Best X (Twitter) Marketing Campaigns

Marta Marta
Feb 7, 2019
9 min read

A well-executed and engaging social media campaign can be a make-it-or-break-it factor for your marketing campaign. According to Sprout Social, 71% of Internet users said they are more likely to buy from a company when they experience positive interaction with a brand. 

Sparking positive sentiment around your brand is not an easy process. A social media campaign is not enough these days. People are looking for something more – not only an interesting campaign with great copy and visuals, but also a campaign that has a positive impact on society.

Here are five Twitter marketing campaigns that caught my attention. Most of them combine promoting their business with changing the world (or, at least, improving a bit of it). 

Some of the Twitter marketing campaigns are an on-going activities; others were a one-time event. 

The campaigns show:

  • how to use Twitter to effectively communicate with your audience
  • how to incorporate visual elements into your Twitter marketing campaign
  • how to make use of video and live streaming on Twitter

and more! 

Before we dive deeper into the world of successful Twitter marketing campaigns, we have to answer two questions.

Firstly, why should you choose Twitter for your next marketing campaign?

Secondly, how do you spark positive interactions with your audience? 

Which Social Media Platform Should You Choose for Your Marketing Campaign?

The answer to this question is quite simple – the one where your audience is present. 

I would argue, however, that Twitter is a great place for your next marketing campaign. 

It’s true that the platform has stopped gaining new members and the number of monthly active users oscillates around 67 million. 

But the total number is not the whole story. We also have to take into account who is actively using Twitter.

A lot of journalists still use Twitter to find interesting stories and spot emerging trends. 

Your social media campaign has a better chance of catching the eye of a media worker and spreading beyond one social media platform. There’s a chance that even non-Twitter users will hear about your product which will boost your brand awareness, increase followers’ count, and, ultimately, boost sales. 

Google Maps

Frankly, I remember the times before Google Maps when I was completely lost almost all of the time. That’s probably why I follow every update Google Maps has to offer. 

And Google Maps is a great example of a successful on-going Twitter campaign. 

It is an unusual Twitter marketing campaign as it is highlighting the visual side of the social media platform. 

How does Google use Twitter for visual brand recognition? There are a couple of steps Google did right. 

Consistent style

Every Google Maps update is announced with a tweet that consists of colour background and a mockup of a smartphone illustrating the latest changes to Google Maps. 

There’s beauty in simplicity, and this simple design clearly catches an eye of the viewer. The format of the content differs every time, from a photo to video or GIF, but every users know right away that there’s a new update. 

Provide additional content

There’s a limitation to the number of characters every tweet contains. That’s why Google Maps adds a link to a website where every user can find additional information. 

That’s a great work-around of a very common dilemma – how do you provide in-depth information about your product without boring those who are happy only with a basic announcement? 

Google Maps adds a link – if you want to dive deeper simply click on it. If not – the video or GIF will help you understand the update at a glance. 

Have fun

Twitter is a social network, and social media networks are about being social and having fun. 

Google Maps makes use of the social calendar and explore all the new and quirky holidays. For example, the group planning update was released on the National Spaghetti Day. After all, nothing beats eating pasta with your friends, right?

That’s a win-win situation. On the one hand, Google Maps are educating users, on the other hand they are presenting the knowledge in a funny and entertaining way. 

Key takeaways

  • You can build a robust visual presence on Twitter. Creative images are a great way to boost awareness of your campaign. 
  • You can stand out by presenting consistent style. It will be easier for your followers to spot all the important messages if you preserve a consistent method of communication.
  • Not all Twitter marketing campaigns centre around calls to action. Twitter is a great place to drive awareness or produce an anti-churn content.

Nike

Nike is an experienced Twitter player, with more than 7.5 million followers. 

One of their greatest Twitter marketing campaigns was #Breaking2.

Nike teamed up with three marathon runners, Lelisa Desisa, Eliud Kipchoge, and Zersanay Tadese, to break the world marathon record and run more than 42 kilometers in less than 2 hours. 

Eliud Kipchoge won the race but he came 25 seconds short of breaking the 2 hours barrier. That didn’t stop Nike from making one of the best Twitter marketing campaigns out of the attempt. 

Make use of technology

Nike built a global audience for one online event. Considering the fact that people from different timezones took part in the event, that’s pretty impressive result. 

The first problem was to remind people about the run at the right moment. The sports giant implemented a very simple technique – the only thing a user had to do was to like or retweet a message to opt in and receive a notification once the event was about to start. 

The second challenge for this Twitter marketing campaign was technological. 

The key to success was providing all users with a high-quality video streaming. 

Nike used Periscope, a Twitter tool for live-streaming, to provide its followers with a flawless video stream. What’s more, followers could cheer the runners and take part in a conversation. The online participation component made people feel like a part of the real sports event. 

Nike’s #breaking2 event was the biggest live streaming event on Twitter to date, with more than 13 million viewers. 

The hashtag #breaking2 generated almost 85 000 mentions on social media between May 6th – 8th.

Nike teamed up with National Geographic to produce a documentary which is still available on YouTube. The film, only on National Geographic YouTube channel, gained more 2.5 million views. 

Key takeaways

  • Don’t be afraid to experiment with new tools. Nike went with quite a new tool at the time (Periscope) and benefited from it immensely.
  • Try to find narratives users can relate to and bring them to live. 
  • Go live from time to time. Even if you’re not an industry giant, like Nike, your followers still want to see your content. 

