Successful Social Media Strategy and Campaign Examples

Successful social media strategies and campaigns can do wonders for businesses or charities. Here are some of the most successful campaigns from the last decade that took social media by storm all around the world.  

Ice Bucket Challenge by ALS Association

The ALS ice bucket challenge took social media by storm and is considered one of the most successful social media campaigns of all time. It consisted of using a simple, yet hilarious challenge to raise over $115 million for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The challenge asked participants to record a video of themselves getting a bucket of ice dumped on their head and/or to donate money to the ASL Association. Millions of people participated, including Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Oprah, Bill Gates and Barack Obama. 

More than 2.4 million videos were tagged on Facebook as part of the challenge and $115 million made its way to the ALS Association – twice as much as the charity raises in a typical year. 

The virality was propelled as people publicly challenged their friends and family to participate on social media. This added social pressure made them more likely to get involved (or donate), than someone simply asking for a like or a share.

#Knowyourlemons - Worldwide Breast Cancer campaign

The #knowyourlemons campaign for worldwide breast cancer really put this organisation on the map. This is a great example of a successful social media strategy. 

This campaign used an image of lemons to inform women of breast cancer symptoms. The viral image was a dozen lemons in an egg carton. Each lemon represented a different symptom of breast cancer, with ‘lemons’ being a metaphor for breasts. Those who wanted to learn more about their potential symptoms could then visit World Breast Cancer’s website for more information. 

A breast cancer survivor (Erin Smith Chieze), shared the image, which led it to become viral. In three weeks, it had 166 million views and 45,000 shares. 

Worldwide Breast Cancer still uses ‘know your lemons’ as its tagline now. It has been translated in nearly 20 languages and posted in more than 70 countries.

Oreo Cookie – You can still dunk in the dark

This successful social media campaign was a case of being in the right place, at the right time.

During the 2013 Super Bowl, Oreo capitalized on the massive power outage inside of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. They tweeted an image of an Oreo with the tag line ‘you can still dunk in the dark’ while the power was off for 39 minutes - this was genius as viewers turned to their phones while the power was out. The image quickly went viral, amassing thousands of likes and tweets.

The day after, The Huffington Post said that “one of the most buzz-worthy ads of the Super Bowl on Sunday wasn’t even a commercial – it was a mere tweet from Oreo during the blackout”.

Starbucks – The Unicorn Frappuccino

The Unicorn Frappuccino was a limited-edition viral drink that Starbucks introduced in April 2017.

This Frappuccino came with a bit of magic, as it started as a purple beverage with swirls of blue, and a first taste that is sweet and fruity. But give it a stir and its colour changed to pink, and the flavour evolved to tangy and tart. The more swirl, the more the beverage’s colour and flavours transformed.

Despite having a divisive flavour, the photogenic beverage turned customers into a social media army that fuelled nearly 155,000 posts on Instagram. These posts caused FOMO (fear of missing out) and drove major foot traffic with those wanting to taste the magic and get an Instagram pic of this pretty drink before it sold out, making it a viral craze.

Whether it’s a case of being in the right place at the right time, or a well-planned concept, each of these campaigns started out with a good idea and they were perfect for the chosen social media platform. If you are wanting to create a campaign that is outside of the box, talk to us today.