How to Craft Creative Social Media Campaigns

Social media is everywhere and is utilized by companies big and small. In fact, only ⅕ of all businesses have opted out of social media marketing. What a mistake that is!

It’s undeniable: social media platforms have proven to be the most affordable option for raising brand awareness. From videos that can go viral in a blink of an eye, to boosting branded posts to reach thousands upon thousands of targeted users, social media is a powerhouse.

Now it has become the standard. Essentially, if you don’t have a social media presence, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities to make a more personal connection with users and essentially gain more consumers. However, due to there being millions of brands on social media doing the exact same thing with the exact same purpose, the market has become a highly competitive place, oversaturated with like minded content strategies.

Unfortunately, with such a high volume of content and a low volume of people wanting to follow multiple brands, even genuinely good content can be missed in the breakdown.

To standout on social media, you must take a unique approach that is true to your brand. The best way to do this is to not copy the crowd. Do something new, something creative, something that only your brand can do. Here’s a little secret, social media platforms were originally created not for brands to advertise on, but for friends to connect within.

So do that. Connect with your audience, create a unique community, and bring out the personality of your brand. Tell your story because that will be truly unique. That’s how you’ll stand out. Whether that be through Instagram Lives in the office or creating visuals that not only look amazing, but truly represent your taste. If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, read on to see a few top examples at a high-level view.

Glossier

One brand that does an amazing job at both having it’s own creative approach and adding personal elements on the daily is Glossier. Their visuals have an artistic feel that remains on-brand in every post. You can really feel the brand personality and artistry in each image and caption.

When speaking to their personal profile elements, this is where Instagram Stories come into play. On the daily, Glossier is posting Instagram Stories to add more value to their audience. Whether that be educating users on their products or even having a Glossier designer explain why she chose certain packaging over another, you truly get an inside look into the brand and, more importantly, the people behind it.

Gaining that personal feel will pull the heartstrings and cause a viewer to become a loyal brand ambassador. And stories do not have to be used to educate. They can be used to entertain too. For instance, Glossier did a series of Instagram Stories in which they had employees taste-test the new office snacks that came in. Was it valuable? Not really. Was it hilarious and oddly captivating? Yes, yes it was.

The Wing

The biggest takeaway from this social media campaign is that if you have a mission, make it known and rep it. The Wing is essentially a place for empowering working women while promoting the brand’s workspace. Although this is quite a niche, this can be applied to any brand that is passionate about their purpose.

Denny’s

If you have the freedom to use your brand voice to the limitless extent of your creativity, by all means do it. Denny’s has become a sensation on Twitter due to the hilarious and sassy tweets they throw out there. Once again, this proves the point that being unique works.

In a sea mundane tweets, we find the refreshing voice of Denny’s on Twitter, tweeting what most reallyhave on their mind. Not to mention, they went Trick or Treating on Twitter to all the big name accounts. This very out-of-the-box idea received a lot of attention.

Briogeo

Here is an example of incorporating time-relevant content into your strategy. The day after Halloween, Briogeo posted an Instagram Story featuring a tutorial on how to de-style your hair safely since you teased it, gelled it, and even colored it for your costume the night before. Pretty thoughtful, huh?

Keep thinking about what is currently happening, even beyond national holidays. Maybe your audience is obsessed with a certain genre, TV show, or sport. If something happens and it’s relevant to your audience or a post you could curate, incorporate it. Influencers do this all the time. For example, with all of the hype on the Netflix show, Stranger Things, @kcstauffer, a very popular parent Influencer, posted the photo below. The result, over 22k likes.

Wrapping Up

Unfortunately, social media doesn’t have a secret formula to success. There are no clear-cut right or wrong ways to do something. Sometimes outrageous ideas work, sometimes they don’t. But one thing is for sure, your page will not stand out by following the recipe that the rest of the crowd is writing.

Think outside of the box, incorporate your staff, and once it’s fine-tuned, stick to your voice and style. Create, educate, entertain, and inspire your audience with your content.