Successful and Unsuccessful Social Media Campaigns

        Some social media campaigns can be spot on when it comes down to reaching their target audience and making them a part of the experience in a positive way. Movie campaigns are probably the easiest campaigns to pursue, because they have to do with media and have to reach all aspects of media in order to encapsulate their viewers. Plus, word of mouth has always been the best way in order to sell someone on going to see a movie, and social media is the base of word of mouth on the internet.
        When it came time for Pixar and Disney to release Toy Story 3 they went all out with setting up a Facebook page, created an ad for the iPhone, and also created viral videos for people to enjoy aside from the movie. All of these tasks go beyond the cliché billboard and banner advertisements and showed an interest in their viewers. This campaign worked, because it was easy to set up a Facebook page and make some quick YouTube type videos in order to gain more viewers. On their Facebook page was a ticket buying application to get people to purchase their tickets ahead of time.
        The Molson Canadian Beer Company tried to engage with their audience and in return failed miserably with their “Cold Shots Campus Challenge” on Facebook. Molson was intending for its consumers to give their brand greater recognition by asking them to post their best party pictures in order to win ‘best party school’. Molson failed to realize that this game would consist of college students drinking way over the limits of intoxication in order to win best party school, which could have caused death or serious injuries. This caused uproar with school Presidents and Deans, because these pictures were defacing the value and academic intelligence of their institutions. Molson had to pull out of the campaign a month before its designated end.
        Sometimes Social Media can help one another and at other times it can hurt them. The best way to make a Social Media campaign is to make it fun and not too difficult in case of hidden flaws that could tarnish the company and campaigns objectives.

http://mashable.com/2010/09/14/social-media-campaigns/

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/25380527/Molson-Social-Media-Marketing