Social media marketing is all about getting your audience; that is, your customers and your potential customers, interacting with your brand.
It differs greatly from more time-honored forms of marketing that, while effective in their own way, fall short in one area: customer focus.
Yes, in the age of the Internet, if you’re not communicating with your customers in real-time and including them in your brand decisions (or at least, making them think that you are), you need to start – now!
Toy Story 3
Undeniably one of the biggest hits of 2010 (and beyond, as proven by their permanent positioning in IMDB’s top 100) Disney and Pixar went all out to promote the film via countless on and offline channels.
As well as billboards and banner ads. Disney created a host of viral videos, adverts tailor-made for the (then) latest version of the iPhone and even a purpose built Facebook page.
The multiple media marketing avenues, combined with the fame and nostalgic attributes of the film’s predecessors, ensured Toy Story 3 shot to success of epic proportions and propelled it into position as the highest grossing film of 2010 and the 7th highest grossing film of all time.
Nike
Apps are big business and have grown into a near social media holy-grail; that’s why, creating a good one could see you reaping the rewards of a brand-building exercise that’s been proven time and again to work wonders.
Sports brand Nike, demonstrated just how to use an ‘app’ to a businesses advantage with the creation of the ‘Nike Training Club‘.
Designed to help fitness fanatics with their day-to-day training, the app offers custom workouts, audio guidance and on demand help and assistance.
Why has the app been such a success? Not only does it offer something of great value to the end user: it helps build and secure the bond between company and consumer.
Starbucks
Starbucks have succeeded in embracing social media marketing across the board. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare: Starbucks have ensured to make their mark.
The coffee giant’s success is attributable to the dealing out of freebies and discounts to their most dedicated customers; the social response proved just how successful giving away a few goodies can be.
Sony/Michael Jackson
In honor of the late King of Pop, Sony teamed up with the Michael Jackson estate in order to gather videos of fans playing tribute to the man himself.
In one of the world’s most successful social media campaigns to date, thousands of fans sent in videos of themselves singing, playing instruments and just declaring their ongoing love and respect for Michael Jackson. The end result was a viral video – Jackson’s next music video – ‘Behind the Mask‘. Oh, and Sony got some positive publicity out of it too!
However, Sony isn’t the first, nor will they be the last to get fans and consumers involved in this very effective yet subtle form of marketing.
Obama
In the run up to the 2008 US election, Barack Obama broke boundaries by utilizing social media in politics.
Obama is living proof that social media can flourish whatever the purpose: not only did he win the election, but on the day of the election itself he had secured in excess of 3 million supporters whilst rival McCain had a paltry 600 thousand.
Contests
I’m going to go inwards for this social case. In Sept & December of 2011 my company ran a contest where we gave away some Samsung Blu-Ray burners as well as $1000 worth of software from various DVD software vendors. This was a joint effort between us, Samsung, and the software vendors. What made this successful for all involved was that I was able to get the word out on some new products to the market by utilizing my traffic and from that make it go semi-viral from my traffics Tweets, Likes, and +1′s, thus spreading the word. This type of social success can be replicated by any site or business owner, not just the big brands.
You
While the above are all widely known, household names, don’t fall into the trap of believing that to utilize a successful social media marketing campaign, you need to be one too.
Almost any brand can succeed in social media – all you need is for your customer base to be active on the Internet and in social media themselves.
Assuming they are; encourage them to visit your social media channels and once they’re there, take some tips from the big brands above and you’ll be well on your way to securing your own social media marketing success.
Image credit: 1.
Special thanks to Olivia Hemway who helped research these big brands. She is a freelance blogger for PsPrint and has been writing about marketing, graphic design and online printing for more than five years.
