Businesses and organisations who succeed on Twitter are always the ones who are innovative with their campaigns. Here are some of the top Twitter campaigns that have caught our eyes over the past few years…
1. #40Dollars
December 2011, and February 2012, were months when social media was used for the better. The American people took to the Internet to tell Washington State that letting the payroll tax cut expire was not acceptable. Thousands of Americans tweeted and emailed to remind Washington that politics is not a game to be played with, using social media to voice their anger and opinions. It was not all a waste of characters. Americans won a major victory that month when the American Congress passed another two-month tax cut extension in December that prevented the typical all American family, earning $50,000 a year, from losing $40 each pay cheque they receive.
Even though this was a major feat for normal families the extension had an expiry date and so as before people spoke out—and it made all the difference. The White House, having no part in the tax cut, took to social media as well and created the #40dollars campaign with a question to the American people. “What can you buy with $40?”
The @whitehouse Twitter account has over 2.5 million followers, and so launching the campaign with the above tweet gave this cause the platform it needed to reach millions.
2. #GetCovered
In the UK health insurance is something we don’t have to worry about, but in the US it is a daily struggle for millions and has sparked some furious online campaigns.
#Getcovered was started by the white house in Washington, D.C. and managed to rope in two extremely talented and caring YouTube stars, Hannah Hart and Tyler Oakley. Both have previously been to the White House were used to help spread the word amongst a younger audience. The online figures have big influential platforms and spoke directly to their audience about getting covered and the benefits of doing so.
The campaign influenced over 8 million American citizens who decided to play it safe and get health insurance due to the overwhelming results of the hashtag. Other major celebrities such as, Amy Poehler, Kate Bosworth, Pharrell Williams and Connie Britton also went online and posted their own words of wisdom for the US people.
3. #ALSIceBucketChallenge
Maybe one of the biggest campaigns of the time, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised over $114m for the charity and that is just money from donations linked with the social media nomination success. A lot of celebrities got involved with the ice bucket challenge, which fed the charities reach. But not all celebrities were as willing to donate and raise awareness for the causes. Grimes (Claire Elise Boucher) wrote;
“I don’t feel great about wasting water in this California drought, but I will donate money. However I will not donate money to this foundation because of their record of testing on animals.”
4. #NoMakeUpSelfie
In March 2014 the UK was gripped by the #nomakeupselfie. Cancer Research UK, which did not start the campaign, said the #nomakeupselfie trend had resulted in an unprecedented increase in donations. Women, and some men, all across the UK and US posted bare faced selfies to social media and, like the ALS campaign, they would nominate their other female friends to do the same. As all popular charity trends happen they have a flock of celebrities doing the same. The list includes Lady GaGa, Holly Willoughby, Beyonce, Lorde and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.
5. #Yesallwomen
#YesAllWomen is a hashtag and social media campaign in which users share examples of misogyny and domestic violence against women. Birthed from the 2014 Isla Vista killings, the hashtag was most popular in May of 2014, and was created as a response to the previous Twitter hashtag #NotAllMen. #YesAllWomen reflected a grassroots campaign in which women shared their personal stories about harassment and discrimination. The campaign was to raise awareness of sexism that women experience, often from people they know.
By Content Assistant Todd Lamming. @toddlamming
Photo Source: By Anthony Quintano with in house overlay edit, [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
