Over the last decade social networks have rocketed in popularity with over 1.5 billion profiles being registered by the end of 2015 on the most popular social network in the world, Facebook (Statista 2016). With the Snapchat one of the newest social networks becoming the third most popular network in the world only behind Facebook and Instagram overtaking Twitter who lies in fourth.

What can using a social network to market achieve? 

• Increasing website traffic

• Building conversions

• Raising brand awareness

• Creating a brand identity and positive brand association

• Improving communication and interaction with key audiences

Read more here: http://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing

From an academic point of the view the most successful social network driven campaign achieve the perfect “Word of Mouth” campaign with users sharing information about the campaign with each other without feeling forced to do so by the brand, Cebrzynski (2004) and Gonzalez, (2012). .

let’s look at some successful campaigns: 

Facebook:

Dove Campaign: Dove produced a video that they shared on Facebook that received over a million views and thousands of likes and shares, however throughout the video the brand Dove was not directly mentioned, a story was told about a “what beautiful means to women” with the aim of the campaign to inspire women to not settle for feeling average but aiming to feel beautiful.

The Video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwH81q-HlGE

Dove then shared an additional post on Facebook asking the users of Facebook to tag their aunt and further family members whilst sharing a story about them in the comments section of the post creating strong word of mouth advertising, allowing users to see who has tagged each other whilst reading the stories below.

This campaign was deemed a success as:

• A large audience was reached through encouraging users to share a story and tag their family

• Word of month advertising was achieved through the campaign

• The video was exposed to over a million people

• The brand Dove was seen in a good light without forceful advertising methods.

The campaign can be viewed further here: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/dove-lets-women-give-facebook-advertising-makeover-139831

Dove’s Facebook page currently has over 25 million likes, W0W!

Despite the apparent success of Dove advertising on Facebook, the organisation doesn’t frequently upload new posts on Facebook and engagement is low on these posts therefore questions could be raised whether Dove are utilising Facebook as efficiently as they should be.

More Successful Facebook Campaigns Can Be Viewed Here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/10-successful-facebook-marketing-examples/ including an Oreo campaign and Qatar Airways Campaign.

Twitter:

According to Lambe (2016) the arrival of Starbucks Red Cups marks the start of the Christmas period. In 2015 this campaign really utilised the platform of twitter, Starbuck teamed up with twitter to produce a small emoji next the #RedCups meaning every time someone used hashtag a red cup would appear, Starbuck also paid twitter to promote the hashtag by making it trend on twitter with brand also posting supporting images and tweets along side the campaign.

Did you know it costs: 200 dollars a day to trend on twitter and each promotional tweets costs 3-4 dollars (Kafka, 2013)

This campaign was deemed a success as thousands of people around the world used the hashtag to share their Red Cups whilst enjoying their festive activities, this hashtag also proved to be popular on Instagram as thousands of photos of Red Cups were also shared on this platform.

Further successful Twitter campaigns can be viewed here: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/twitter-reveals-insights-best-social-campaigns-2015/1380415

Snapchat: 

Snapchat is one of the newest social networks which allows brands to market within, despite this it has rapidly grown to be the 4th largest social network in the world and the Snapchat has really shown “the force” is has recently.

Sphere a toy company used snapchat to market a toy they were releasing along side the new Star Wars film, this toy was the new robot called BB8 within the film. Story was uploaded onto the promotional section of Snapchat showing the toy come to life from a piece of paper (this count be viewed here: https://vine.co/v/eTjrFvUWKaI) this video was viewed over time millions times on Snapchat and the toy sold out in stores with a matter of hours.

The image above was was placed on the story hours before the toy was released creating a “Buzz” around the release with users left guessing what could be launched on the Snapchat story at the time mentioned.

Obviously Sphere had the support of the new Star Wars film however he methods used be could be implemented by different brands for further releases of products with Snapchat allowing the ability for instant video to be viewed by millions around the world.

More information about the release can be viewed here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-snapchat-stars-helped-sell-a-new-star-wars-toy-1444384800

Snapchat has a unique benefit comparing to Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat’s layout is small and simple and can only be used on a smart phone therefore advertisements on the application are easy and simple for potential customers to see.

In conclusion marketing on social networks can help assist a successful marketing campaign, a social network has the ability to reach millions around the world in a short space of time with low costs to the business therefore it is vital that businesses look to utilise these methods in the future if they are not already aware of the benefits available through these methods.

Bibliography:

Cebrzynski, G. (2004). Word of mouth best way to get buzz out about business. Nation’s restaurant news. 38 (24), 90.

Cullers, R. (2012). Dove Lets Women Give Facebook Advertising a Makeover Australian app counters body-hating ads. Available: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/dove-lets-women-give-facebook-advertising-makeover-139831. Last accessed 29th April 2016.

Gonzalez, A. (2012). Use social media for word-of-mouth advertising. Primary Care Optometry News. 17 (10), 14.

Kafka, P. (2013). Twitter Hikes Its Promoted Trend Prices Again, to $200,000 a Day. Available: http://allthingsd.com/20130209/twitter-hikes-its-promoted-trend-prices-again-to-200000-a-day/. Last accessed 29th April 2016.

Lambe, E. (2016). Twitter reveals insights from best social campaigns of 2015  Available: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/twitter-reveals-insights-best-social-campaigns-2015/1380415. Last accessed 29th April 2016.

SHIELDS, M. (2015). How Snapchat Stars Helped Sell a New Star Wars Toy. Available: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-snapchat-stars-helped-sell-a-new-star-wars-toy-1444384800. Last accessed 29th April 2016.

Vahl, A. (2014). 10 Successful Facebook Marketing Examples. Available: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/10-successful-facebook-marketing-examples/ . Last accessed 29th April 2016.