Social Media has redefined how brands and customers communicate. A well-crafted social media campaign can go a long way in creating and enhancing brand reputation. And Facebook, being the biggest social media platform with 1.71 billion users, has to be a critical part of any social media campaign to make it successful. Companies have to go beyond creating Facebook pages. They have to connect with their target audience. Let us look at some very successful Facebook campaigns. These campaigns have used other social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram also, but it would not have been possible for them to go viral without acing Facebook. These campaigns are winners of Facebook Awards in various categories.
Ice bucket challenge (ALS Association)
A campaign to raise awareness about ALS and encourage donations for research. The campaign, where participants had to post videos of dumping buckets of ice and water over their heads and challenging others to do the same, went viral. Between June 1, 2014 and September 1, 2014 more than 17 million videos related to ice bucket challenge were shared and were viewed by more than 440 million people. $220 million was raised for ALS research. Its success can be attributed to factors such as opportunity to take on a challenge for a good cause, celebrity involvement, public nomination, opportunity to show off etc.
Like a girl (Always-P&G)
A campaign to shatter gender norms and increase emotional connect with Always, a P&G brand. It tried to change the idea of “Like a Girl” being an insult by showing a video of three groups of people—Male and female adults, a boy, and pre-adolescent girls, who are asked to run, fight or throw like a girl. Only the young girls acted like themselves and not in the stereotypical way. A highly successful campaign, it was viewed 76 million times and it became a trending topic on Facebook within a week of its launch. It also resulted in an 18% increase in brand awareness for Always. Its success can be attributed to the inherent message of the campaign which resonated with the target market. Involvement of influencers such as Gloria Steinem also helped spread the word.
Straight Outta Compton (Beats by Dre)
A campaign to promote the movie Straight Outta Compton— a biographical movie on rap group N.W.A which included Dr Dre— Beats’ founder. It encouraged people to be proud of their roots by uploading a customized picture with Straight Outta
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Sources:
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/the-ice-bucket-challenge-on-facebook/
http://shortyawards.com/8th/straight-outta-3
https://www.facebook-studio.com/awards/winners
