Social media marketing has become vital to business marketing strategies. No brand can afford to ignore the potential it brings. With nearly half of the world’s population engaging with some form of social media, chances are your customers can be reached this way.
But marketing this way isn’t always easy. Finding the right tone to use in your posts, the right images to encourage sharing and liking, and consistent content production is challenging. What’s more, you need to do something that hasn’t been overdone before to stand out.
In this post, we’ll review some of the most iconic social media campaigns that have ever graced the web to see what has changed the game in the past.
- #ShareYourEars
This 2018 campaign by Disney encouraged its audience to post pictures of themselves with their rendition of mouse ears on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. The campaign was an effort to raise money for Make A Wish, with who Disney was partnering for the third year in a row. For every picture posted with the hashtag, Disney would donate 5$ to the non-profit organisation.In the end, they raised $3 million and earned themselves plenty of publicity. Of course, Disney had the budget to put in. But besides the robust backing, the campaign worked because it was fun, visual and easy for anyone to participate. It also acted for a good cause, thereby engaging a range of celebrities and influencers.
In total, the campaign inspired 1.77 million photo posts on Instagram and over 54 million media impressions overall!
- #LikeAGirl
This campaign by feminine hygiene brand Always challenged gender stereotypes. In the past, “Like a Girl” might have been an insult to imply weakness or sensitivity. The campaign turned this around and used it as a slogan to showcase young and confident girls demonstrating that acting “like a girl” has nothing to do with weakness. It also showed how the phrase had become ingrained in the minds of men and women alike, harming the perception teenage girls might have of themselves.
The video encouraged personal anecdotes across social media and won over 66 million views on YouTube. It also won several awards.
The takeaway from this campaign is how effective it can be to take a known phase and turn it around, revealing another side to an old or forgotten conversation.
- KFCs Twitter Joke
In 2017, KFC cut the number of people they followed. In fact, they cut it right down to eleven people. Of those eleven, six were named Herb. The other five were the spice girls.
This little insider joke about their famous recipe took a while to be discovered. The lucky finder tweeted his observation, which was, in turn, shared hundreds of thousands of times. KFC further rewarded him with 52 gift cards.
KFC showcased an interesting experiment about hidden jokes. Sometimes it pays to be whimsical and not too on the nose.
- Aldi’s #FreeCuthbert
Since Aldi released their own caterpillar cake in 2021, they were sewed by competing for supermarket brand M & M&S for their intellectual rights over their own caterpillar cake. Aldi didn’t let this threat silence them. Instead, they responded with one of the most iconic Twitter campaigns ever. #FreeCuthbert began with Aldi’s social media team treating the case much like a TV trial and pleading for their caterpillar’s innocence. They playfully called their competitor snitches, photoshopped bars onto their caterpillar cake packaging and called out for help from other Twitter users.
The campaign is still ongoing, but needless to say, Aldi has successfully improved their standing, gained the appreciation of social media users and made the lawsuit against them appear ridiculous. After all, other supermarkets soon joined in with their own caterpillar cakes (lawsuit free) and similarly benefited from the action.
Does Your Brand Have What it Takes to Become Social Media Famous?
While some of these campaigns look fun and almost effortless, we shouldn’t forget that marketing teams worked hard to develop the right social media content to push their brands further.
With the right idea, you can encourage user-generated content and cut down on your own content production. The key is to get your audience engaged and inspire participation.
To achieve this, you should work with experts in the field. ZAK is a creative advertising agency in London constantly looking for brand new ideas to stand out from the crowd. We work with brands like yours to make their values and products shine in new ways.
Get in touch today to discuss how we can help your content production turn iconic.
