It’s fair to say that social media has become an integral part of the average American’s life. Every 60 seconds on social media, Pinterest gets 1,090 visitors, FourSquare gest 2,000 check-ins, LinkedIn gets 7,160 searches, Twitter gets 175,000 tweets, and Facebook gets 700,000 messages sent. All that in just one minute.
Since social networks have saturated our culture so much, several companies have incorporated social media marketing tactics into their brand development strategies to great success.
Now in 2014 — 10 years since Mark Zuckerberg first created The Face Book — social media marketing has really hit its stride. Here are a few of the best, most innovative social media marketing campaigns 2014 has had to offer so far.
Mashable’s Easter Egg Vine Challenge
Social media marketing contests that use Easter as a springboard are pretty tricky. After all, there’s only so much a brand can do with chocolates and bunnies before consumers get sick of it all. For Mashable’s Easter time social media marketing contest, they instead had users make a vine of their Easter egg decorations, challenging people to use their imagination.
#getcovered
The White House launched a social media marketing campaign on Twitter this year using #getcovered to promote the Affordable Care Act. The idea was to get users to tell their personal stories about the peace of mind they received from being able to secure affordable health insurance.
Turtle Delivery.
The whole point of social media marketing is to get people talking, and what better way to generate a buzz than by launching what may be considered a controversial new service. On April first, Lego tweeted a picture of one of their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets strapped to the back of a turtle, announcing a one day only turtle delivery service. Of course, the social media marketing tactic was just an April Fool’s Day joke, but it nonetheless got people talking.
Social media marketing has become so important to the marketing world that the best creative agency wouldn’t dare to exclude it from any brand development strategy. As these campaigns show, the key is to get people talking — whether it’s with the telling of personal stories, the sharing of creativity, or even just good old fashioned bewilderment. See this reference for more.