The Brands that Rocked Social in 2015: Part 1
By Abbey Theban, TVG Assistant Account Executive
So this blog post is going to be a little different. No advice, no lessons… just an appreciation for some good ‘ole social media accounts. We’ve decided that brands aren’t getting enough recognition for their social media successes. That’s why we’re making up our own awards show… and yours truly is the judge. This week, we are ranking the best social media accounts in ten different categories. Check out which brands made the cut.
1. Best Social Campaign
Okay folks, we’re starting out with the big one… and we might be a little biased since we helped with this campaign! The award for Best Social Campaign goes to… Nature’s Variety, for “Long Live Pets.” Nature’s Variety (@NaturesVariety) created this social video to promote the no-kill movement across social and traditional media platforms. This adorable video follows the journey of shelter pets finding their fur-ever home. What’s even better? Rescue owners got to submit their own photos for use in the campaign, showing that shelter animals make terrific pets! The video was viewed more than 1.2 million times on Nature’s Variety social channels, and even snagged two broadcast spots as well. We give it two paws way up!
2. Best Hashtag
This one goes to the one of the most influential marketing campaigns in the last five years: the #ShareACoke campaign created by Coca-Cola in 2011. Whether you shared a Coke with “Bob” or your “BFF,” Coke fans helped contribute to the 150 million personalized bottles sold in stores. People loved personalizing their Coke bottles and created quite a buzz (pun intended) around Coca-Cola, sharing more than 500,000 photos across all social media channels. People even used these bottles to announce new babies or propose marriage. Now that’s sweet.
3. Most Humorous
This was the hardest category to choose a winner, as there is no shortage of hilarious brands on social media,. I chose Skittles (@skittles) for its absolutely nonsensical, somewhat irrelevant tweets that just make you want to giggle. Is there an overall brand strategy? Eh, maybe. But with 324,000 followers on Twitter, they must be doing something right. All I can say is if these tweets don’t make you stifle a laugh or two at your desk, you need to rethink your sense of humor.
4. Best Brand Voice
I’m voting Old Spice (@oldspice) for Best Brand Voice. I’m a woman; I don’t even wear Old Spice, but I follow this account religiously. Filled with hundreds of funny 30-second videos of macho man Terry Cruz, Old Spice’s social media accounts will have you in tears from laughing so hard. Old Spice’s brand voice is a mix of overconfident masculinity with a hint of absurdity, which is what makes Old Spice’s personality humorous, but also consistent. *Insert Old Spice whistle*
5. Best Real-Time Marketing
Taking home the gold in this category: Oreo (@oreo)! After “You can still dunk in the dark,” the tweet heard ‘round the world during the 2013 Super Bowl power outage, Oreo always seemed to “crush it” with its real time marketing game, often generating thousands of retweets and favorites on a single tweet. The brand is always one of the first to jump on an event and inspire other brands to join the conversation.
