5 Examples of Successful Social Media Marketing Campaigns
Social media platforms constantly evolve, making it challenging for brands to stand out. The key to social media is developing creative ideas and getting the audience’s attention; however, facing the algorithm is tricky.
However, some brands have successfully created engaging campaigns despite the algorithm changes. These social media marketing campaign examples are inspiring and a testament to the potential of social media marketing.
This blog will cover some of the most successful social media campaign ideas you can incorporate into your marketing strategy, giving you hope and optimism for your campaigns.
Without any further ado, let us get into it.
What is A Social Media Campaign?
A social media campaign is a set of marketing strategies or actions across one or more channels. All these strategies serve the common purpose of enhancing the online presence and reaching the company’s goal. Here are some of the main components of a social media campaign :
- Organic Posts
- Paid Promotions
- Contests And Giveaways
- User-generated content
- Influencer partnership-related content and more.
Top Social Media Marketing Campaign Examples
With its creativity and innovation, a well-planned social media campaign can easily capture attention and make your brand the talk of the town. Let us look at some of the industry’s most popular and intriguing social media campaigns that have pushed the boundaries of marketing.
1. Apple – #ShotOniPhone
For social media marketing campaigns, the classic example of Apple requires a mention. Apple with its #ShotOniPhone social media campaign aims to increase user-engagement and empower its very own customers for brand marketing. Users simply have to use the hashtag in the caption of their social media posts to enter into this user-generated content campaign.
The brand hereby uses the hashtag to pronounce the improvements in their camera features and functionality of every new phone variant by letting the brand customers do it themselves by sharing photos clicked on their iPhone.
Apple today has successfully created vast user-generated content by means of the user-generated content campaign by giving power to its very own customers. Original and creative content by brand customers has benefitted Apple in a stellar way.
Minimal marketing efforts and inputs and maximal social recognition, Apple classically did it with its hashtag campaigns #ShotOniPhone, #ShotOniPhone6, #ShotOniPhone7, and the like.
2. Pedigree’s Dog Selfie Campaign- #HOLLYWODselfie
On the occasion of National Pet Dental Health Month, Pedigree Australia used the opportunity to launch its social media campaign Dog Selfie, also an app by DentaStix. The whole initiative aimed at increasing awareness about pet’s dental health.
The whole campaign targeted at improving pet dogs health, especially their dental health and hygiene. It aimed at bringing the owners and the dogs closer through the selfie-clicking activity.
The Dog Selfie App aimed at clicking selfies of dogs(who are utterly notorious when it comes to clicking pictures). Hence, it used attention-grabbing click sounds which helped to keep the dogs attentive while taking the selfie.
The brand embedded an active social hub on their website displaying all the selfies uploaded over social media using the #HOLLYWODselfie. This drove user engagement with the campaign to an ultimately different level.
3. Worldwide Breast Cancer – #KnowYourLemons
In light of social media marketing campaigns, Worldwide Breast Cancer came forward with a simple and innovative approach with their #KnowYourLemons campaign. The campaign aimed at spreading awareness among women for breast cancer, its various signs and symptoms.
By using a cleverly designed image using lemons to show various signs of breast cancer, Worldwide Breast Cancer educated women about 12 different signs of breast cancer development. The campaign incredibly informed women that lumps are not the only signs of breast cancer.
The campaign here diverted from the nipple-based censoring rules, and instead capitalized on the sober and subtle idea of employing lemons guiding women to get a breast check-up done regularly and not ignoring signs that could point towards the possible chances of breast cancer.
This social media marketing campaign encouraged women for seeing lesser-known warning signs and seek doctoral guidance if they see persisting physical signs on their breasts.
With an excellent reach of 7.3 million people with merely 3 Facebook posts, #KnowYourLemons took a simple yet striking visual approach using lemons to strike a balance between playful and serious. Amid this, the campaign also catered to an awareness subject, giving people a platform to share their thoughts and experiences on.
4. Air Bnb – #WeAccept
In November 2016, Airbnb publically acknowledged widespread racial discrimination over its platform and took steps to weed it out. It took no time to launch a full-fledged social media campaign #WeAccept to weed out the prevalent discrimination practices. The campaign attracted an immense response from the audience, both positive and negative.
The campaign aimed at creating an atmosphere free from any sort of discrimination based on race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
The announcement of the US government’s travel ban on seven Muslim nations in Feb 2017 was given a strong response by Airbnb’s #WeAccept campaign demanding non-negotiable acceptance at all costs. Not just the campaign helped Airbnb to declare its values but also turned this issue into an actionable opportunity for refugee relief initiative.
