12 Buzz-Worthy Social Media Success Stories

“An effective social strategy requires making an emotional connection with consumers and candidates and generating personality-fueled brands that are connected to the business,” says Steve Ehrlich, global vice president of client development for TMP Worldwide. “Digital technologies give organizations the chance to have personal, individualized relationships at scale—but getting there requires going beyond superficial social promotion.”

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In the following 12 examples, brands went beyond the superficial. Over the past year, they rolled out remarkable campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Vine, YouTube and even Snapchat. They received attention for their efforts while getting personal with customers. They kept them engaged. They made them laugh—or cry. One brand even gave a lucky customer $1 million.

The examples come from social media expert judges across the U.S. None of the judges, nor the agencies for which they work, were involved in the social media campaigns they recommended.

James A. Martin is an SEO and social media consultant and writes the CIO.com Martin on Mobile Apps blog. Follow him on Twitter @james_a_martin and on Google+.

Background: Red Bull is known for promoting a high-energy lifestyle. The energy drink brand often sponsors big sporting events promoted through social media, not to mention the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. Its most notable recent example, though, was daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s October 2012 record-breaking jump into the stratosphere over New Mexico, says Steve Ehrlich, global vice president of client development for TMP Worldwide. Red Bull leveraged the stunt with social media campaigns on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Why it worked: The campaign didn’t quite reach its goal, garnering 50,265 tweets, which in turn created “an effective wind speed” of 140 mph. But The Weather Channel received a lot of publicity for its campaign, with articles in Huffington Post, AdWeek, ABC News and more, which no doubt put some extra wind beneath its Tornado Week viewership wings.

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Why it worked: Oreo’s Tumblr images “were educational and informative, they were fun, and they were totally on brand, Ehrlich says. The Super Bowl tweet worked, he adds, because there was no red tape to clear before it could be posted. “It hit the Twitter-stream at the right moment. It was funny, and most importantly, it was totally on brand. With more than 15,000 retweets, this was clearly a viral success.”

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Background: Home improvement retailer Lowe’s launched a series of DIY videos using Vine, the six-second video recording/social sharing app Twitter released early this year. The Lowe’s Vine videos, hashtagged #lowesfixinsix and also shared on Twitter and a Tumblr blog, demonstrate tasks such as unscrewing a broken light bulb with a baking potato and keeping your trash container from getting sucked in when you pull out a trash bag.

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Why it worked: Hasbro’s campaign was authentic to its brand, revived interest in the board game and kept the interaction simple, notes Nathan Rice, partner and digital director at Haberman. It also gave fans reasons to buy a new version of the game (to get the cat token) or snap up the existing game before the iron token disappeared.

The campaign even stirred social media buzz among other brands. Shoe-seller Zappos took to Twitter to ask fans not to vote off the shoe token: “It’s hard to look dapper walking around in socks.” And AAA used Twitter to petition to keep the car token.