, Gillette was able to do what it intended to.

Why Gillette’s Campaign Was Successful

Gillette responded to another campaign (#MeToo) with its ad. This is where it got interesting. The campaign was controversial in nature and that’s one reason why it worked. The ad was discussed on news channels like NBC.

The message was loud and clear. The campaign was initiated in response to an existing campaign that was doing exceptionally well all over the world so it was a well-timed campaign by Gillette.

5. HSBC ‘We Are Not an Island’ Campaign

HSBC launched its ‘We are not an Island’ campaign in January 2019 as part of its ‘Together We Thrive’ campaign ahead of Britain’s exit from the EU. ‘We are not an Island’ campaign focuses on how different cultures are closely intertwined in the UK and that UK (and the HSBC) is a part of something way bigger. Sarah Mayall, head of social media HSBC UK said:

“… With ‘We Are Not an Island’ we are reinforcing our strong belief that we are part of something so much bigger.”

The ad talks about several things and countries including America, Korea, Columbia, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujd90spQGU0

The video was shared across their social networking accounts and was highly appreciated. People called it a bold and brave campaign on social media. However, it was considered controversial by others. Some people called it anti-Brexit and that’s what made it controversial. Roger Hart, chief executive of U.K. advertising agency Aesop, told CNBC:

“A good ad and a brave move as they know it will kick up some controversy.”

Despite being liked and disliked, the social media campaign by HSBC did a great job.

Why HSBC Campaign Was Successful

What made HSBC’s campaign successful was controversy. The campaign was covered and cited by major leading publications and news sites because it sparked controversy. The story was covered in The Times, CNBC, BBC, The Sun, and others.HSBC linked its social media campaign to the biggest event and happening in the UK – the Brexit. It was a smart move to link social media campaign to a leading event if you really want to stay in the news. What’s your social media campaign and why?Editor’s Pick: Favorite Tool for Social Media Campaigns – Social Pilot!

Conclusion

A simple social media campaign is least likely to work. You need to use your creativity, controversy, emotional appeal, Newsjacking, and other techniques to outperform your competitors.

Social media marketing delivers big time when done right.

The best way to figure out what’s working and what isn’t is to look at successful social media campaigns. You don’t have to copy-paste these social media campaigns instead you need to come up with your own (yet better) ideas.

What’s your social media campaign and why?