Dove – #Speakbeautiful

There’s a ton of negative content on Twitter and a lot of the negative tweets regard body image. Dove, a cosmetics company, decided to launch a Twitter marketing campaign to tackle this problem. 

The campaign launched on Oscars night, an event focusing not only on films, but also hugely on beauty and appearances. 

Dove analysed the sentiment around social mentions and showed the most popular positive and negative words during Oscars. 

The Twitter ads were carefully targeted to reach users already talking about beauty and film awards.  

Dove sparked a conversation around a controversial topic and succeeded. The number of negative tweets about body image went down from 5.3 million to 3.4 million – a decrease of 34%. 

It’s not only that women posted fewer negative tweets. They focus more on positive aspects of their bodies – the number of positive tweets rose by 69%. 

In the next year, the #speakbeautiful hashtag was used more than 168 000 times and resulted in 800 million social media impressions of the campaign. 

According to Twitter, the number of positive sentiment around Dove increased by 17%. 

Key takeaways

  • Implement a hashtag to your Twitter marketing campaign. It will help measure the results of the campaign, see how your content spreads across social media and much more.
  • Think positive! Be the change you want to see! These are cheesy motivational quotes but they can also be your guide to marketing strategy. You can do both – promote your business and have a positive impact on the world.  
  • Think outside the box. You don’t have to focus on Twitter. If your campaign is bigger or more suitable for other social media channels, go for it. 

Tillamook – #RealFoodSunday

Tillamook is a dairy co-op from Oregon. Their Twitter marketing campaign connected their brand with Twitter marketing campaign so well that one of their campaign’s hashtag didn’t even have to include their name. 

Tillamook did a couple of things right – let’s see what exactly!

Engage your audience

You’ve probably already heard about engagement and how important it is in building your brand’s online presence. Tillamook executed a perfect engagement campaign, although they haven’t even include their name in the campaign hashtag. 

For every tweet containing #RealFoodSunday hashtag and an empty plate emoji, Tillamook donated a meal through an American non-profit No Kid Hungry. 

The response was incredible. Tillamook donated 500 000 meals to children in need. 

From the marketing point of view, the campaign was a success as well. Within six hours of launching the hashtag, #RealFoodSunday, was a Twitter trending hashtag in Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle. 

A lot of celebrities and Twitter influencer promoted the campaign. This resulted in 26 million earned impressions. The campaign solidified Tillamook’s position as an industry leader in the dairy segment. 

Explore the UGC

Once the #RealFoodSunday campaign ended, Tillamook was ready to implement step two of the Twitter marketing campaign. 

The brand made use of user-generated content to build brand awareness and popularise its products. Tillamook still uses the same hashtag, however this time the main aim of the campaign is to popularise the meals made with its products. 

Key takeaways

  • Build a community around your product by participating in social action. You don’t have to go big, take a look at your community and spot the changes you’d like to implement. This will unify your brand and your audience among shared values. 
  • Don’t abandon a hashtag once the campaign is over. Maybe you could breathe new life into an already existing hashtag with established popularity among users. 

KFC – 11 Herbs&Spices

The last Twitter marketing campaign I’d like to present is quite unique. Sometimes you don’t need top influencers promoting your product or to spend thousands of dollars on your Twitter marketing campaign. 

All you need is attention to detail. 

Back in 2017, KFC had made some noise with their 11 herbs and spices Twitter campaign.

Ever wondered what are the ingredients of KFC secret sauce recipe? The fast food chain gave away the ingredients but in a very creative way. 

KFC follows only 11 people on Twitter – members of the girlsband Spice Girls and 6 men named Herb. 

print screen of KFC's Twitter profile

And that’s the secret recipe – 11 Herbs and Spices! 

The masterminds behind this trick, Wieden + Kennedy, at first weren’t sure if anybody was going to find the recipe. 

Today, the tweet has 306 000 retweets and almost 700 000 likes. In terms of boosting the organic engagement rates, KFC had hit the lottery! 

Key takeaways

  • Explore the unexplored. Sometimes the most accessible solutions are the best. Many Twitter marketing campaigns focus on surprising users. Taking a closer look at the basics, now and then is a great way to get in the spotlight. Think about your profile photo, cover image or description. Go with the idea and let the Internet does its magic!

Analysing Twitter Marketing Campaign

No matter what type of campaign you choose for your brand, measuring and analysing the results is one of the most important steps of your Twitter campaign. 

The hard truth is, some of your marketing efforts will be in vain. By measuring the results of your marketing campaign, you will know:

  • what content resonates well with your targeted audience;
  • who and where shares your content;
  • how your audience responds to your posts (do they like it? share it? comment?

and much more! Take a look at our Twitter analytics tools blog posts to see how exactly you can use analytics to your benefit!

What do you think about Twitter marketing campaigns? Has any other campaign caught your eye? Let us know! On Twitter, of course!

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Marta Pinkowska
Marta Pinkowska
Content Manager
Content Marketing, SEO, and lead generation master. In her career, Marta created a ton of educational content, promotional materials, landing pages, and emails. You might saw some of them or even convert through them! She's a great strategist and devoted content creator. Equally eager to work with both words and data.

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