With only 6 weeks to go until 2015 (hasn’t that come around quickly!), I wanted to take a look back at what I believe to be 5 of the best social media campaigns from 2014. Of course, I could have easily given 100 fantastic examples as there’s certainly no shortage of businesses using social VERY well these days, however it’s these 5 who I believe have gone that extra mile and put together a campaign which has worked wonders for them and should be seen as great examples for anyone looking for inspiration for their own campaigns.
1. Cancer Research UK – No Make Up Selfie
Whilst this wasn’t technically first put together by Cancer Research UK themselves, it’s probably the standout social media campaign of the year. 18 year old Fiona Cunningham came up with the bright idea of the ‘No Make Up Selfie’ back in March this year and this vital social campaign took of with a bang! Within just a few short weeks, more than £8 million had been raised for Cancer Research UK, an absolutely mind blowing achievement, even more so when you take onboard the fact that it wasn’t even a planned campaign!
Why did this campaign work so well? Quite simply, it was something which hadn’t been done before and which people could connect with. Cancer Research is a charity which most people are only more than happy to support, with so many being affected by Cancer each year and this innovative approach brought about a fun side to raising money. Most women would never dream of taking a selfie without their make up on, however to raise money for such a good cause, who could turn down a nomination?
No, it wasn’t a long thought out and planned campaign, however sometimes, just going with the flow and seeing where an idea takes you is never a bad thing!
2. Weight Watchers #SimpleStart
In order to make the most of the New Year’s Resolution trend, Weight Watchers launched their #SimpleStart campaign at the start of the year. With many looking to lose the pounds they’ve put on over Christmas, plus more, the timing was perhaps the most effective concept surrounding this campaign. It goes to show that when a campaign is launched needs careful thought and planning and that launching at the wrong time could be disastrous in terms of success.
The aim from Weight Watchers here was to showcase that, by making just a few good decisions each day, you could be a lot more effective in your weight loss goals than making yourself huge promises which you’ll struggle to keep. Sharing healthy decisions and ideas as well as encouraging all to become part of one big #SimpleStart family, participants encourages each other and, above all, helped increase awareness on Weight Watchers.
Whilst this was backed up by a TV campaign, it really does go to show that if you want something back, you have to give something away. Don’t run the risk of pushing out nothing but sales pitches. Share your knowledge and advice with your social community and you’ll benefit no end from it. In addition, this campaign showed that, by creating an easy to remember yet effective hashtag, you can use this to encourage the community as a whole to jump on board and participate.
3. Suziki’s #giveanscross
Do you know someone who would love a new car? Tweet #giveanscross and share who you think should win and why. pic.twitter.com/Mhgz7KHgNq
— SuzukiCarsUK (@SuzukiCarsUK) March 1, 2014
If there’s ever a way to get your hashtag used more than 10,000 times in a 30 day period it’s give a way a car! Whilst not every business is lucky enough to have multiple cars at their disposal to be able to give away to lucky individuals, Suzuki did and used it as part of a fantastic social campaign. Having created their own #giveanscross hashtag, they encouraged their community to nominate someone to receive a new car using it. Of course, it wasn’t just about getting the most nominations, however and one of the core points here was that they asked nominations to include why they should win. It’s a simple but effective campaign which saw Suziki earn themselves a lot of social kudos!
4. Coors Light’s #DammeCold Campaign
Ice spy a #DammeCold story from @hauntedmagazine. Share yours to win. http://t.co/rcZC0NdNw1 pic.twitter.com/ftOoeU4aJ0
— Coors Light UK (@coorslightuk) March 28, 2014
To coincide with their ad campaign with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Coors Light launched their social campaign which centred around their own hashtag, #DammeCold. The campaig used a freshly launched minisite which encouraged users to submit their very own #DammeCold story about a time when they were cold! Simple, but effective. With stories capped at a maximum of 140 characters as well as the requirement of an email address and name, this was a clever campaign by Coors Light to capture data, above all.
It was a bit of fun for fans and followers and was something a little different to the usual campaigns. It’s great to see how Coors Light understood the platform which they were working on, limiting stories to 140 characters and taking a light hearted approach. This goes to show that, in order to see social work for you, your campaign doesn’t have to be 100% relevant to your products. So long as there’s a very clear tie which the community can connect to, you’re onto a winner! Of course, the prized helped as well here with these being everything from personalised story illustrations through a stay in the Rockies!
5. Wilkinson Sword’s #SAVESANTA Campaign
Whilst this was technically launched at the end of 2013, I’m going to include it anyway as it was a fantastic social campaign which saw fantastic engagement and exposure here in the UK. In addition, we’ll hopefully have this year’s follow up before long!
In short, Wilkinson Sword released a hostage video last Christmas where three elves captured santa and debated whether or not to shave his beard off! For a brand like Wilkinson’s Sword, this is a fantastic concept and there’s no wonder it did so well. The very clever part, however? A cliff hanger ending with nothing but “CLICK TO #SAVESANTA”! In addition to a great campaign, they’ve left the ending open to return to year on year, re-purposing a fantastic concept with a fresh look.
