It’s almost the end of May, which means it’s time to round up some of the more noteworthy social campaigns we’ve seen this month.
This time around it includes Quorn, a security guard from Arcadia, Reiss, Free Tibet, Bestival and a clever video from A1 Sauce.
For more of the same check out our social campaign round ups from April and the first few months of 2014…
One would hope that by now all businesses had mastered the basics of social marketing, but clearly that isn’t the case, particularly for small companies.
So to give a helping hand for any businesses with a fledgling or non-existent social presence, I’ve come up with a few basic rules that need to be in place for a social media campaign to work.
You may well be thinking that all marketing campaigns should involve some element of social media in this day and age, and you’d be right.
But the aim of this article is to provide some food for thought on the things that marketers should consider when creating a campaign that predominately uses social.
Furthermore, I haven’t addressed the tricky issue of coming up with shareable content, largely because that will be the subject of its own post at a later date.
Social media users in Western nations tend to be very precious about their favourite networks.
Witness the uproar when Facebook introduced the new timeline back in 2011, or the disbelief when Twitter dared to introduce blue lines linking related tweets.
We seem to be unwilling to accept that social networks should do anything other than the simple tasks for which they were originally designed, ignoring that fact that agility and innovation was what made these companies successful in the first place.
Instagram is perhaps the ultimate example of this, as it has become phenomenally popular despite the fact that all it does is share photos (admittedly it does that extremely well and I’m an avid user).
And I’d be interested to see the reaction if Instagram ever tried to drastically alter the interface or develop new functionality.
The online travel sector is fiercely competitive, with airlines, agents and aggregator sites all doing battle for people’s attention and cash.
It’s becoming difficult to compete on price alone, so the user experience is an increasingly important way for sites to distinguish themselves.
Similarly, decisions on where to take your next holiday involve a lot of research, so travel brands need to focus on providing relevant content to attract potential customers.
In general the travel industry is still playing catch up in this regard, with many sites yet to even establish a decent mobile presence, which has allowed InspiredAway to steal a march on its more-established competitors.
Built using responsive design, the site provides inspiration and advice on potential holiday destinations, while also allowing users to search for the best deals.
I spoke to founder Rob Berrisford to find out more…
Yesterday I took part in my first webinar.
I’ve hosted many webinars, but never done the speaking part. I must admit, I’m not a great fan of the format.
However, this reticence when it comes to speaking to lots of mute people whilst rustling through a slide deck is almost certainly a result of nerves about tech and public speaking.
Once all possible hitches are unhitched, or at least made unhitchable before they get a chance to hitch themselves, the experience is, in very real terms, more approachable (this sentence is an example of the way a nervous person can start speaking on a webinar).
What I mean to say is perhaps webinars can be enjoyable if you follow a few steps beforehand and bear in mind one or two points whilst speaking.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned about the tech, and yesterday, very quickly, about the speaking bit.
It’s arrived slightly late this month, but here is your regular round up of interesting, creative and inspiring social campaigns.
It includes Cristiano Ronaldo, a load of selfies, newsjacking, Spider-man, Manchester City, The Special One, and a brilliant campaign from Pharrell and Tipp-Ex.
And for more of the same, check out my social round ups from March and the first three months of 2014.
Enjoy!
Ryanair is a unique brand. It managed to become one of Europe’s most-successful airlines despite a reputation for poor service that occasionally bordered on contempt for its own customers.
The ‘no frills’, challenger brand ethos became such an important part of Ryanair’s image and tone of voice that it ended up antagonising consumers as well as the competition.
But changing consumer expectations and mass adoption of digital technology means that Ryanair risks being left behind if it doesn’t change its ways, so new CMO Kenny Jacobs has been tasked with overhauling the customer experience and improving people’s perceptions of the brand.
The airline’s appeal comes from its low prices and massive choice of routes, so that has to remain intact if the business is to continue growing. Therefore Jacobs is focusing much of his efforts on improving the digital experience.
The immediate and public nature of Twitter has helped the social network establish itself as the talking shop of choice for live TV viewers.
From time-to-time Facebook will try to claim that its useless hashtags are just as effective for real-time conversations, or new second-screen apps will crop up before their inevitable decline forces a forlorn rebrand, but as yet Twitter has yet to face any genuine challengers in this area.
However a new study claims that Tumblr is in fact Twitter’s main rival when it comes to TV engagement, with conversations among viewers spiking in the hours after a programme has aired and lasting for days afterwards.
This is partly due to the prevalence of DVRs, streaming, and other video on-demand services which mean that traditional viewing times have shifted and extended from the live broadcast window to the days and weeks after an episode airs.
Reddit is a veritable goldmine for useful, interesting or downright bizarre content, making it a perfect tool for procrastination.
And one need only take a look at the stories that crop up in the mainstream media in the days after they first appeared on Reddit to see the site’s influence on the news agenda.
But is it any use to publishers seeking to gain additional readers, or social managers looking to drive engagement with a new community?
According to data from SimilarWeb, the UK’s main newspapers get a large proportion of their social referrals from Reddit.
This is the story of an underdog done good. We all love an underdog, seeing the little guy succeed. And that’s why I enjoyed hearing about how visitwales.com helped turn Wales into a holiday destination to rival Cornwall and the Lake District.
Once upon a time (last week) I attended Sitecore Digital Trendspot and heard from Richard Shearman, Head of Solutions Analysis at Sequence, talking about how they turned visitwales.com into a digital storytelling success story.
Let’s be frank. When you think ‘relaxed holiday fun with plenty of things to do to keep it interesting’, Wales is unlikely to be at the forefront of your mind.
Visit Wales had a big job on its hands – appeal to a diverse audience about a place that’s probably more famous for curry and chips than it is for its glorious beaches or outdoor adventure.
Chinese social networks can seem a daunting challenge for brands that are trying to expand their business in APAC.
Beyond the obvious language barrier marketers have to get to grips with new functionality, cultural behaviours and consumer expectations.
The Chinese internet population currently stands at 618m, with 81% connecting via mobile, so the opportunity is too big to ignore.
And with internet penetration at just 45% there’s still plenty of room for growth.
To find out more about social media in China and how brands should be approaching social marketing, I spoke to HootSuite’s APAC managing director Ken Mandel.
For more information on this topic, download Econsultancy’s South-East Asia Digital Marketing Trends Briefing or our Chinese Digital Market Landscape Report.
Econsultancy Enterprise subscribers are also invited to attend a free roundtable on Ecommerce in China on Tuesday 15 April. Spaces are limited so click here to apply for a place.
Another month has passed, so it’s time to look back and reflect on some of the interesting social campaigns that we saw during March.
This time around the list includes Cancer Research’s #nomakeupselfie campaign, a competition to win World Cup tickets, a few viral videos, and several campaigns that reward users with personalised videos.
And if you’re still clamouring for more social campaigns, check out our round ups from the first few months of 2014 and the whole of 2012.