Thursday 27 March 2014

#NoMakeUpSelfie Signals Social Media is Very Much Alive

Social media marketing is never the 'easy win' organisations seem to assume it will be. The hard slog involved in building a brand via social media can mean some business quit while they are behind and see little value in continuing to tweet, pin and update their Facebook status.

However, those who stay the course and commit to really listening to their customer, engage and build loyalty through social media will start to see their hard work pay off.

Last week the viral spread of the #NoMakeUpSelfieforCancer once again hi-lighted the power of social media engagement.


Women across the UK posted photographs of themselves with no make up on and asked people to donate money to cancer charities. The trend spread across Facebook, Instagram and twitter like wildfire, encouraging even high profile celebrities to jump on the #NoMakeUpSelfie bandwagon.

Cancer charities, who hadn't been responsible for starting to trend, recorded record donations. The CEO of Cancer Research UK posted his own 'selfie' on their Facebook page letting people know that thanks to their efforts they had received £8mil in donations just that week.

Although our business or brand may not inspire the same spontaneous reaction as this trend did to raise the profile of cancer charities, there are lessons to be learned from this. 

1. Inspire your followers - our biggest win on social media is not putting a cool update we are proud of, it's inspiring our following to share our message. "Here is my product for £x" is not an inspiring message! Listen to your audience to find out what inspires them and post content that they will relate to and want to share. 

2. Reward Sharing - The NoMakeUpSelfie craze could have died down on day one, but cancer charities were smart and proactive. They hopped on social media to let the doubters know what a massive impact the campaign was having, thus spurring people on to continue to share and to find extra ways to engage. Those involved felt warm and fuzzy about their contribution and continued to be ambassadors for the cause. Let your customers know how much you appreciate their support and what it means to you. Reward them with words and offers.

3. Give them a simple share option - the beauty of the No Make Up Selfie was that it was an easy idea for people to pick up and do. If you want your audience to get spreading word about your brand then make it easy, and fun! Simple instructions to do something that will give them a buzz is what you want. 

Above is my #NoMakeUpSelfie for which I'd love you to text 'beat' to 70007 which donates £3 to cancer research. 


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