Bagging a Winner: How These Brands Took it to the Next Level with Social Media

The new year is upon us and marketing is changing. Whereas some years ago the best way to target potential customers was traditional billboard or television advertising, or even in more recent years, a well-designed website, the world of social media has eclipsed this.

A good social media campaign is about so much more than just sending out a few tweets or Facebook statuses. A well-thought out campaign will not only attract new customers, but also engage current ones and increase the potential profitability of your business.

Social media isn’t just something that’s confined to certain industries either – today, everybody is getting on board. Smaller sites would do well to follow the example of some of today’s biggest brands – here are just a few examples of companies who made it big on social media.

DocuSign

The transaction management company has successfully managed to implement professional networking site LinkedIn as part of its social media strategy.

Using LinkedIn’s InMail platform, the company saw some impressive results from a sponsored email campaign. DocuSign set out to generate new leads and did so by creating a community of people who would turn to their business for information and content.

Users with the job title of VP or Director of Sales and Field Operations were targeted by the InMails and the results were extremely impressive. The first InMail had more than 1,700 opens and more than 140 clickthroughs, while the second had more than 1,100 opens and more than 100 clickthroughs. The mails’ ‘calls-to-action’ proved particularly effective, attracting 350 people to sign up for sales guru webinars. Docusign was pleased to achieve three ‘large’ pipeline opportunities as a result.

Red Bull

One very clever piece of publicity to hit this energy drinks giant in October was a $13 million lawsuit. Allegedly, consumers were starting to get upset that Red Bull had made false advertising claims – namely, that the drink could “give you wings.”

Of course, silly publicity aside, Red Bull has also continued to prosper thanks to a rigorous social media campaign. The company, which was the most popular energy drink on the planet in 2012, enjoys a healthy social media campaign across a multitude of platforms. It features a ‘photo of the week’ on both its Twitter and Facebook pages, the latter also being the basis for informing fans about upcoming events.

RedBull also offers RedBullTV, where fans can watch one of the many Red Bull-sponsored sports team partaking in extreme sports. Add a television channel to a whole host of apps and you have every target market sorted. Red Bull has proven its ability to understand its customer base and this is exemplified through its diverse social media strategy.

AirBnb

Founded in 2008, lodging rental company Airbnb has risen through the ranks thanks to its outstanding social media campaigns. To date, it has served more than 11 million guests, which is a testament to its social media strategy style – to ‘make social media fun.’

So how does it make social media fun? The company uses a variety of mediums including Google+, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to offer travellers tips, ask fun questions and keep viewers up-to-date on current events.

Perhaps the most impressive part of their strategy however is their ‘Airbnb Stories’ function, which encourages communities of travellers to share their tales. The lesson to be learned here is that customers, and indeed good reviews, are the best form of advertising!

Bagging a Winner: How These Brands Took it to the Next Level with Social Media