25 Successful Social Media Marketing Examples To Learn From
Need some inspiration for your next social media marketing campaign?
Launching your own campaign is no longer as simple as it was. You’ll need to keep up to date with current trends if you want to deliver consistent results.
In this post, we’re sharing 25 successful social media marketing examples you can learn from.
These examples will help you stay up to date with the latest trends so you can deliver more leads, sales, and brand awareness.
Ready? Let’s get started.
1. Product highlights
Product highlights are posts that showcase the things you sell or services you offer. These are more commonly used for physical goods but some marketers do it for digital products as well.
If you’re going to use this social media marketing strategy, you’ll want to hire a professional photographer or videographer. Products need to look their best to get your target audience’s attention.
The copy that you’re going to use is just as important. If you’re not that confident in writing your own ad copy, then you use a writing service that offers copywriting. Remember to use hashtags so people can discover your content more easily.
2. Social media ads
Yes, you can use social media ads to find a whole new audience. And that works for some marketers. But people tend to tune out paid ads. So they’re not really as effective as they once were.
What you can do instead is upload commercials on your social media platforms as regular posts. Some users are more receptive to these because they seem less forced.
You can upload static ads but it would be better if you can do videos instead as they tend to grab people’s attention better. Just try to keep it short so you get a higher video completion rate.
Whether you’re running paid or organic ads, you best keep an eye on your budget. These sorts of social media campaigns can go over budget if you’re not careful.
3. Contests and giveaways
Running contests and giveaways will always draw people in. And it’s so easy too — just select a prize, decide on terms for the event, then use a third-party giveaway app like SweepWidget to facilitate it. If you don’t have a budget for prizes, you can find a sponsor who’d work with you.
You can set conditions like “Follow on Snapchat” or “Follow on Instagram” to gain more social media followers.
The prizes you’re offering should be relevant to your target audience. The same thing goes for giveaways.
If people start associating your brand with giveaways, there’s a good chance that more social media users will start following your brand.
Check out our post on giveaway prize ideas for some inspiration.
4. POV posts
Lately, more and more accounts have started sharing POV videos — and businesses were quick to jump in on the trend.
These are creative ways to showcase products and services. And you can have a lot of fun with it too. Even better, you don’t need professional camera gear to do them. Most POV posts are made using smartphones.
They’re great for businesses that sell experiences. As the name suggests, these videos are shot from the point of view of someone else. You, as the viewer, then get to imagine yourself at that moment.
If you’re seeing someone film themselves while on vacation, you’d feel like you’re there too. That just might be the push someone needs to pull the trigger and make that purchase.
5. Look back posts
This social media strategy isn’t something you can do year-round. However, look back posts are popular every December. People want to look back on the year that was. And you can upload content to fill that need.
You can also use look back posts to show people how far you’ve come as a company. Try posting this type of content on your company’s anniversary.
Content creators who achieve significant milestones can also use look back posts to reminisce about their journey. Vloggers will often upload a highlight reel to sum up their year.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use images with text to talk about the year you’ve had.
6. Company events
Many business launch events in the hopes that the media picks them up and runs with them. But with social media marketing, you can spread the word yourself to get the attention your event deserves.
You can show highlights of company fundraisers, charity events, celebrations, and more. Upload videos or share images that were taken that day. If the event is in honor of someone, it only makes sense to have that figure prominent on all social media posts.
Even small businesses and startups can post about their events. If you’re based in a small community, then you’re likely part of community events in your town. You can talk about your experience on social media.
7. How-to posts
How-to posts never go out of style. There will always be a demand for content that explains how to do things. This is true for products that need some introduction. For example, men might need instructions on how to apply facial products, especially those who have never used them before.
Short-form video platforms like TikTok have made sharing how-to posts even simpler. There’s no need for videos to have a high production value. Social media users on the platform expect videos to be somewhat plain. Just use the right background song and have some on-screen text — then you’re all set.
8. FYI posts
FYI posts refer to content that gives social media users information they may not have known about a business or a community that they’re a part of. Cyclists, for example, might be interested in data about the bike riding community. If you have access to this data, then why not use it for social media content, right?
You can also share information about your business. Talk about how many people bought a particular product in a month or year. Or if your business no longer gets as many complaints, you can talk about the changes you’ve made that led you there.
Just be careful about some of the data you share. You don’t want to publicize information that’s supposed to remain within the company.
