The increase in social media usage has meant that brands need to adapt to continue to engage with consumers.
Take a look at Ikea, for example. It cleverly responded to a Facebook group called ‘I wanna have a sleepover in Ikea’ by actually letting them spend the night in its Essex store. Almost 100,000 people joined the group before Ikea picked 100 of them to be part of the ‘IKEA BIG sleepover’. The participants were able to watch films on big screens, get manicures and massages, sleep experts were there to help them choose the best mattress and they even got read a bed-time story by a reality TV star!
Another great example by the home furnishings giant was its Facebook competition to win a bed. All entrants had to do was upload funny photos of their friends while having a sneaky nap! Facebook users then voted for the best ones. Ikea’s YouTube and Facebook pages jumped in popularity. The simple and relatively inexpensive campaign was successful as it engaged social media users. The photos were funny so users were encouraged to share them with their friends, increasing the reach of the competition. The fact that the photos were funny also provided an emotional connection to the brand – you’re more likely to remember a brand that’s made you laugh, smile or cry!
Cookie giant, Oreo, had a hugely successful Facebook campaign in America in 2012. It reacted swiftly to a power outage during the Super Bowl by producing a poster saying ‘You can still dunk in the dark’. The speed at which the campaign was posted on Facebook meant that it spread well beyond Oreo’s 27 million fans; it also featured in more than 2,600 articles and lead to 1.3 million Facebook interactions. Proof that being able to react quickly to events can have huge benefits – and social media is the perfect tool to display them straight away.
There are many examples of how to utilise Facebook and other social media to engage and interact with consumers. Simple but creative campaigns can provide interesting content for your fans to ‘like’ and share. Developing engaging brand messages can increase your connection to consumers so experiment and improve communication – we’re sure you’ll get a few more ‘likes’ in the process!
Image: www.theguardian.com