The Importance Of Social Media Advertising

Social media has climbed up the marketing ladder as a marketing and advertising platform. And currently, it owns a comfy throne right at the top of the marketing hierarchy. This is of little surprise today, of course.

Social media is the virtual platform for social engagement and interaction. And, considering that social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, to name a few, all cater to a global audience, it's a prime territory for brands and businesses to seek out new customers and brands. Plus, the fact that advertising and marketing on social media platforms are a lot more affordable (and with higher benefits too) than traditional media advertising is (or ever was), makes social media marketing an even sweeter deal

Plus, some of these campaigns might be great inspirations for designing your own brand's social media marketing and advertising campaigns in 2016.

1) #HappyToHelp: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' Social Media Campaign

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines launched a social media campaign that was based on the premise of customer service in order to engage their customers. Under the #HappyToHelp hashtag, the airline first started tracking customer complaints on social media and checked out common complaints that were mentioned in connection with their own airline as well as with other airlines. KLM then prepared a command center that responded to these complaints and problems in real time. This campaign greatly increased the airline's engagement rate and brand recognition on social media.

Lesson to Take Away: Involving your customers in your campaign has a greater chance of success. Bonus points if you use social media to solve common problems your customers have too.

2) Dior Latches on to the Buzz from Hunger Games' Last

And as the release of the final movie installment on the Hunger Games started trending social media, other brands started tagging on to the action. And Dior topped its engagement rate better than other brands by doing the same, using #MockingJay2 (as well as tagging on to Jennifer Lawrence) in its relevant Instagram and other social media posts at the time.

Lesson to Take Away: Latching on to a trending topic on time and connecting it (relevantly) to your brand can do wonders for your brand's social media engagement. Plus, trending and popular movie releases are great topics to connect your brand to!

3) #MyBreak: Kit Kat's Trending Social Media Campaign on Twitter

Kit Kat (India) created a unique social media campaign on Twitter with its #MyBreak hash tag. It encourages users to tweet with the hashtag during various scenarios in their day (like when they're caught in traffic, for example). The idea behind this campaign was to get users engaged with “taking a break”, which was Kit Kat's main theme and slogan. This campaign was an incredible hit and engagement and trending rates for Kit Kat India's #MyBreak hashtag soared!

Lesson to Take Away: The more your brand involves and connects to your customers and audience, the more likely they are to engage with it.

4) The (Still Trending) #LikeAGirl Social Media