Names: Sarah Kelly & Ryan Wheeler

Module code: ADV 231 Social Media &

Digital Tools

Student codes: SK183094 & RW1501581

“Discuss the methods, strategies and techniques that make social media

campaigns effective, using specific examples”

The proliferation of social media has revolutionized the way we think, understand and interact

with one another massively. ‘Social media’ is the umbrella term for web-based software and

services that allow users to come together online and exchange, discuss and communicate in any

form of social interaction.’ (Ryan and Jones, 2014). Consumers are a part of the conversation more

than ever before. The campaigns that are most successful are those that truly embrace the

opportunity presented by Web 2.0 and beyond. ‘Brands have the potential to foster a much more

productive and meaningful relationship with our customers, to gain a powerful insight into their

perceptions of our products, services and brands.’ (Ryan and Jones 2014) We live in a world where

consumers want to interact and converse with a brand directly, thus showing the real importance

of creating a successful social media campaign even further.

Social media is huge in everyone’s lives and in todays world, therefore it is critical for brands to

interact with their customers via social media, however, due to the increase in the use of ad-

blocking software, more intelligent and strategic techniques are needed to target individuals.

Evidence stated that mobile ad blocking has risen by 90 percent in the last year, and has become a

serious threat to the future of media and other emerging markets (Toor, 2016). Irrelevant and un-

relatable content simply won’t work anymore. Consumers find pre-rolled and pop-up

advertisements irritating. Advertising has to mean something, and using social media platforms

such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram is a perfect way to have meaningful and personal

conversations at a click of a button.

In the last 20 years advertising has gone from a largely passive activity (push media) - where the

public is shown products and services – to an altogether more immersive experience that you chose

to involve yourself in (pull media) (Written and Shiel, 2015). Consumers are not waiting for media

companies to deliver relevant content at appropriate times, consumers are now reaching out to pull

what content they want, when they want. (Hagel LLL and Brown, 2011). Due to the proliferation in

media choices, it has become easier for brands to create effective social media campaigns as

consumers can be contacted on so many more platforms now. Subsequently, this encourages a

completely new way of creative thinking, targeting a much bigger and more informed audience.

Ultimately, consumers only want to converse on things that have significance to their lives,

whether that be a societal issue, a funny meme or Donald Trump, people want to get involved.

One could argue that creating a social media campaign is potentially the most effective way to

reach a target market. Evidence shows that the use of social media is up by another 10% this year

alone, now reaching a total of 2.307 billion active social media users altogether (Digital in 2016 –

we are social UK, 2008), Evidentially, everyone is now connected to the online world, whether it be

through a mobile phone, a laptop or a tablet device, people are using it. Consequently, social media

can be and has been advantageous for professionals to strategically target any market. Therefore,

this essay will discuss what makes for a successful social media campaign by exploring the different

methods, strategies and techniques used.

Twitter is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. The microblogging service has

averaged at nearly 317 active users at the beginning of 2016 (Statista, 2016), so there is absolutely

no surprise that twitter has become one of the most powerful platforms for creating successful

social media campaigns. Twitter has been touted with for years as it being the leader in generating

resource for many brands as the main part of their social media marketing mix. (Llana, 2013).

Twitter has the ability to push to new levels of communication and allows for very big brands to

interact with engaged users and to build their online persona and a community of loyal followers

(Comm, Burge, and Robbins, 2009).

For example, Tesco converses with one of its followers here:

So does Nike, a multi-million-pound company:

In retrospect, the 140-character limit for a tweet inspires for a more relaxed and informal

representation as it adds to the conversation element of a brand, thus being one of the main

techniques in creating a successful social media presence and campaign.

A very good example of a successful twitter campaign was the #EndangeredEmoji by WWF in

2015. Evidentially, there was a boom of creativity on twitter in 2015 for advertising. One of the

most useful methods in captivating an audience on twitter is the advocacy of brands using video

and short-form content. Lambe stated that this continued the rise of personalization on a huge

scale as evidence shown through the the explosion of emoji’s in campaigns. Twitter encouraged a

more real relationship between brand and consumer as these shifts finally reflected the wider

trends that were being seen online. (Lambe, 2015).

