8 Standout Social Media Marketing Examples From 2018

We constantly hear stories of huge marketing campaigns from go-to brands like Coca Cola or Bud Light. Whether it’s a  viral Super Bowl commercial or influencer marketing campaign involving A-list celebrities, every marketer can’t help but take note from the greats.

However, not every brand has $4 million to shell out on a 30-second ad.

That’s why social media has become the “great equalizer” for marketers. With platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you don’t need millions of dollars to run a successful marketing campaign. You just have to be creative and know your audience.

It’s no longer just about the size of your budget. Now it’s all about how you spend those marketing dollars. Even brands that do have millions to spend have turned to social media to get more bang for their buck.

But again, it all comes down to strategy and execution. Without good ideas and a plan to put them into action, you’ll fall flat.

If you’re short on ideas, don’t worry. Sometimes we all just need a little inspiration to know what’s possible.

We’ve compiled a list of eight amazing social media marketing examples from 2018. We’ll show you campaigns from smaller brands that likely don’t have the same size budget as larger competitors but still manage to make noise. Plus, we’ll look at some larger more established brands to show how they’ve adapted to the new social media wave.

The point is, whether your budget is $1,000 or $1 million, you can use social media to grow your brand.

1. Peel

The cell phone case industry is extremely competitive. Pretty much anyone can buy cases in bulk from Alibaba and resell them for a markup. So when a company is able to stand out and establish a brand, you can’t help but take notice.

Peel sells thin phone cases, with the major selling point being they’re both functional and stylish. So naturally, social media is a great avenue to showcase their products.

They use Facebook video ads to help tell the story of what separates their products from everyone else.

The campaigns have been successful to say the least, resulting in a 16x increase in revenue and 3x higher ROI.

Their success isn’t solely from ads though. Peel is also a great example of how to succeed on organic social. For instance, they have a very cohesive and visually appealing Instagram feed.

That might not seem like the biggest deal in the world at first. But when one of your brand’s major selling points is aesthetics, little details like this help reinforce your messaging. Plus, people take notice.

On top of that, you’ll notice Peel does a great job of responding to customers on Instagram.

Providing excellent social customer care is crucial for any brand that wants to succeed on social. Our data found that 29% of consumers are more likely to go to a competitor if they’re ignored on social. So each comment you miss is potentially lost revenue.

The larger your brand becomes, the more difficult it’ll be to manage all your incoming comments across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In order to keep your sanity and avoid missing questions from customers, use Sprout’s Smart Inbox to get all your comments and messages in one place.

Key takeaways:

• Think of ways to set your brand apart on social media, especially in a competitive industry.
• Experiment with social media advertising.
• Use social media to reinforce your brand messaging and story.
• Prioritize social customer care.

2. Wayfair

Our next social media marketing example comes from Wayfair. The online retailer is known for selling affordable furniture and home goods. As you can imagine, a large chunk of their audience is active on Instagram.

For years, one of the biggest challenges for retailers on Instagram was getting followers to go from looking at a photo to going to their website and making a purchase. That changed in 2017 when Instagram rolled out new shopping features.

Through Instagram shopping, brands have the ability to tag specific products within a picture so users can go directly to a landing page and buy it. Wayfair has done a great job of implementing this feature into their social media strategy.

Here’s an example of what the process looks like.

First, you see a post that looks visually appealing. Shoppable posts are signified with the little shopping bag icon in the corner of the photo. When you tap the icon, all the shoppable products will pop up.

Let’s say we’re interested in the table lamp. Just tap the box and you’re taken to a landing page on Instagram.

If you scroll down a bit, you’ll also see the other shoppable products from the post.

When you decide you want to make a purchase, tap Shop Now and you’re sent directly to the page on Wayfair’s site to buy the lamp.

The process is smooth and caters to how consumers shop today, which is why it’s so effective.

For example, what if instead of showing the lamp in a living room setting, Wayfair just used a photo of the lamp against a white background. It wouldn’t be nearly as appealing, and it would’ve been much less helpful for their audience.

