The continued growth of social media over the last number of years is hard to comprehend. With sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, tumblr and Instagram, to name but a few, taking over, the importance of entrepreneurs actively participating in social media marketing cannot be stressed enough.
Because it appeared quickly, social media has developed a reputation by some for being a passing marketing interest, and therefore, an unprofitable one. The statistics, however, illustrate a different picture. According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites (De Mayers, 2014).
Ford are definitely not treating social media marketing as just a passing marketing interest, that’s if their brilliant Mustang Speed Dating stunt is anything to go by. Posted on February 6th 2015 with the description “Take a 2015 Mustang and a beautiful professional stunt driver. Then, ask a bunch of unsuspecting guys to meet her on a blind date they’ll never see coming. Welcome to Mustang Speed Dating”, their hilarious video has racked up well over 11 million views in just a couple of weeks.
Perhaps they took inspiration from Tippex who set the bar high early in 2010 with this clever interactive video.
I’m sure Richard Branson, a man who needs no introduction in the social media world, would approve of these campaigns. As an avid follower of Branson’s social media activity, I found his blog entitled ‘6 tips for using social media to screw business as usual’ from back in September 2013 to be quite simple brilliant and would highly recommend the read. He highlighted the importance of Social Media Marketing by saying “Whether you are launching a start-up or leading an established company, you should start establishing your social media presence if you havent already”. Branson has been hailed as a real brand hero for the leadership that he has shown over the years and is well worth the follow across social media.
RAD Media Co. 