Well, a couple of days ago, Old Spice took to the internet in a very big way. After their fun and successful commercials with Isaiah Mustafa, “The Old Spice Guy” standing in nothing but a towel, taking about how awesome he is at life, they followed up with real time responses on youtube to questions users asked via twitter, youtube and various other social media platforms. And we aren’t talking about 1 or 2 videos here. Over the course of a day, they manged to get 87 videos recorded and posted. And they are down right hilarious!
Isaiah Mustafa portrays a real “man of all men” character who can do anything from “serenading women on the moon, while surviving off the oxygen left in his lungs” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx-78v6WLN8[/youtube]
and “chainsawing giant oak trees in yacht boats” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFDqvKtPgZo[/youtube]
to “drinking health smoothies out of the Stanley Cup consisting of explosive missile bits, the spirit of a mountain ram and the tail rotor of an Apache helicopter”. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgRwq-bu0EQ[/youtube]
Hes completely unstoppable (could he even take on Chuck Norris? I am awaiting a reply from him)!
In my opinion, this is one of the best social media marketing campaigns we have seen yet for 3 reasons. Let me explain why:
- 1. Leveraging your assets: When you enter into social media, you can not go in without leverage. No one, not even the biggest brands, walks in and says, “Here I am, look at me, im a big giant brand, follow me on social media”. No! Its just doesn’t work like that. Sure the brand name helps, and you may get followers, but just because you have a huge amount of followers doesn’t make you successful. You need leverage, or at the very least a good idea. What old spice had here was a great actor and a ridiculously entertaining commercial. When they took to making the responses, they leveraged that, making each response equally hilarious and entertaining.
- 2. Speak to your audience: I cant tell you how horrible it is to hear about brands engaging in social media but simply posting some links, or updating about their products etc, but when it comes to speakign with their audience, nothing. The voice of their customers goes unheard. But Old Spice took reponding to their audience to a whole new level. Isaiah Mustafah was speaking directly to them, addressing them by name, so everyone could hear. Which creates the buzz even more. If Isaiah Mustafah mentions me by name, well wouldn’t that be cool! Obviously he couldn’t answer everyone, but there is no doubt in my mind that everyone who sent in a message was anxiously waiting a reply and watched each and every message in hopes that it was for them. When your audience knows that there will be responses to questions asked, they will be significantly more attentive. (another great example of a company which seemes to have great success at listening and communicating with their customers is Hyatt Hotels on their @HyattConcierge twitter page.)
- 3. Have fun: Not to sound overly cliche and corny, but I stand fully behind this statement. Take a look at the biggest presences you know of around your social media circles. What do they all most likely have in common? They enjoy what they are doing. When you enjoy what you are doing, its no longer a chore, it becomes fun and enjoyable and motivates you to continue it. Only while your having fun can you dream up on the spot Beating the life out of a Pinata with a Fresh Water Fish (you have to be a creative individual as well I guess).
So there you have it. I am not guaranteeing success with these 3 rules, but what I am saying is that this would be a terrific place to start. Leverage what creative assets you have, communicate with your audience, and make sure to have fun. Sounds easy right. Well, no one said that running a social media project was supposed to be difficult, did they!