1) Travelocity
Travelocity’s social media presence has exploded with the help of a little blue lawn gnome. Serving as the face of the brand the gnome has his own Facebook Page, Twitter and entire persona. His Facebook page hosts a number of hilarious photos and videos of the gnome in crazy situations like sunbathing, snowboarding, or hot tubbing.
What can we learn?
Putting a face to the name does wonders. The gnome is personable, recognizable, and extremely memorable. People feel like they are interacting with an actual being rather than just a company logo.
2) Hipmunk
Here’s another travel company that knows how to make creative use of social media. In April, 2011 this start up launched a campaign using their own adorable Chipmunk mascot. The campaigned, entitled “Hipmunk Me” allowed Facebook users the chance to have their very own version of the chipmunk. All they had to do was write on Hipmunk’s Facebook wall with a request to “Hipmunk Me!” along with their favorite destination and activity. The first 500 fans got their own personal Hipmunk doing that activity in the location they requested. Here a a few examples:
What can we learn?
Give your fans something personal. The personalized chipmunk is something simple you can give your fans that makes them feel special. It’s something they can call their own even if it is just a simple image that probably only took a few minutes to create. It also required users to like the page in order to participate. Doesn’t hurt that the giveaway involves an adorable Chipmunk.
3) Old Spice
In 2010 Old Spice launched an internet campaign centered around the catch phrase “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.” The campaign features a series of YouTube videos starring Isaiah Mustafa, who would later become known as, “The Old Spice Guy.” To date, the original video (below) has over 30 million views on YouTube. Shortly after, the brand launched the “Old Spice Responses” campaign. The Old Spice Guy created personalized videos for bloggers who had written about him in the past and responded to fan questions and comments on Twitter.
What can we learn?
Pay attention to your fans and they will do the work for you. The Old Spice Responses campaign showed people that Old Spice was paying attention to its fans. They took the time to interact with fans and engage them with the brand. As a result, the fans talked. Not just back to the brand, but to their fans. They shared videos and tweets and from Old Spice, causing them to go viral and reach an entire new audience that might not have discovered them on their own.
