Are you inclined to open social media articles with headlines that include lists? For example, “5 ways to improve your writing” or “3 Foods you should never eat”. I admit, I’m more likely to open and read them because of a combination of three things:
- Curiosity (I like to guess what’s on the list, then want to know if I’m right).
- The promise of a quick and easy read (sometimes I have the attention span of a two year-old).
- Knowing that I can scan the heading for each item and easily see the end of the list (Mom taught me to finish everything I started).
Mashable lists
Do you ever check out the top five or top ten list of anything on Mashable? It’s especially interesting if you like the “best of the year” type articles. For a 2014 year-end review of social media campaigns, Mashable lists its top five. The winner, celebrated at the Mashies Awards, was Burger King’s “Motel” campaign which entices people to “cheat on beef” by trying their new chicken burger.
What about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge?
I cannot agree with this choice and was surprised to see that the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge didn’t even make the top five. This initiative took North America by surprise with every celebrity, co-worker and average neighbourhood dude taking the challenge and donating to ALS societies everywhere. Talk about VIRAL! Even fictitious characters were doing it:
The effort raised $16.2 million for research into ALS in Canada with 260,000 Canadians participating. The American ALS Association announced over $100 million raised in one month alone. This is what happens when you inject a simple, fun and entertaining idea into your social media efforts. People love it and it becomes contagious.
The title of this article is not a list – I’m offering only my top ONE, so maybe the open rate will suffer. And maybe Social Kitty is not as trendy and informative as Mashable, but my top ONE social media campaign of 2014 is definitely the ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE.
ALS Canada
I haven’t seen anyone doing the challenge since winter set in, have you? Of course, you don’t have to throw a bucket of ice over your head in January, but you can still donate online to ALS Canada to support research into this devastating disease.
Social Kitty 