Marion Thomas, who’s in charge of global site merchandising at Wayfair, explained it perfectly in a Q&A:

When you think about furniture, for example, you want to be able to see the product by itself, but also see it in an environment, and potentially in different styles.

The team at Wayfair understands that just posting any ol’ type of content isn’t going to work. They purposefully share content that’s going to shed the best light on their products and appeal to their target audience.

Key takeaways:

• Don’t be afraid to use new features of different social networks.
• For retailers, give customers a seamless shopping experience from social media all the way through to checkout.
• Create content that fits the platform you’re using.
• Present your content and products in a way that’s easy for your audience to digest.

3. Wholesome Culture

This next social media marketing example is another retailer. Similar to Peel, they’re in a competitive industry—fashion.

Wholesome Culture is a fashion brand aimed at people who live a plant-based lifestyle. The brand’s focus and mission is to make cruelty-free clothing while spreading the message of plant-based eating and helping the environment.

While Wholesome Culture definitely isn’t the first brand to do this, we wanted to highlight them on our list because they’re doing a few things a lot of brands can (and should) learn from.

One strategy they implement is posting content based on viral memes and pop culture trends.

These posts often drive the most engagement for their page. In order to capitalize on the momentum they get from these posts, they typically sandwich them in between content that’s more directly related to the products they sell.

Notice that they don’t just post random memes. They cater to Wholesome Culture’s audience and overall message of being animal friendly. The memes help attract the right audience, and hopefully people are intrigued enough to learn more about the brand behind the posts.

Another tactic Wholesome Culture uses on Instagram is sharing short videos of vegan recipes.

You might be wondering why a clothing brand would post recipe videos. Well, it comes down to knowing your audience and creating the type of content they want to see.

Wholesome Culture’s audience consists of people on plant based diets. One of the biggest challenges of being a vegan is finding new and delicious recipes. Posting these recipe videos attracts new customers, helps current followers and boosts engagement. So there’s a ton of upside.

One last thing we want to point out is the use of hashtags. As you likely know, hashtags are very popular on Instagram. However, there’s a difference between being strategic with hashtags and spamming.

Wholesome Culture uses hashtags to get discovered by their targeted audience.

You’ll often see hashtags like #veganlife, #plantbased and #savetheworld in their posts. It’s because those are the hashtags their target audience is searching for on Instagram. By including them in their captions, they have a chance to show up in Instagram’s search results.

Key takeaways:

• Focus on building a community on social media, not just gaining followers.
• Use current pop-culture trends to pull in your audience.
• Integrate your brand’s messaging and core values in your social channels.

4. Casper

The direct-to-consumer mattress industry has exploded over the past few years. It seems like a new brand pops up every week. One company that has been leading the charge, with the help of their social media strategy, is Casper.

Casper injects humor into their marketing without being crude or inauthentic.

Pulling off humor on social media is a tough challenge. In fact, only 36% of consumers are compelled to make a purchase due to brands being funny on social media.

Casper found a way to pull it off though. Instead of making their content all about mattresses, they focus on the value their products bring—sleep.

The reason this is so important is because unless you’re currently shopping for one, most people don’t care about mattresses. If all Casper’s content was about how to pick a mattress or the benefits of their products, it’d get stale very quickly. Plus they’d alienate a lot of people.

However, everyone sleeps.

Posts like the example above are relatable to a wide audience. Even if you don’t currently want a mattress, you’d still be compelled to follow Casper on social media because they share entertaining content around sleep.

Another thing Casper does well is stay active. While they have different posting frequencies for each social media profile, you’ll be hard pressed to find a day where they don’t post on at least one of their accounts.

In addition to staying active, it’s important to keep in mind that your audience likely doesn’t follow you on each social network. Some might follow you on Facebook while others follow you on Instagram or Twitter.

In order to reach as many people as possible, take a page from Casper’s book and occasionally publish the same piece of content to each profile.