4 Tips to Keep in Mind Before Joining in the Social Media Conversation
These days, getting your voice heard above the crowd can be a bit challenging when trying to promote your brand or client. Not all of us can come up with a campaign that’s an instant viral hit like Oreo’s “You can still dunk in the dark” tweet when the lights went out in last year’s Super Bowl. Yet everyone is looking to create that buzzworthy piece of content and thus garner that ever-sought-after viral moment of fame. In order to get that attention, brands and companies have resorted to using social media in unique ways, like Oreo. For our clients, CIIC has run contests and sweepstakes to drum up awareness of different events or timely topics, such as Los Cabos Tourism Board’s “Flip For Cabo” consumer event at The Grove Los Angeles and a warm-weather escape for a #SnowDayAtSolmar with Solmar Hotels & Resorts, which was hosted during a series of serious snowstorms that hit the US in January and February of 2014. We also managed a giveaway plus specials and coupons redeemable in preparation for the “Big Game” with our client Marketplace Development’s @ShopLaGuardia Twitter account.
Enter to #win these cool game day goodies! Follow & tweet us who you think will win the big game with #BigGameLGA. pic.twitter.com/qihdUh5QRO
— ShopLaGuardia (@ShopLaGuardia) January 23, 2014
However sometimes, there is a fine line between trying to tap into an existing event’s audience and can lead to either success or trouble on social media for brands:
- JCPenney recently received a lot of attention for their “drunk” tweets during the Super Bowl, which was later revealed to be just a mitten-selling stunt.
- JCPenney wasn’t the first to fool us with “insane” texts. Chipotle’s Twitter appeared to get hacked with random tweets but it was a hoax to gain attention about their 20th anniversary. That hoax gained them over 4,000 followers in one day.
- SpaghettiOs sent out a tweet in remembrance of Pearl Harbor, but their tweet paired with the photo that they used was immediately deemed highly inappropriate and the company apologized and deleted the tweet.
- A fashion boutique thought that one of their dress lines was suddenly trending on Twitter and sent out a cheerful tweet about their dresses, only to have the trending hashtag be about a shooting.
Tip: Do your research. When joining in the conversation or running a campaign during an event or trending hashtag, here’s a few items to keep in mind:
- Check the hashtag out beforehand, even if it seems relevant to your brand or client. You don’t want to jump into the wrong kind of conversation.
- How large is the usage – will your campaign get lost in the shuffle?
- Don’t just jump on the bandwagon – not every event, topic or hashtag can be related back to your brand and it’s ok to pass mentioning sometimes. Make sure to stick to topics that relate and work well with your brand’s message and image.
- Ask how your message will come across – is there any way your copy or imagery used could be taken in the wrong way and come off as offensive?
Do you have any favorite campaigns or stunts that happened on social media recently? We love to hear from you! Tweet us at @ciicpr.