Social Media Explained

Some days being a social media person can be a bit of a drag. You have to be online 24/7, tweet constantly, respond to posts on Facebook, and you have to be clever and witty and always on. But maintenance is key to a good social media strategy, joining the conversation means you can’t leave the table. You need to keep posting content, i.e. photos, videos, status updates, and you have  do it with the right voice, and in an authentic manner.

But occasionally, you get to mix things up with a stunt, the big event that makes every one stand up and pay attention. Not sure what I am talking about? Here are three examples:

1: T-Mobile Flash Dance – T-Mogile organized a group of dancers in the London Tube to spontaneously start dancing. This took weeks of preparation and the reason it worked was that there was no obvious branding, but after the video was released, the point was made (through video editing) that people were sharing the experience via their cell phones. They made the news, and the post flash dance reactions were amazing! Not to mention, the video on YouTube (which was released 8 months ago) has over 22 million hits.

2. World Record for Largest Popsicle – This is an example of a stunt that turned in to a disaster. Back in 2005, Snapple was introducing a new line of frozen products. In an attempt to get attention for their new product someone at the company had the bright idea of constructing the World’s largest Popsicle – it made sense, get press and blogger coverage, do something original, hand out coupons, etc. However, this was June in New York City, and with 80+ degree weather, the 25 foot, 17 1/2 ton Popsicle didn’t have a chance. Check out Disaster on a Stick for the full sticky details.

3. Month at the Museum – The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is looking to add to their collection… They want someone to live in the Museum for a month and document their experience. While this isn’t as cool as the best job ever, it certainly has a nerdy geeky vibe that I totally dig. I mean, anyone can sell you on a tropical paradise, but visiting a museum? I can see this being a huge win for the museum if they can pull it off (big plug for my brother who has applied!)

Each of these “stunts” had or have a chance to really capitalize on social media, and they have the potential to create content that will go viral. But without a proper daily social media strategy in place to push the content, the stunt is useless.

When thinking about social media for your company, don’t be fooled in to thinking that if you do a couple of stunts a year you have a social media strategy. The heavy lifting is the consistent daily interaction, the stunts only happen after you have mastered that.