Are we having fun yet?

One of the great things about social media and why I love what I do, is that you get to have fun! Whenever we’re thinking about projects for clients, we always ask ourselves if it’s something that we’d actually enjoy doing. It may not always be crucial, but it’s certainly important. More and more companies are coming up with great social media campaigns where the emphasis is on having fun with your community. This is one of the great benefits of social media and something that brands should be aware of if they’re experimenting with social networks : be prepared to have fun and most importantly, laugh at yourself.

Now this isn’t to say that social media doesn’t offer great things in the way of functionality and adding to your daily life, but having fun is more, well, fun. This week I found myself clicking on a banner ad for the first time in a very long time. It was for Cadbury’s Creme Eggs (not sure who’s behind the campaign) and the reason I clicked is because it looked like a good game to play and it actually interrupted my normal browsing activity. It just looked a little bit different and I think if someone can achieve that with a banner ad – something we see hundreds of in a day, then that’s pretty much a good job done. The site itself is great, and really carries through the Creme egg brand

I’m not suggesting that it’s absolutely groundbreaking, but the beauty is almost in it simplicity, it appeals to my inner child.

As a consumer, I personally respect those brands that take a risk in the name of doing something interesting, if not for direct sales. The great thing for those of us who work in the industry is that social media has made marketing more fun. It’s no longer a question of  ‘how am I going to compel the consumer to buy the product’, it’s ‘how am I going to get the consumer to talk to me?’.  While the end game for any business will always be sales,or a conversion of some sort, this is nonetheless a fantastic brief to work with. The great thing is that any brand has the ability to have a bit of fun online. Creme Egg may be a quirky brand that gets to create engaging sites like this, but there are plenty of others in the social media space who are pushing the boundaries with even the most mundane of products. We need only think of what a fantastic campaign ‘will it blend’ is and was, or how an office supplies company had us all dancing around on animated elves.

The fact is that no matter what your brand, you can find a way to make it sexy by making it relevant. As human beings we’re fairly simple in that we like stuff that interrupts the mundane, that makes us stop and take notice. This is what brands now have the opportunity to do – they can interrupt the norm and do something that really speaks to people. Often this is about the packaging rather than the concept itself. How you are presenting something is just as important. Don’t just send a blogger your product – send them an empty box and a clue for where they can find it. Don’t just create a game, but create a unique code that unlocks the game.

What I try to iterate again and again on this blog is that you don’t need a huge marketing budget to do something unique in social media, you just need a great idea and a means to distribute that idea. Last year Wired magazine proved this with a brilliant contest whereby one of their writers disappeared, and the challenge was for readers to find him. This year they’re doing their Vanish experiment again, this time with Universal Pictures (disclaimer, we work with Universal Pictures in Ireland). An absolutely fantastic idea that uses a simple concept. Hide something from us and we’ll generally try to find it. Incentivise us, and we’ll try even harder!

So to go back to the point of this post, never forget that one of the many benefits of social media is that you get to have fun. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that I get to do this for a living. Don’t get me wrong, it can sometimes be a challenge to get brands to let go and have a bit of fun, but when they do, it’s a beautiful thing