by Jaimie Siegle | Advertising Systems, Inc.
Nickelodeon, MTV, and the man behind the tweets of @CharlieSheen were big winners at the social media ceremony the Shorty Awards, which took place in New York on March 26.
The awards event honored individuals and companies who excelled in specific social media campaigns and networks, and all winners were asked to keep their acceptance speeches limited to 140 characters, according to CBS. More than 1.6 million nominations were “tweeted” in this year, the highest ever in the event’s four-year history.
Here, we highlight a few of the winning social media campaigns that all companies can learn from.
- Have Fun with Hashtags. Bob Maron, the creator of @CharlieSheen‘s tweets, won two Shorty Awards: “Best Overall Brand Presence on Twitter” and “Best Use of a Hashtag on Twitter.” (#Winning … need we say more?) Remember, hashtags are great ways to help others find your tweets – but they’re also a great way to show that your company has a sense of humor.
- “Like” SpongeBob SquarePants. The lovable cartoon character who “lives in a pineapple under the sea” won the award for “Best Overall Presence on Facebook.” The sponge’s Facebook page is updated at least once a day, and offers interactive games and apps, like trivia quizzes, TV clips, voting polls, and the SpongeBob Mood page. Keep your fans on your page with interactive content and relevant, catchy posts. (With more than 33 million fans, SpongeBob has to be doing something right!)
- Take Notes from Dentyne. Perhaps our favorite winner of the Shorty Awards, Dentyne, “moved passive fans and followers to become passionate brand advocates …[and] the campaign helped drive a 229% increase for Dentyne Pure product sales,” according to the Shorty Awards website. Dentyne’s “Practice Safe Breath” campaign, released initially as a faux public service announcement, “yielded a 1,000% increase in Facebook fans in less than a year and more than 820K interactions (likes, comments, shares, etc.).” Read the full report about the Dentyne campaign here.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, singer Justin Bieber, and the popular social networking photography app Instagram also took home awards. The Daily Show’s Samantha Bee and Jason Jones hosted the event.