Another technique that this campaign used to create success is seen through the very powerful and

influential hashtag. The hashtag encapsulates the entire idea of the campaign. Whilst using twitter,

it is extremely important to get the hashtag right otherwise it will not get retweeted. Retweets are

extremely sentimental to a brands reputation as it is the digital equivalent of word of mouth. A

Campaign in particular that promoted the organisations supporters to donate through tweeting

emoji’s of endangered animals. It sparked 559,000 mentions and 59,000 signups two months after

its launch in July. “Although fundraising for the cause was ‘very much front and center’ in the

messaging, WWF viewed it as an ‘innovation-based campaign” that tested out fundraising on the

social platform for the very, first time.” (Mortimer, 2015).

As stated previously, the campaign used various methods to gain response and, as a result it

became one of the most successful twitter campaigns ever. People use twitter as a way to retrieve

up-to-date news and information (Rosenstein et al, 2015). Twitter enabled the issue with

endangered species to transpire into a topical and current issue for people to debate and talk about

on a much bigger scale.

Twitter is involved in every social media campaign and that is at no surprise. It has the ability to

spark conversation like no other and generate more earned media than any other platform.

Moeller, Procter & Gambles chief financial officer stated that ‘in general, digital media delivers a

higher return on investment than TV or print’ (Digitalmarketingshow, 2015). Since 2015, twitter

has seen to be possibly the most powerful tool in making a social media campaign successful as this

is where most earned media can be generated (SEO®, 2016). Earned media such as follows,

retweets, impressions and conversions are all priceless for a campaign. Earned media signifies that

consumers are choosing to talk and interact with a campaign at their own volition. The more

interaction a campaign gets, the more success it will receive and twitter is the perfect place for this

process to happen. Evidently, twitter is beneficial for both the brand and the consumer thus being

one of the brands biggest strategies for a marketing mix.

Twitter can also be useful for much smaller, more targeted campaigns. For example, Ryan and

Sarah, a creative advertising duo from Falmouth University were trying to gain more of an online

presence using twitter:

They’ve been able to develop an online persona to engage with people in the advertising industry.

Instead of going for a generic twitter profile, they have called themselves ‘we are one’ to make

themselves more memorable. By raising awareness and interaction of the creative pair, they have

tweeted a picture over the course of a couple of months whilst hashtaging #onepicperday. Twitter

has allowed for Ryan and Sarah to campaign on a more targeted basis. They have tagged very

influential people from the industry in their tweets and by doing so they have received a lot of

attention from people, including: Dave Dye; A Creative director at JWT and Mick Mahoney; the

chief creative officer at Ogilvy & Mather.

This small, targeted social media campaign of themselves has proved to be extremely successful.

Interactions increased immensely. They have had over 6000 tweet impressions, 604 profile visits

and a huge influx of followers.

The whole idea of the #onepicperday concept, transpired onto other social media platforms too.

They used Instagram to gain further involvement of the campaign. This was because they were able

to reach a different audience altogether. Instagram is more of a visual platform that brought life to

Ryan and Sarah’s pictures. The #onepicperday hashtag extended to another sub part of the

campaign where Ryan and Sarah would write #onepostperday on their website about visiting

lectures and other news in advertising which was then shared on their twitter

account:(http://ryanandsarahcreati.wixsite.com/creative/blog).

Overall, this campaign was extremely successful as it

increased interaction a lot and improved their Klout

score by 143%:

Due to Ryan and Sarah’s increased exposure of their partnership, they were able to take their

campaign a step further. By targeting individuals with their one minuet videos – involvement

increased. The use of twitter allowed them to dig deeper about people and find out more about

what they liked to use for inspiration when making their videos. For example, they sent Mick

Mahoney a video of them drinking 20 cups of tear in one minuet to his twitter account. In

addition, other videos were sent to people in the industry of them doing one minuet briefs –

showing a more professional side to their creative partnership. Without the help of twitter, they

would not have gained all the information they needed and have less interaction from people in the

industry.

