Your Pioneers in Social Media? Let's Find Them and than Chase Them Up

I always want to follow top players in the fields of social media, search engines, affiliation, e-store, in a nutshell multi-channel marketing. Today, I will go over the social media with my little research below.I’ve followed many companies and seen their successes over the years. I put together this list of some of the “bigger players” in the social media atmosphere that are doing exceptional jobs with their campaigns. Granted, these companies have budgets that one would only dream to work with, they still can show us a few things that we can all implement into our own social media campaigns.

• Coca Cola
• Facebook Fans: 41,366,566
• Twitter Followers: 522,143
• Google+ Followers: 504,556

My favorite part of Coca Cola’s social media is their Facebook Timeline. They have utilized Timeline to the fullest by adding in all of their history and adding in their assortment of applications. The best way they have captivated Fans though? With visuals. If you go to the Coca Cola Facebook Timeline, you can see that of their recent posts about 90% of them include some sort of picture. They could have used other Facebook tools for some of their posts like questions or even just simple status updates but they used pictures instead. They have figured out how to get the maximum amount of feedback from their Fans and it’s working… well. They do a great job on Twitter by making sure to reply to people talking about them. This is a good way to interact with Followers and encourages them to keep talking about your brand.

• Ford
• Facebook Fans: 1,467,664
• Twitter Followers: 121,529
• Google+ Followers: 428,365

Ford has done a phenomenal job in using social media. They have made sure to integrate their social media campaigns into every aspect of their company. They measure everything that they do on social media all the way through to the purchase of a car by asking customers if their social media efforts influenced them in any way to their purchase. You’d be shocked at the number of customers they get into dealerships as a result of social media. They were also one of the first companies that attacked the Google+, getting on board the second day that the social network opened to the public. With so many followers, they must be doing something right. The biggest benefit to their presence on Google+ is that the followers they have are more valuable and the conversation is richer. They also have an entire website dedicated to social media. It is a way for fans to get involved with Ford socially. Social Media Examiner recently did an interview with the head of social media for Ford, Scott Monty, and he has some valuable things to say about how Ford has used social media to help their brand in big ways.

• Starbucks
• Facebook Fans: 29,643,724
• Twitter Followers: 2,376,361
• Pinterest Followers: 402 total but over 800 on some of their boards.

Starbucks, like Coca Cola, does a great job at utilizing photos. They have been one of the first and most dominant companies on the Pinterest platform. Creating pictures that have their logo in them and that appeal to a variety of users, increasing their Repins tremendously. They also appeal to their Facebook Fans by showing their involvement in community projects and charities. Of course not every company can do this but even if you sponsor an event at a local diner that benefits ANYONE, you should showcase this through all of your social media. Starbucks has documented their support very well which is definitely another great idea that you can use in your own social media efforts.

• Disney
  
• Facebook Fans: 35,023,410
• Twitter Followers: 1,209,606
• YouTube Subscribers: 165,404 (Disney Channel YouTube Channel)

Disney has utilized their history and nostalgia that their brand brings to many users. They create trivia on Twitter, asking questions like, “What was the first Disney animated feature to have an all-animal cast of characters?” By this they create many Retweets and Favorites. With the hashtag #DisneyTrivia, they are sure to keep this up for quite some time. They also post things on Twitter like, “Hakuna matata [ha-koo-nah mah-ta-tah] n. A problem-free philosophy. Means no worries for the rest of your days.” Most everyone knows what this means and they created tons of Retweets, Favorites, and I’m sure tons of new followers by this post alone. Their Facebook Page ties in their brand history and appeals visually to users by posting photos like this and adding in a quote from the movie or something uplifting. If your brand has a lot of history like Disney does then it should be easy to use it to your advantage. You already have the content, you just need to use it!

So let’s take a look back at everything we can learn from these big players in social media. From Coca Cola we know that we need to appeal to our Fans and Followers visually. Ford has shown us that we need to integrate social media into every aspect of our company whether it means creating an entire website or simply surveying your customers if social media had any influence on their decision to be your customer. The utilization of Pinterest and creation of your own photos that subliminally showcase your brand is a great way Starbucks has shown us how to use social media. Finally, Disney has shown us the importance of tying in your brand’s history to bring nostalgia and reminiscence to their fans.