9. Mini documentary
There are ambitious businesses that shoot mini documentaries for their social media marketing campaign. And if you have the resources for it, you might want to give this a try yourself.
If you do, you’ll want to pick a topic that your follower would relate to. If your business falls under the sports category, you’ll want to do a documentary about sporting equipment, athletes, or sporting events.
To make a good documentary, you’d need to do a lot of research. And it’ll take a lot of resources to finish. So it’s definitely not a project that you should take on if you’re not willing to commit.
If you want a quick and easy social media campaign, this isn’t it. But if you’d like to produce something that your followers might engage and share with others, give this a try.
10. Collaborations
Businesses will often add collaborations to their social media marketing campaigns to get as many eyes on the brand as quickly as possible. Working with influencers means you’ll get exposed to an untapped audience.
Then there’s the increased credibility that a business gets when entrepreneurs work with respected individuals in their fields. For example, musicians will always make great collaborators for those in the music business.
But the reality is that those who are relatively new in your industry might find it hard to find influencers to work with. However, you can try finding smaller creators and see if there’s something you can do together.
11. Office or store tours
Office or store tours give people a glimpse of what life is like behind the scenes. You also get to show off cool stuff that the average person doesn’t have access to. Employees can talk about what they do if they’re up for it.
There are other things you could talk about while giving a tour. You can give people a quick history of how you got started with the business. Or if you just happen to be moving to a new facility, you can give a tour mid-renovation and let people know your plans for the new facility.
You’ll only want to do this once or twice a year though. Doing this on a regular basis will get old quickly.
12. Product recommendations
You’ll do your followers a huge favor by giving them product recommendations. Just because people are in your circle doesn’t mean they know everything about the brand. There are products they may not have heard of. It’s part of your job as a marketer to tell them what they should buy and for what purpose.
There are also product categories that your audience may not know about. For example, you can have a list of products under a certain price point that some might find interesting.
You can also differentiate similar products to help potential customers better understand what they should buy. Gift guides are also popular, especially around the holidays. You can do that as well.
13. Lifestyle posts
Some brands are all about the lifestyle. They’re trying to tap into their audience’s emotions and interests. They then create content that speaks to these emotions and interests in the hopes of making followers out of each one.
In simpler terms, you make people follow you because your content shows them a lifestyle that they’d like to have.
This social media marketing strategy is typically reserved for clothing and gaming brands. But there are other categories that benefit from lifestyle posts.
If your brand has a strong identity and you’d prefer to get followers that understand and relate to that identity, then you too should do lifestyle posts.
14. Automation
Social media automation is a huge deal for digital marketers. Not only does it save them from performing repetitive tasks, but it also lets businesses become available 24/7.
Chatbots are one example. Facebook Messenger allows businesses to provide answers to frequently asked questions. Chatbots can also aid in filtering queries — it knows which questions they can handle and which ones should get redirected to customer service agents.
There are also automation tools for Twitter such as Audiense.
What your chatbot does will all depend on how you set it up.
There is a learning curve to using chatbots for your social media platforms. So you may want to consult with someone who has experience. If you don’t do it right, your chatbot might end up annoying your customers instead.
If you’d like to learn more, check out our post on chatbot stats.
15. Community interaction
There’s no reason why you can’t get your community involved when you create your social media marketing content. Some—if not most—of them will surely appreciate being part of your posts. Your social media followers are your biggest fans, after all.
You can do casual interviews with customers outside your retail store. Or have customers participate in mini-games.
Some businesses are really creative in coming up with ways to please their community. Chipotle did a social media video where it asked customers if they’d like to receive a gift card that’s worth X amount of dollars or double the amount for the next person asked.
This quick experiment got people talking in the comments section. You could take this as inspiration and come up with your own unique take.
16. Customer service
No surprise here. Using social media as an extension of your customer service team is always a good idea. Most people—especially the younger generation—are more comfortable using social media to get in touch with businesses.
Your social media pages should also serve as one of your main lines of communication in the event that something goes horribly wrong. If your business is unable to fulfill its obligations for whatever reason, you should let people know through social media as soon as you can.
And while you’re there, give people an idea of what you’re doing to fix the issue. Expect customers to flood the comments section. Be ready to provide them with answers.
17. Social media promotions
One of the best social media campaign examples is doing promotions. Do a couple of promotions and you’ll surely get more engagement out of it.