Through this incredible campaign, Airbnb transformed its own community commitment into a global campaign #WeAccept and drove conversation around the sensitive and yet very important issue of acceptance and thereby inspire action.
Airbnb as a brand has always spoken of quality hospitality and services and the brand has now upped their social game excellently.
4. Buzzfeed Tasty
BuzzFeed’s Tasty is all about delectable and drool-worthy short videos that teach you how to make a quick and easy recipe in just no time.
Delicious food video content exploding on Facebook, ‘Tasty’ social media marketing campaign aimed at creating addictive food recipes for the viewers. These videos simply work as a quick-cooking show for the social media savvy generation. Lasting for less than a minute or two, these videos deliver indulging recipes to the users.
Built essentially for Facebook, BuzzFeed’s Tasty has stupendous social media analytics. The videos here have garnered millions of views, over a 100 million Facebook fans, 2000+ food video recipes, and a promising reach of 500 million users every month.
The videos by Tasty are optimized and tailor-made to suit Facebook’s autoplay feature which starts playing the videos without the sound on. Here, a sound is not vital to see the video. Today when it’s known that Facebook’s algorithm promotes video content ahead of other types of content, BuzzFeed with Tasty has capitalized on this idea by building ‘short and sweet’ videos for the audience that desires tasty food simply!
5. Make-A-Wish Foundation – #ShareYourEars
This social media marketing campaign is about Make-A-Wish Disney. Simply meaning, this campaign is a partner effort by Make-A-Wish Foundation and Disney where both are pioneers in their fields and both pull at the heartstrings with their stories and message.
Make-A-Wish Foundation is renowned for their heart-warming stories. The foundation partnered with Disney and brought about major success for their user-generated content campaign together. The two businesses came together for a social cause and multiplied their efforts to spread the message and appeal to double the audience as one could have with singular efforts.
The social media marketing campaign #ShareYourEars asked the audience to share a picture of them wearing their Mickey Mouse Ears captioning the picture with the #ShareYourEars hashtag and for every such post, Disney Parks donated $5 to Make-A-Wish up to $1M come true!
This social media campaign experienced immense user participation which led Disney to double the original amount that they initially planned on donating. The #ShareYourEars campaign surpassed its originally planned success rate tremendously due to high user-engagement from the followers of two unique brands.
Here, partnering up came to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation spectacularly for its user-generated content campaign.
6. Starbucks – #WhatsYourName
Starbucks UK started a campaign named #WhatsYourName in February collaborating with ‘Mermaids’, an organization that supports gender-diverse youth and transgender. This campaign focused on people of all genders by respecting their chosen names by combining social media engagement and TV advertising.
Having your name written on the side of your cup is a well-known aspect of the Starbucks experience and this campaign is derived on this aspect. It is a popular feature of Starbucks that enact respect of the customer names by which they want to be called.
This Starbucks campaign request users on social media to use the #WhatsYourName hashtag, which made it a really motivating campaign. They additionally urged users to post the pictures of their Mermaid tail cookie. This, as a result, helps in raising funds for Mermaids, using the campaign hashtag.
To create a buzz on social media, this campaign utilized one of the most conventional advertising methods i.e. a TV spot. However what made this campaign lead an emotional and real impact? Starbucks leads the campaign with their values with a clear hashtag.
7. Spotify – #2019Wrapped
Spotify is a popular music streaming and media service provider. Since 2017, it compiles its most listened-to songs, artists, and albums to share the year-end information with the audiences. This is all compiled in a personalized summary “Spotify Wrapped”.
They advance larger for 2019, with a past decade (2010-2019) summary, which demonstrates clients’ preferences and listening habits. These summary snapshots are ideal for posting across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as they are provided in shareable image formats.
Spotify also created customized summaries for artists, that help them gain an insight of in which countries their music was streamed in, how many fans they had, and the total number of hours of streaming time.
Artists can get a knowledge of how many fans they had, which countries their music was streamed in, and total hours of streaming line, with Spotify personalized summaries. Spotify offers its users a fun and smart visualization to share by creating a winning ad campaign to share. It let the users do the work of promoting it.
8. Casper: Sleep Channel
A social media campaign is initiated by Casper which is a mattress store. For the target market, the campaign was initiated by way of an audio playlist that helps them sleep better.
The best part about the campaign was that the brand launched the playlist on its Facebook page as a magical, meditations, bedtime stories to assist you with slowing down and drift off.
Apart from Facebook, the brand also uses conventional social networks such as Instagram and Twitter to promote its playlists. Also, the brand didn’t just post the playlist on IGTV and YouTube but also music streaming services such as Spotify, this is what makes the campaign unique.
