Social Media Campaigns: How They Can Succeed and How They Can Fail

Facebook campaigns are another one of those tricky social media marketing tools that can either be a huge boost for your brand online, or be an utter disaster.

Last week, Walmart began a Facebook campaign to market Energy Sheets, the breath-strip like tongue sheets infused with caffeine, by promising to send rapper and Energy Sheets spokesperson, Pitbull, to the Walmart location that received the most ‘likes’ by July 15. The campaign, however, was quickly hijacked by way of Twitter, with the #ExilePitbull tag, with the aim of sending him to the most random and remote location: store #2711 in Kodiak Island, Alaska.

Within a couple of days the Kodiak locations page exploded with ‘likes,’ with over 70,000 as of today.

While the campaign is not a complete fail, it has increased engagement on Walmart’s Facebook fan pages, it ultimately took the focus off of the product it was intended to promote, Energy Sheets.

It’s not always easy to gauge the online reaction to a social media marketing campaign. Sometimes it can have the effect you intended, and others it can take an unexpected turn. Here are two examples of a wildly successful campaign that met its intended goals, and one completely fail-tastic, social media campaign.

One Win:

• Heineken:  If there’s one thing that can be learned from successful social media marketing it’s that simplicity rules. Heineken, with the aim of attracting more ‘likes,” launched the One Like, One Balloon campaign in January. With each like, their office was filled with one more balloon. It was simple engagement with a visible result for the user that resulted in over thousands of nre fans and engagement. Plus, who doesn’t like balloons?

One Loss:

• McDonald’s: In January McDonald’s launched the #McDStories Twitter campaign, encouraging users to share their fond memories of the brand and the Happy Meal as a child. This quickly took a turn for the worst, with tweeters sharing horror stories and bad experiences. Further proof that there’s no way to control conversation on the Web, but it’s important to have a contingency plan mapped out in case your campaign goes south.

In short, there’s no fool proof way to predict the effect that your social media campaign will have on engagement and online conversations. It’s important to have a clear view of your objectives. Whether it’s to promote a new product or simply to just gain more ‘likes’ and engagement, make sure you have your goals clearly outlined and a plan in place to deflect any negative outcomes.

You can also check out more examples of some of the most successful campaigns and those that tanked.