What makes a marketing campaign go viral? There might not be a guaranteed formula, but there are definitely ways to use social listening to increase your chances.
Those ways, and how they helped a major smartphone manufacturer reach viral success, are the subject of our upcoming webinar How Social Goes Viral: An In-Depth Look at a Top Smartphone Campaign, hosted by Adweek.
The webinar takes place Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 10:00 AM Pacific time, and will go in-depth on how a top rap star and popular catchphrase inspired more than 30 million social views for that major smartphone brand. How did they do it? We’ll share the social data behind the story, but here’s a teaser:
It’s not about celebrity – it’s about the right celebrity
Celebrity influencers are a brand’s dream, as they usually come with legions of devoted fans who’ll do anything to be like them, or make an impression on them. Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton can hardly wear a thing without it selling out immediately as fans of her style rush to imitate it. Imagine if she was actually trying on behalf of a single brand? They’d be the envy of many a retailer.
Celebrities wield a lot of power, and when the right pop icon is willing to talk up your brand, the results can be amazing. Finding the perfect influential fit requires applying social listening and sentiment analysis to see who consumers are talking about positively, and how that conversation relates to your brand category.
It’s not about finding the celebrity with the most followers, or someone who is particularly “hot” right now – though those are great things. What matters most is who your audience gravitates toward. Bring them on board as an influencer and your audience/their fans will follow.
Our smartphone brand was smart indeed to do just that.
But is that all there is to it?
Consumers are the real VIPs
Picking the right celebrity to endorse your campaign is an important start, but it still doesn’t guarantee anyone will care if you don’t know more. What else is your audience passionate about? What else is your influencer passionate about? You’ve got to uncover all the common threads to know how to approach your campaign.
When you apply social listening to learn why consumers love your influencer, you bring to light the best ways to connect with them. And there may be multiple angles – use them all. People, whether celebrities or their fans, are complicated – with a variety of interests. When you ferret those out, you can engage in much more meaningful conversations, making consumers feel truly seen, heard and appreciated. That’s how you create a loyal audience.
And how does that play into going viral? When you strike that personal emotional chord with consumers, and amplify it via their favorite famous voice, they can’t help but share. When people feel authentically and individually represented by a brand, they want to represent that brand in return.
Tune in for the big reveal
We’ll dive into more specifics, as well as reveal more about the brand and influencer in question, on June 14 – so be sure to join us at 10:00 AM PT for the webinar How Social Goes Viral: An In-Depth Look at a Top Smartphone Campaign. And maybe our next webinar will be spotlighting your brand’s story.
Can’t join us? Reach out for a one-on-one demo of our social listening tools – we can’t wait to be part of your viral success!
Image from Sam Churchill
