Great examples of Social Media campaigns

Written by Tamara Mansfield Kerr on 30th October 2014

(Last updated 30th March 2020)

Things have come along way with Social Media, with so many channels to choose from.  There are the more obvious mediums like Facebook and Twitter, to the more niche platforms like Pinterest and Vine, there are some great examples of organisations that are doing it really well.

We have put together a list of some of the best campaigns that we have come across so far this year. Have a look and be inspired!

 

  •  ALS Ice bucket challenge

Unless you have been living on another planet this year,  you’ll be well aware of the  phenomenon that is the ALS Ice bucket challenge.  Reportedly there have been in excess of 2.4 million ice bucket-related videos posted on Facebook, and 28 million people have uploaded, commented on or liked ice bucket-related posts. On image sharing website Instagram there have been 3.7 million videos uploaded with the hashtags #ALSicebucketchallenge and #icebucketchallenge. It was typically intended to raise money and awareness for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association. But its British equivalent, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, has also benefited. From 29 July to 28 August this year ALS received $98.2m - compared with $2.7m donated during the same period last year. Pre-ice bucket, the MND Association would receive on average £200,000 a week in donations. From 22 to 29 August, it received £2.7m.

In the UK, other charities have also benefited with Macmillan Cancer Support raising £3m from challenges. Water Aid has seen a spike in donations, including £47,000 in one day - 50% higher than it ever received in a single day before.  Apparently the money came in part from people who felt unhappy with the water that was wasted during the challenges.

It has comfortably been the quickest spreading charity phenomenon on social media. That spread has been so quick that finding the original source of the challenge is not easy.

Like #nomakeupselfie this wasn’t a planned campaign, but it goes to show the strength of social media, and the effect it can have on a charitable cause.  

 

  • Cancer Research #nomakeupselfie

Despite what you thought of the #nomakeupselfie - you can’t deny the success of it as a fundraising venture. For those who are blissfully unaware of the campaign, it involved female Facebook selfies with no makeup on then nominating other people to do the same.  The funny thing is that this wasn’t even a campaign instigated by Cancer research.  The viral campaign began organically on social media and Cancer Research was just lucky enough to be the sole beneficiary of the activity after Facebook users began associating the selfies with the charity. Each person who took part also donated to Cancer Research, with the charity receiving more than £8m in just a couple of weeks. Though it was predominantly a Facebook initiative, data shows that it also had an impact on Twitter where it had 221,488 mentions. Cancer Research also picked up an additional 15,000 followers in just 15 days. 

 

  • Pepsi Max #LiveForNow

As part of its #LiveForNow campaign, Pepsi Max built a bus shelter ad in central London that made it appear as if unbelievable events were taking place in the street, by using Augmented reality (which is a live direct/indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented, or supplemented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data). The ad mirrored what was going on in the real life environment and then overlaid videos of aliens, tigers and monsters. More than 4.2m YouTube users have already watched this video of people being tricked by the billboard.  See the bus shelter here 

 

  • Dominos #letsdolunch

Domino's Pizza U.K. offered fans a solid reason to participate in its Twitter campaign: cheaper pizza. The promotion, which ran from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on March 5, cut the price of the chain's Pepperoni Passion Pizza by one pence every time someone tweeted the hashtag #letsdolunch. After 85,000 tweets, the price dropped from £15.99 to £7.74, and Domino's offered that price from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. A similar campaign also took place in Ireland that day with the #pizzalunch hashtag, which lowered the price to €13.24 from the original €20.  Dominos often have social media campaigns running, click to see their Twitter page  

 

  • Urban Decay's Coachella contest

Cosmetics purveyor Urban Decay created a Pinterest contest where users were asked to create their own board with favourite festival looks, this automatically entered them into a competition for the chance to win festival tickets. In terms of gaining new followers, Urban Decay gained over 51,000 Pinterest followers on one board alone during the run of the contest.  The contest is no longer open but here's the board that inspired the contest 

 

  • Marks & Spencer’s Eggsperiment

Marks and Spencer had a great Easter competition, where they encouraged customers to grab an Easter egg, transform it with sweets, sprinkles, icing or anything that takes your fancy, then to share a pic with #Eggsperiment for a chance to win a year's supply of chocolate.  Their Pinterest board is a great visual clue to its success.  See here and their facebook page                                                                                           

  • Oreo’s

Oreo’s are consistently at the forefront of social trends and is now one of the best brands on Vine,  the short-form video sharing service.  From instructional videos on clever ways to use Oreos, to flash mobs and other promotional videos, they really have embraced the power and reach of Vine. 

 

  • Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters is one of the first brands to use Vine for a competition.  They teamed up with Converse and then launched a contest called #yourchucks. The entrants have to submit a video showcasing their own Converse and the best videos could win a 10 pairs of Converse, a $1,500 Urban Outfitters gift card, and two nights in Brooklyn.  And of course Urban Outfitters and Converse managed to get lots of social engagement from potential customers. 

 

Of course we are sure there are plenty of other great campaigns out there, but these are just a few that jumped out at us. If you’ve seen any other great campaigns recently please let us know, we’d love to take a look! 

This article was posted in SEO by Tamara Mansfield Kerr