5 Unique Ways to Feature Fans And Increase Brand Loyalty on Social Media (Five Guys Case Study)

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Do you want to inspire your fans and customers to become true brand ambassadors on social media? One of the best ways to help do this is to make them feel a part of your "tribe" by featuring them regularly.

Burger and fries restaurant chain, Five Guys, does a really good job of this - and in several unique ways that make the moment that little bit more special. Check out 5 different examples below and think about how you might be able to incorporate a similar strategy into the content of your own business:

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How John Lewis Dominated Social Media With its Monty the Penguin Christmas 2014 Advert #MontythePenguin

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Here in the UK, the department store John Lewis' Christmas advert is something of an annual cultural event. The commercials are renowned for telling touching, emotional stories centred around the spirit of Christmas giving - as well as signalling, for many, the start of the holiday shopping season. If you aren't familiar with any of the brand's Christmas campaigns, check out recent examples including 2013's Bear and the Hare and 2012's The Journey.

This year, I wanted to take a closer look at how John Lewis built and launched its biggest advertising campaign of the year. It was always going to be a talking point online but, in particular, I wanted to see how the brand utilised social media to maximise exposure for the ad, and start to turn fans and viewers into paying customers. What follows is the story of the run-up to and first 24 hours (and a bit) of John Lewis' Christmas 2014 advertising campaign on social media, with a list of early indicators of success and key takeways for all marketers at the end:

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101 Social Media Content Ideas For Business | Video Part 1 of 4 (Ideas 1 - 20)

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Recently, I launched a brand new mini site at www.socialmediacontentideas.com. The idea was to help answer - in one simple list - the question I hear so often from business on social media: "What do I post?" If you want to check the whole list out (including examples), head on over to the link above now.

Alternatively, I will be rolling out the 101 ideas as part of a video series on here, and on my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/500socialmediatips

Here's Part 1 of that series, Ideas 1-20:


Let me know in the comments if these ideas helped spark your imagination, and look out for Part 2 soon!

7 Powerful Ways to Use Pinned Tweets for Business to Engage, Inspire, and Sell

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Pinned tweets (the ability to "sticky" one of your tweets to the top of your Twitter feed for an indefinite period) was introduced earlier this year "so [that] it’s easy for your followers to see what you’re all about."  

While this is true, I'd argue that pinned tweets are even more powerful as a way to grab the attention of non-followers; anybody who happens upon your Twitter feed, and who you have the opportunity to influence with a non-moving "banner," guaranteed to be the first thing they see. Big businesses utilise pinned tweets in all manner of ways and for many different purposes, so let's take a look at some real life examples to help inspire your own activity:

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How to Promote A Service on Social Media (Hassle Cleaning Case Study)

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 In recent blog posts, I have explored how brands have launched products on social media, and promote products even if they are "boring" in nature. This time, I wanted to take look at a service; companies whose offering is not tangible or photogenic like a product can be. I chose is Hassle,. a company that allows people find and book domestic cleaners online.

Hassle's social media strategy caught my eye because it goes against - in the most effective away - everything you might expect from the marketing of cleaning services, be that on social media or not. Let's take at some examples of how Hassle promotes its service and resonates with customers on Facebook and Twitter:  

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