9. Tiktok — It Starts on TikTok
The professional campaign by TikTok- It Starts On TikTok was launched in the UK in September 2020. This campaign highlights the journeys of starting on the platform every day, showcasing the diverse and engaging content users create.
The “It Starts With TikTok” campaign aims to showcase the diverse and engaging content that users create on the platform. The campaign illustrates the app’s variety of content and creativity by highlighting the journeys of individuals who start on TikTok. Whether showcasing talent, sharing stories, or expressing creativity, “It Starts With TikTok ” emphasizes the platform’s ability to bring diverse experiences and perspectives to life.
10. Twitter — If You Dream It, Tweet It
Believe it or not, Twitter is where your manifestation can become a reality. They have achieved their dream life on Twitter, from Demi Lovato to Issa Rae. Considering that, Twitter coined the situation and launched it as a marketing campaign- If you Dream It, Tweet It.
This social media campaign by Twitter encouraged people worldwide to share their dreams and manifestations with their followers on the platform.
11. Bombas — “Bombas Gives Back
Bombas is a comfort-focused sock and apparel brand that launched its “Bombas Gives Back” campaign. Bombas created unique social media content that featured insights and stories with lived experiences and education on homelessness. Their content was developed to seem surprising and shareable to fuel the conversation even further.
12. Everlane — “Know Your Factories”
Everlane is a sustainable clothing brand that aims to be honest about its processing, production, and pricing. Its “ Know Your Factories” social media campaign demonstrates to its audience how its clothes are prepared in the factories and the people behind the production. The campaign included videos and photographs featuring Factory workers and their stories, helping the brand establish honesty and transparency within its brand value.
13. Thrive Causemetics — “Bigger Than Beauty”
Thrive Causemetics is a beauty brand that donates some of its profits to charities to help underprivileged women. Its Bigger Than Beauty social media campaign focuses on the stories of women who have overcome adversity and give back to the community.
The campaign included women from various backgrounds and their inspirational stories. The brand’s mission is to support women going through tough times. The campaign also had a donation module where the brand donated one to a woman in need for every product purchased.
14. Honey Bunches of Oats — “Happy Mother’s Day”
Honey Bunches of Oats is a well-received cereal brand that launched a social media campaign- “ Happy Mother’s Day,” to promote their products on this special occasion. This campaign was created to celebrate and honor mothers and show appreciation for their work while focusing on their brand value. The campaign encouraged users to upload pictures of their favorite mother-child moments using #HBOOMothersDayContest.
15. Make-A-Wish — BatKid Campaign
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is an NGO granting wishes to children with critical illness. In 2013, the organization launched a social media campaign called “BatKid” to fulfill the wish of a then 5-year-old boy who has leukemia. Inspired by the Batman character, this boy wanted to be a superhero for a day.
16. State Bicycle Co — 12 Days of State
State Bicycle Co is a company that sells high-quality and affordable bicycles. In 2020, the brand launched a social media campaign called “12 Days Of State” to celebrate the holiday season and promote its products.
The campaign was about releasing a new deal or promotion every day for 12 days up to Christmas. Each day during the campaign, State Bicycle Co announced the deal on its social media channels like Facebook and Instagram. This encourages their potential customers to take advantage of the offer.
This campaign by State Bicycle included daily giveaways, each featuring different prizes and contests for customers to participate in. They also collaborated with other brands and influencers in the cycling community, expanding their reach and generating more engagement for their social media platforms.
17. Blendtec: Will It Blend Campaign
Blendtec is a company that designs and manufactures top-notch blenders for commercial and domestic use. In 2006, the company launched its marketing campaign, Will It Blend?
This campaign mainly focused on showcasing the device’s power and durability. It was initially launched as a TV show in which the company’s founder used to blend unusual objects such as golf balls, garden rakes, and more to showcase the device’s capabilities.
All these videos were also uploaded to the brand’s website and shared on social media. As a result, Blendtec’s social media campaign instantly went viral.
18. Warner Bros. Barbie
The success of the movie Barbie took time to happen. Their social media campaign created more than enough buzz for their movie. For starters, Barbie received over 1 million videos on TikTok. Their original song Barbie was streamed more than 3.5 million times on Spotify.
One of their social media campaigns included the Barbie Selfie Photo generator. This turned out to be a genius way to get more user-generated content across all social media platforms. They also collaborated with fashion influencers to create Barbie’s look.
