2020 is the year of COVID-19. With everyone stuck inside, social media has become, for many, the primary outlet for entertainment, friendship, news, and even falling in love.
Vietnam’s Corona Chart-Topper
The Vietnamese musician Khac Hung made a surprising jump into social media history books (and probably the normal history books too) when he changed the lyrics to a previous hit song of his in order to educate people on proper hygiene habits in the time of Corona.
This incredibly catchy song merged two factors that translate to social media success: value and entertainment. That’s not exactly easy to pull off when the context is a global pandemic. Others have tried and failed…miserably.
But when the global population is sharing a similar experience, it can be a great time to get a message across. The Corona Song (titled “Ghen Co Vy”) managed to do it without being pushy or pretentious, and as result, it’s become Vietnam’s most popular song of 2020 and has been translated into an English version with nearly 3M views on YouTube.
Adobe Goes Live
If you think live video is a fad, think again. Facebook Live videos produce 6x more interactions and 10x more comments than regular videos. And that’s just Facebook, a platform not known for video marketing.
Platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, and even Reddit are all hosting live content, and the marketers who unlock the secrets to this medium first will reap huge rewards.
Just look at Adobe. It hosts a series on YouTube called Adobe Live where designers and artists create content. This allows viewers to learn about Adobe’s tools and how they can be implemented in real-life situations. And the best part? Viewers can interact with the hosts in real-time via the comments to ask questions about the software and get insights directly from designers and Adobe employees.
It shouldn’t be hard to make successful live videos if you stick to your niche. Adobe did just that. Even 2-hour live sessions like this one are racking up thousands of views.
Chobani is “Almost” Successful
Chobani’s “Almost Milk” campaign is much more than “Almost” successful. To produce creative videos for its oat milk product, Chobani stuck to its roots with high-end, glossy production with silky smooth shots of lush oat milk pouring into one receptacle after another.
But what really made the campaign stand out was that Chobani understood the confines of its medium better than most marketers. This Instagram ad was optimized not just for small screens but also for Instagram’s features and even the placement of your thumbs.
It uses IG’s tap feature to entice interaction, it creates suspense to keep viewers engaged, and it keeps the ad copy away from the “swipe up” icon.
To be a marketing expert in 2020, you need to be more than a master of messaging. You need to be a master of mediums too (and with more social media channels popping up, there’s never time for complacency). Chobani clearly understands this, which is one reason why it’s the top-selling brand of Greek Yogurt in the USA.
Gym Source Taps Anxiety and Inspiration
In another COVID-19 campaign, the fitness retailer Gym Source has tapped into a common anxiety of putting on a few quarantine pounds and turned it into an inspiring challenge.
The #YourHomeYourGymChallenge features a series of videos that skillfully pair somewhat depressing phrases plastered all over the media and give them a positive spin.
“Shelter in place… doesn’t mean stand still.”
“Quarantine… does not mean quit.”
This video is made skillfully yet simply with overlaid text, upbeat audio, and what could easily be stock video footage. The result was a 150% jump in traffic to Gym Source’s site.
Gym Source shows that despite the social media marketing challenges of 2020, you don’t need to make a major investment to produce a winning video. If you know your medium and tap into a little fear and inspiration, you can produce excellent content using free stock videos and simple editing software.
If 2020 has taught us anything so far, it’s that the power of social media video marketing is only getting stronger… and that we should wash our hands more. While we can’t help you with the latter, we hope these successful social media video campaigns have inspired your next social media marketing masterpiece.
