Overview
Every year we learn more about how to improve our social media marketing. Therefore, it is useful to see which companies did well in the year.
That is why we collected the top ten social media stories of 2015 to help you make your 2016 social media marketing even better.
10 Social Media Success
- The Co-operative Insurance: Nostalgia FM– How do you get people interested in one of the stodgiest topics in the world: insurance?
Nostalgia FM creates a musical time machine that lets people play the top songs when they first got their drivers’ license. Type in the date you passed and play your music track.
Is the music as good as the first time you heard it? Or are you crumpled up in a ball thinking what the heck were you thinking at that age?
After you download the list, you are asked to either share the list on social media or create a Spotify playlist
Best of all for the company, they received over 200,000 engagements on Facebook and Twitter in just 5 days.
Furthermore, they increased their Twitter following by 6% and passed Twitters 1.5% engagement benchmark with 5.2% interacting on the idea.
- Vauxhall Astra Union Jack– This might not be one of the most widely seen campaigns. However, it definitely involved some cool stunts that could only be done by a car manufacturer.
Vauxhall celebrated the 36th year anniversary of the Astra by lining up 128 Axstras to form the Union Jack. The iconic British car maker wanted to let their customers know how the car is still made in Great Britain.
A great branding campaign.
- Groupon’s Banana Bunker– Turns out that sexual looking banana holders sell very well on Groupon. The Banana Bunker sold out almost immediately.
Groupon prepared for this promotion in advance. Their social media team responded to every bad sex joke. Bill Roberts, Groupon’s head of global communications, stated, “this post is far and away the biggest and most positive post in Groupon’s history…Plus, our team is very passionate about the benefits of potassium.”
This was a general boon to Groupon as sales and engagement skyrocketed during the sale of the banana bunker.
We’re contractually obligated to let you know every time the Banana Bunker is featured on our site. http://gr.pn/1NcSOIt
Posted by Groupon on Thursday, March 26, 2015
- GoPro’s skateboarding cat– The famous adventure camera maker struck gold with a skateboarding cat here in Australia. As any video with cats, this one received a boatload of shares. Particularly, the video did well on Instagram.
The skating cat received over 250,000 likes on Instagram, and the highest engagement for GoPro the entire year.
- Expedia’s South American Getaway contest– Shocking as this seems, a lot of people want to travel the world. That is why Expedia’s contest did so well. A series of exotic photos of South America, encouraged likes and shares
One nighttime photo of Rio De Janeiro garnered 499 likes and 463 comments on Instagram.
ÂNights of beauty, magic and fun are awaiting you in Rio de Janeiro, #Brazil! Don’t miss out on this chance to win a South American Getaway! Follow @Expedia and LAN & TAM Airline’s inspirational Instagram account @OnlyInSouthAmerica, then comment below! Click the link in our profile for prize details & official rules✌ #HotSpots #OnlyInSouthAmerica A photo posted by Expedia (@expedia) on
- TOMS #withoutshoes- Every company has its niche. Ecommerce site Toms Shoes provides free pairs of shoes to those in need every time someone uses the hashtag #withoutshoes when they are barefooted in the picture.
The company expanded to Instagram this year, and cleverly piggybacked on a successful foot trend to get more exposure.
The result? Over 296,243 pairs of shoes donated. This is the power of marketing when you help others.
- Nordstrom annual sale hits Instagram- Every year, Nordstrom has their annual sale promotion. This year they started promoting the sale on Instagram.
To do that they first turned their Seattle flagship store into a 13,398 square foot art installation. This installation included a 25-foot dress.
They shared 15-second video of the installation on Instagram brought in more than 16,000 likes.
- Burberry’s live-stream fashion show- Every year, Burberry has their menswear fashion show. This June they live streamed the event on Snapchat and Periscope.
They had over 100 million impressions, by making the exclusive show, something their social network could enjoy.
- Travelodge- To celebrate the new king size beds, Travelodge created multiple Vine animations using the beds. The Vines were shown over 200,000 times during the first week they were released.
- The Last Selfie: World Wildlife Fund (WWF)– One of the most creative ways to promote their brand was from SnapChat.
The WWF asked animal lovers to take selfies of themselves on Snapchat. The Snapchats disappear 10 seconds after they are taken.
They did this symbolically to show how endangered species are disappearing around the world.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, companies are branching out in 2015. No longer are companies stuck solely on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. A new series of contenders like Instagram, Snapchat, and Periscope have become powerful additional places for businesses to promote their visual media across the web.
If you are interested in incorporating any of the social media strategies in your own business for 2016, then feel free to reach out our social media marketing company in Melbourne.
