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Social Media Isn’t Just For Superheroes

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Batkid and Social Media

No matter where you were or what you were doing last Friday, I can almost guarantee that you shed a tear or two over the amazing and uplifting story of #SFBatKid. The five-year-old cancer survivor, Miles Scott, was granted one of the most incredible wishes we’ve ever heard of, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Miles wanted to be Batman for a day, and his beloved San Francisco to be turned into Gotham.

Right off the bat, this story is just pulling on your heartstrings. Children + superheroes + wishes = the stuff movie magic is made of. You might be thinking to yourself, “Of course this went viral. People love this stuff!” But what you might not realize is that quite a bit of planning, scripting, scheduling, monitoring, and in-the-moment quick thinking went into making this story the viral sensation it became.

Amidst the flurry of article after article about Miles’ day as the best little superhero our country has ever seen, I read a quick blurb about the marketing company that reached out to Make-A-Wish and offered their social media savvy to help the project really take off.

Clever Girls Collective, a California-based social media agency, can be held responsible for making us all cry with their fantastic work. Yes, Miles’ story and wish are truly remarkable, but CGC helped tell the story and spread the word. Here’s a few lessons we can all learn from the marketing plan that skyrocketed Batkid to Internet stardom.

 

Lesson #1: Tell a Great Story

Marketing isn’t about the products. If that were the case, we wouldn’t need commercials, advertisements, or sponsored postings in our Facebook feeds. Products would just sell themselves. Instead, marketing is about the stories we tell and the emotions those stories evoke. Now that that holiday season is upon us, examples are everywhere. Every time you see those cute and friendly Coca-Cola polar bears, don’t you think about how perfect it would be to have a few of those old-fashioned glass bottles in the house when the family comes for Thanksgiving?

Clever Girls Collective made sure to not only tell Miles’ story as Batkid, but also his real superhero story, his battle with leukemia. Both stories were flooding our inboxes and feeds, coupled with uplifting tales from his big adventure: saving the SF Giants mascot, receiving a key to the city, stopping for a hamburger, and so on.

If you’re looking for a way to break your company through the social media barrier, start by telling an authentic story about your brand. Who are the people that make up your company? Who are the people that buy your products? How are you changing lives, both inside and out? Tell your story. Social media will do the rest.

 

Lesson #2: Open up the Narrative

Batkid’s story didn’t succeed only because Clever Girls Collective was tweeting about it. It succeeded because everyone from your Aunt Linda to President Obama was able to say something or share something. Virality consists of a great story but that story has to be told by many people before it actually reaches a sensational level.

So how did CGC do it? They created several teams to distribute the workload to. One team traveled with Batkid, sending out real-time updates about his adventure. Another team had their eyes glued to the screen and their fingers glued to the keyboard, monitoring and responding to social media posts about Batkid.

In other words, CGC steered the conversation towards Batkid every step of the way. They were able to show fans around the world what he was doing, and as those fans responded, CGC wrote back and therefore encouraged further conversation.

Your company can use the same principle by keeping your consumers in the loop, monitoring what they’re saying about your company, and actively responding to those comments. Keep the conversation going and authentic engagement is a surefire win.

 

Batkid saved the day. His fight with cancer and his fight with the villains of San Francisco/Gotham made its way onto our smartphones and tablets and into our hearts. While the story alone is enough to make you sob like a baby, it was the comments from people around the world, just as touched by the story as you that made it a viral sensation.

Your company might not be looking to go viral with its content, but at least now you how how to tell your story and engage your audience to create a consumer group that cares.

 

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