Tips for campaigning on social media platforms

Nowadays, social media is gaining importance for reaching out to young people. PR professionals have to engage social media presence in their campaigns if they want to target the younger generation. The question is what makes an online campaign effective? What factors lead to high engagement of people and a positive reputation for the organization?

In order to identify the “do’s” and the “don’ts” of social media for a successful campaign I looked at the four case studies Allagui & Breslow (2016) executed as well as the analysis of tweets regarding #AskJameis campaign by Sanderson, Barnes, Williamson, & Kian (2016). The first research identified successful practices, whereas the latter draws attention to the potential threats of starting a campaign online.

The scarecrow campaign

Basically I loved watching the short film made by Chipotle, a Mexican grill restaurant, about a scarecrow because it is a heartbreaking story about producing processed food. Everybody can relate to the message of the topic, because unhealthy food is part of our everyday lives. A game for iPhones was also launched where players could obtain vouchers for the restaurant if they take their friends with them.

The scarecrow

"Dumb Ways to Die" campaign

Another very creative approach to attract young people’s attention to be careful when riding or waiting for the metro taken by the Melbourne metro was to write a song about stupid actions that result in the death of the colorful characters. Some of those actions were very real: I mean who has never tried to get a toast out of a toaster with a fork? The “Dumb Ways to Die” campaign also encouraged people to take pictures with the posters of the characters post them online and sing along with the song running at the metro station.

Characters from "Dumb Ways to Die"

These two campaigns have several steps in common that you can see in the flow chart model of successful campaigning below.

Flow chart model of successful campaigning

Flow chart successful campaining

#AskJameis campaign

Unfortunately, not all campaigns are received positively and like in the case of the Florida State University where a Twitter campaign with Jameis Winston (professional football player) went wrong. The main problem was that people started asking all kinds of stupid questions, that resulted in hijacking the purpose of the campaign.


Do's & Don'ts at one glance:

• Choose topic that people can relate to
• Dare to be creative
• Use emotional, colorful high quality films or catchy, funny songs
• Create message consistent with the company’s values
• Combine online and offline strategies, use as many channels as possible

• Start a campaign without being prepared for the negative outcomes
• Ignore the possible reactions of the audience
• Use online tools for all PR campaigns no matter what the subject and the objectives are

My last piece of advice to you is that if you need inspiration just sit down and observe, observe reality around you, add some creativity, an emotional message and room for people’s engagement… et voilá – your success is almost guaranteed.


Éva, the author, likes to explore the beautiful spots on the earth. She likes meeting her friends and discuss PR related topics with them.