Five marketing insights from the Ice Bucket Challenge.
We all from time to time, come across a ‘fad’ or ‘trend’ on one or sometimes, all of our social media platforms. Sometimes we enthusiastically join in and other times, we sit back and watch the outcome or objective of it all. Most often, they are short-lived but sometimes, very few go on for a lot longer that ‘fads’ generally do.
One such fad is the Ice Bucket Challenge (sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge). It involves throwing a bucket of ice water on someone’s head to promote awareness of a disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and then making donations to aid in the research of the disease.
Many people have been involved in this challenge, and it has definitely been one of the most talked about fad that went viral. It is also a perfect example of how the internet and social media can impact and change a business overnight. Consider that after the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on social media, public awareness and charitable donations to ALS charities soared, whereas prior to it, awareness was relatively limited.
While it is true that copying an idea will not guarantee the same results, the ALS ice bucket challenge has some important lessons to teach entrepreneurs about media and marketing.
Robert Tuchman, a board member for the ALS Greater New York Chapter, shares five reasons why the challenge got so big and how you can put them into effective use for your business. Here goes:
1. Video Power.
It is without doubt that video messages is one of the must powerful and effective communication tools there is in the digital world. Business that use interesting video content on their media platforms can guarantee a higher influx of both current and new audience than businesses who don’t. Remember that one main theme with the Ice bucket challenge, was the opportunity for participants and challengers to upload and share their own video on social media. Imagine the enormous amount of awareness and free advertisement generated by that action alone. Sharing with friends, who invite other friends, who invite other friends. So where you, use video content as the main source of information sharing on all your social media platforms.
2. Timing.
Although it is unclear where the idea of dumping cold water on one’s head to raise money for charity originated from, the ALS ice bucket challenge have shown that targeting and knowing the perfect time to move your strategy can work wonders for your business.
From mid-2013 to early 2014, a phenomenon called the “Cold Water Challenge” became popular on social media, especially in the United States. It usually involves the option of either donating money to cancer research or having to jump into cold water.
Clearly, the idea is not a brand new one, but while all this was happening and gaining interest, the ALS challenge came along and seriously saturated social media platforms by inviting and nominating friends to participate, at a time when the rest of us were wondering what it was all about and why social media. They did it just at the right time, by making us more interested and more aware of the ALS disease.
3. The ‘Fun’ aspect.
Whenever you devise or try out a new and creative method of communication or digital marketing strategy, always keep in mind that if it is no fun, no one will want to participate. Find ways to make new campaigns fun and interesting. Take Cola Cola for instance, a brand that is already well established; their campaign involving writing different names on coke bottles generated interest a huge interest. People went out of their way to look for names of friends and family members and then posting their finds on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. They did this because they were having fun, just as with the ALS challenge too.
So make your campaigns fun, get more people involved and generate more awareness for your brand.
4. Charity Angle.
Doing charitable deeds is always a winner when it comes to raising awareness for a cause. People are most empathetic to philanthropic works done by organisations especially. It shows the ‘humane’ side of your work and that you are not just a logo. Think of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign that went viral on Twitter. It made such waves and had everyone talking or getting involved one way or another (We did our bit too).
Doing charitable work(s) will indeed raise awareness for whatever cause you choose you go for and also raise your profile by generating either new followings or renew interests in your brand.
Whatever you do however, be sure that you are not strictly using charitable works just to raise your own profile, or people will know and it may backfire on you or your business. If you do not have a favorite cause but want to do something for charity, then use that opportunity to invite suggestions and ideas on your social media platform. You equally generate interest that way, and will be better off honest about your lack of knowledge than looking like a fraud.
5. Celebrity Appeal.
You will find that even celebrities are just like everyday ‘normal’ people, in the sense that they want to join in the fun too, however, their kind of work and their management especially, will forbid them from getting involved in most things to avoid unwanted embarrassment or attention.
The Ice Bucket Challenge achieved celebrity attention because it did two great things. One, it was all done for charity and raising awareness for a great cause, and two, it was fun. These are two of the lessons mentioned above. Celebrities want fun too, but clean, uncompromising fun. If your campaign can be interesting and fun, without any malice, trust that sooner than later, a celebrity will get involved and draw more attention to your brand by pulling in other celebrity friends of theirs.
Written by Gayle Thompson @SwoopStudios
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