If your social media campaign is not driving users to your website, generating sales, or introducing new customers to your brand, then it is time to get your campaign back on task. With so many marketing options available in social media, from video contests to custom applications, it is easy for brand messages to get lost in the creative shuffle.
Some companies, however, are using social media in unique ways that promote their marketing objectives while keeping consumers engaged with their brand. One way that companies have been successful in activating consumers is by challenging them to complete tasks that help introduce or further define their brand.
Clearly define your marketing objective
To avoid brand disconnect, it is important to tie social media efforts back into specific marketing objectives. Defining the marketing objective is the most important element of creating a social media initiative. For instance, if your goal is to introduce new customers to your brand, consider tasks that require a user to share their brand experience with their network.
Acacia Africa, an African adventure tour company, is doing just that with a campaign that encourages Twitter users to retweet the hashtag #GoWildOnline with Acacia Africa (and a link to its YouTube video) to enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to Africa. While it can be argued that some Twitter users view "retweet to win" campaigns as spam, it can be an effective way to reach new consumers.
Another unique way to gain brand awareness using Twitter is to challenge users to use your brand name in a unique way. Website builder Moonfruit launched a hashtag-based Twitter campaign in the summer of 2009 in an effort to bring exposure to its products. The company tasked users with the challenge of using the Moonfruit name in a tweet to be entered to win Apple products. According to Moonfruit, the campaign was a huge success with over 500,000 tweets, 3,000 images, and 500 songs sent.
With a little creative thinking, Twitter can be used to drive ROI as well. When Party City launched its ecommerce website only weeks before Halloween, its biggest sales season, the goal was to increase website visits. The Zimmerman Agency created a unique contest that required users to search PartyCity.com for costumes in a version of 21 questions, called Trick-or-Tweet.
Each day over the course of two weeks, the company's @PartyCity Twitter account would answer "yes" or "no" questions, such as "is it a scary costume?" while followers used the clues to scour the site in search of the correct costume. By creating an engaging game, Party City was able to introduce users to its new online store, while interacting with consumers in an entertaining way.
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