19. Pedigree’s Dog Selfie Campaign- #HOLLYWODselfie
Pedigree Australia leveraged the occasion of national pet dental health and launched a social media campaign. Meanwhile, they aimed to launch their Dog selfie app by DentaStix. The social media campaign was about posting a selfie with their dogs. Since dogs are notorious, the dog selfie app uses sounds like birds chirping and squeaky toys to get their dogs’ attention and click selfies.
Users could easily upload their selfies directly from the app to any social media platform with the hashtag #HOLLYWODselfie. As part of their marketing campaign, they wanted to create a social hub for their website, so they opted to embed User-generated content on their website.
20. Dove’s Project #ShowUs
For Dove’s #ShowUs social media campaign, the brand collaborated with the Girl Gaze community and Getty Images to create a collection of more than 10,000 images. All these images had one thing in common—they offered a more inclusive vision of beauty for all media and advertisers to use. This was the first time that on Getty Images, everyone filmed for the campaign defined their search descriptions and tags for their pictures.
This allowed them to express their beauty and ensure they were realistically presented naturally. Nearly 64000+ posts have been shared on Instagram with the #ShowUs.
21. Patagonia Mission-Led Content
Patagonia never uses its social media platforms to promote its products. Instead, it showcases content that drives brand awareness of social and environmental issues.
One of their Instagram posts showcased the End Fossil Protest. It endorsed the cause and included a link to a relevant petition in its bio.
Patagonia focuses on UGC. The brand also focuses on discussing manufacturing processes on social media.
22. Nike: Dream Crazier
Nike’s Dream Crazier was one of their social media campaigns hit after #JustDoIt. The Dream Crazier campaign focused on a serious issue about equal opportunity for women. In its ad campaign, Nike emphasized how feminine energy can coexist with masculinity.
This social media campaign invited people to share their stories about overcoming their struggles. It also sparked a cultural movement that went beyond the boundaries of gender, race, and background and united the individuals for a common goal.
23. MSIG #RealSmallProblems
The insurance company MSIG launched its marketing campaign called #RealSmallProblems. Rather than focusing on large-scale messaging like other insurance companies, this social media campaign highlighted getting people thinking about how minor problems can become more significant.
As a result, MSIG quickly gained more than 1,000 followers, and its campaign saw a 15% increase in monthly engagement.
24. Casper – Sleep Channel
Casper, a popular mattress store, launched an innovative social media campaign aimed at helping people sleep better. Instead of traditional advertising, the company created an audio playlist featuring calming music meditations and bedtime stories and shared it on its Facebook page.
This unique approach was designed to help their target market slow down and drift off to sleep more easily. In addition to Facebook, Casper also utilized Instagram and YouTube to promote its playlists.
Even more exciting is that the brand made the playlist available on popular music streaming services like Spotify, making it easily accessible to a broader range of people. This multichannel approach to their social media campaign sets the campaign apart and demonstrates Casper’s commitment to providing value to its customers beyond just selling mattresses.
Vital Elements of Successful Social Media Campaigns
I hope that it comes to your notice that all the social media marketing examples listed above are totally unique from each other. Thus, let us know what makes all these campaigns so successful. To help you know, we have listed a few of the key elements. Have a look-
- Trackable- With a unique channel or hashtag for each campaign, companies can easily evaluate the key indicators of success. Furthermore, utilizing tools like QR codes can further enhance tracking by providing direct links to campaign landing pages or exclusive content. For the most effective results, choosing the best QR code generator is essential to ensure QR codes are dynamic, customizable, and capable of capturing valuable user engagement data.
- True to the brand- These social media campaigns are a tactic by way of which the brand identity and values reverberate with their fans. It is essential that the campaign should make sense for your brand irrespective of its big-budget or clever concept.
- Unique to each platform- It is easy for your social media team to broadcast the same content across every platform, however it looks baggy. The aspect of a superior and upstanding message is its core messages that are specifically tailored for each social network. While developing your messages, stay assured to think about your audience on each social platform.
- Focused- You should cling to one objective and one central message for every campaign. Stay focused on the central message of your campaign so that the customers should not be confused with what you are asking them to do. The point of your campaign should be instantly clear to the customers.
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Final Words
Hope you have gained good knowledge on successful social media campaigns in the last few years. These social media campaign examples help you understand the value of social media marketing. Also, it can make a big difference in creating brand awareness, lead generation, and sales.
With the support of social media aggregator tools such as Taggbox, you can simply manage your next social media campaign. Through various networks, you can schedule and publish your posts. Besides, this will help you engage the audience and measure results.
What are the brilliantly done social media marketing campaigns that we have missed out on? Share with us!
Also Read: 7 Inspiring Examples of User Generated Content Marketing Campaigns