If your business is doing any sort of promotion, you should let everyone on social media know about it. In a TikTok post, Panera Bread did two things. First, it subtly lets people know that it has a membership program. Second, it told people about one of the perks of being a member.
You can do a similar promotion for your business.
There are different ways to go about doing this. You can offer discounts. Or you can give away coupons. You can also try giving your followers access to exclusive content.
18. Community building
Social media can be used to strengthen your online community. You can set guidelines that members should follow. And you should let everyone know what your business stands for.
Having a strong community is not only great for branding, but it’s also great for sales. However, you will inevitably encounter community members that are just there to cause trouble. They’ll get into heated arguments and go overboard with their comments.
When things become toxic, you should enforce the rules.
Other things you can do to build a better social media community include moderating comments and blocking abusive users. Social media platforms have reporting tools that you can use to keep your account safe for everyone.
19. User-generated content
Nothing improves your brand’s credibility like user-generated content. These are posts that are about your products that are made and uploaded by fans of your brand.
Not only do these photos and videos help you cut down your costs (since you’re no longer spending as much creating content), but they also make your business look more authentic. Posting your own content is one thing. But when customers are the ones making content for you, that’s when people know you’re legit.
Your followers will entertain the idea of getting their photo or video reposted on your account. But you do need to ask as a courtesy. It’s better to have their permission than risk getting into a fight about you stealing other people’s content.
20. Polls
Polls are one of the fastest ways to get content out there. Honestly, you don’t even have to think that hard. Influencers would throw out polls for just about anything. And they’d get a lot of engagement out of these polls.
But if you’re running a business, you’d want to be more strategic with your social media polls. It can have an impact on your other social media marketing campaigns. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to put up something too controversial as that may damage your brand.
You want to keep your polls simple. And try to make them as relevant to your brand as possible.
If you don’t have any tweets scheduled for the day, put up a poll. It’s a quick and easy fix to a stagnating social media profile.
21. Entertainment
Some brands are just too good at posting fun content. Wendy’s, for instance, is well-known for coming up with funny photos and videos. They generate a ton of views and comments.
Positioning yourself as a fun brand could help get more eyes on your business. But that’ll only work if it makes sense to do so. If you’re selling medical devices, it doesn’t make sense for you to be posting funny content.
There should also be a ceiling. There’s a line that you shouldn’t cross — it’s your job to figure out what that is. This strategy will also require you to have a social media team that understands internet humor. Trying to get in on a meme that you don’t fully grasp is just cringe.
22. Product links
Use your social media to convert more users. Link to product pages whenever you can.
Sure, there’s logic to not being too pushy with the sales talk — especially on social media. But there are instances when you’ll need to take people to your product pages. If the video or photo in your post prominently features a product, your followers might want to know more about it. Your link will get them from interested to informed.
Sharing links on Instagram might be a bit challenging though since it limits users to one link in the bio. But there are third-party solutions like Pallyy that can help with that.
23. Nostalgia posts
The good old days. Social media users love seeing content that reminds them of their youth. If your business had been around for a long time, you might have old photos and videos lying around the office. Why not post them on social media?
It’s a simple concept but it works.
And if you don’t have any visuals that you can include in the post, you can just leave a question. It won’t be as powerful but it should still get people talking.
24. Freebies
Who doesn’t like freebies, right? If you have a promotion where you’re offering stuff for free, it should definitely get announced on social media. Your followers would love that.
Free shipping is a huge deal. Free samples are good too. If you have a free trial going on, talk about it on social media. It just might get a couple of new followers to give your product a try.
But as always, be careful when giving out free stuff over social media. Everything you post on social media gets amplified. So you’ll definitely get more people to participate than if you were to just mention it on your website.
25. Q&As
Your followers have questions and you have the answers. Why not do a Q&A session?
Social media is great for this type of content. It’s like short-form videos are made for this type of stuff. You can do a whole series or answer several questions in one video. What format to use is entirely up to you.
You should ask your followers to submit their questions a week or two in advance. Give everyone enough time to join. Asking questions that far ahead will also hype up the video for when it drops.
Final thoughts
These social media marketing examples should provide you with plenty of ideas to fill your editorial calendar, and develop campaigns that deliver better results.
Want to dig into more content? Here are some posts I’d recommend reading:
