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Using Social Media to Be Social
If you're worried about starting a successful social media marketing campaign, I have good news for you: you don't have to do this alone. The best part about social media is that it's social, so collaborations are welcome and encouraged. Fans love seeing their favorite brands interact with each other on social media, and it's also a good way to share fans and boost each other's following.
In a TED Talk called "Why Videos Go Viral," Kevin Allocca, YouTube's Trends Manager, says that in order to go viral, a video needs Tastemakers, Participation, and Unexpectedness. A tastemaker is an influential person who endorses the video and persuades people to watch it. Participation is when fans personalize and share the video. And unexpectedness means that the video is unpredictable and able to grab people's attention.
This doesn't just apply to videos. If you want a blog post, photo, tweet, etc. to go viral, you need these elements, too. The reason social media collaboration works so well is because it takes advantage of these three elements. The two companies act as each other's tastemaker, sharing followers with the other company and boosting the other's popularity. The collaboration usually takes the form of friendly banter, which is funny and unexpected. It gives these companies personalities, and these personalities differ from the faceless entities people usually think of when they think about many companies. Consumers like doing business with brands they can connect with, and people form connections with other people, so giving your brand a personality makes it more personable and approachable. Finally, fans participate by sharing these collaboration posts on their own social media pages. People also enjoy following banter, so they'll be sure to follow these posts and share them with their friends and family.
These collaborations work best between companies who are not in the same industry or who are owned or represented by the same corporation or agency. That way, they don't have to worry about competition or legal ramifications. Social media banter is a great way to gain publicity for your brand, and it can even be fun for employees to participate in! For examples of companies engaging in this type of social media collaboration, AdvertisingAge posted an article showcasing 9 Examples of Brands Engaging in Social Media Banter. I think the posts on this list are hilarious. Hopefully you'll have a laugh and get some ideas while you look through them!