Although social media is a great tool in creating an effective campaign and is certainly the perfect

place for a conversation to start, it begs the question that can an entirely social media led

campaign, stand on its own? A social media campaign is not just about the technology that

consumers use, its about getting them talking, sharing and creating their own user-generated

content of a transmedia experience. Ling stated that ‘now more than ever it has become extremely

important to provide users with a seamless point of entry – regardless of the platform interaction

occurs on.’ (Ling, 2014). The campaigns that are most successful combines a multitude of

marketing techniques to engage any audience by the story telling technique thus giving a 360-

degree experience.

A good example of a transmedia experience is the ‘Dumb Ways to Die campaign’ by McCann 2012

for Melbourne’s metro trains. It raised awareness of train safety and kids staying safe at train

stations. The campaign included posters and ambient displays that proved fodder for Instagram

and social media, for example passers by could shoot themselves along side the campaign

characters and press a giant button to make the pledge to be safer around trains. To ensure

longevity, McCann introduced new areas including merchandise and an educational book linking

to the mobile app where you can get involved in a dumb way to die game. The initial video was

created on the dumb ways to die YouTube channel whereby people could share the content on

their own Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This transmedia campaign reached approximately

3.94 million social media impressions and 59.9 million YouTube views. The game reached number

1 free app in 18 different countries and generated 60 million pounds of earned media.

,

Although social media is a great

tool in building a brands

reputation on a more

connectable basis, it can also

have a negative impact on a

brand too. Certain things can be

perceived in very different ways

on social media and consumers

have the freedom to discuss an

opinion, whether it be positive

or negative. Once something

has been shared online, millions

of people are able to see it, it

cannot be unseen. Social media

is a very powerful and

influential thing and it can

create change almost

immediately. For example, the

twitter hashtag of #WhyIStayed

domestic abuse campaign conversation in 2014. DiGiorno Pizza used this hashtag to create their

own conversation, however caused a backlash of response. Di Giorno was known for being one of

the top brands in its’ quick wit and good ear for real-time conversations however did not research

the context of the hashtag before tweeting. Reactions from customers were almost immediate as

within minuets DiGiorno pizza removed the tweet from their page. DiGiorno tried to reduce the

backlash caused on twitter by talking with their consumers directly, this in no way, however solved

the problem that they had caused, it merely softened the blow. Although the initial issue was first

created on social media, the use of social media enabled them apologize to individual people

personally for their wrongdoing. Contacting individuals directly via social media created an

effective way in reducing any further issues that the brand may have had, thus upholding their

precious and priceless online reputation. It has been evident that other companies have adopted

this technique in securing their reputation too. A customer contacted ASOS clothing line directly

on twitter and within 2 minuets she had a response asking her to message them

In conclusion, the use of social media is a crucial element in creating a campaign as it builds a

necessary relationship between brand and consumer. It poses an opportunity that no other

platform can create as it fosters a more loyal and faithful following. It is imperative for all brands in

the 21st century to have social media within their marketing mix. Consumers want more from

brands now; they want to be apart of something. Overall, there are many methods, strategies and

techniques that make social media campaigns effective by creating a conversation. In the words of

Ross Gerber ‘Millennials invariably want to be a part of a community, to participate, to see what

everyone is wearing and even what they are drinking’. This shows that brands must be apart of an

important and meaningful conversation for consumers to engage with. Additionally, it boosts

customer satisfaction if a campaign uses social media platforms to generate that conversational

element as that’s how customers want to engage with a particular brand. Furthermore, being

constantly informed on a brands development is a vital way to build a trustworthy and loyal

relationship between brand and consumer.

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