Top social media campaigns – Reasons for success with the “right” SMO strategy

After careful consideration of all the social media campaigns we’ve seen, we figured we’d summarize the main points from the top campaigns to help you figure out why it’s worth it or why it’s worth it to do it right. Right being successfully.

1. Be Remarkable.
Easier said than done. It’s funny. Many clients say, “yes, we want to be that,” initially. However, somewhere between the pitch and execution, that enthusiasm dwindles to the margins of being safe and predictable. I guess it’s similar to getting up to the edge of the highest diving board and having to decide whether to jump or climb down to a lower rung. You were pumped the whole way up. Eager to tell others what you had done. Eager to see the results. Eager to keep doing it over and over. When Freshbooks sent flowers to a customer who had been stood up by a blind date, they weren’t out to make waves (http://blog.mrtweet.net/how-freshbooks-built-an-army-of-evangelists-starting-from-one-special-tweet). Rather, they wanted to reach out to that one customer who needed it the most. While you can’t send flowers to everyone, there are things that you can do similarly to have the same effect on your customer/evangelist.

2. Be you.
For some reason, many companies have the desire to imitate what others have done to try and achieve the same results. Typically, they don’t. Why? Because in social media, you carve your own path based on your community of fans and customers, as well as your comfort zone and strengths. Think about it. The company you’re trying to imitate copied no one. They likely created that path for themselves based on a general knowledge and understanding of the online social world. Zappos isn’t out to be Nordstrom or any other online retailer. Their strategy suits their culture and employee comfort zone. Don’t mimic to mimic. Think more about YOU and your brand before you copy another successful company with dismal returns.

3. Be selfless.
It’s not about you. No, really. It’s not. It’s not about sales even (gasp). In social marketing, you have to be social. You can’t make friends always talking about yourself. People don’t want to be advertised to in a community. Listen to what people are saying and talking about. If you share the same interest, talk about it with them. Answer their complaints. Receive their suggestions. Promote them before promoting yourself. It will come back to you. PitchEngine and JetBlue have mastered this long-forgotten art. Most companies are still approaching social marketing as mass communications. This mistake can cost you your online reputation…and maybe even sales.