Social media stunts – worth the risk?

The story of a French tourist making a public plea to find her mystery lover from Mooloolaba made headlines around the world. Everyone loves a fairy-tale so it’s no surprise the heavy media attention this story attracted. The only issue here, was that no media outlets thought to verify this story. So, as I’m sure you can assume this was a hoax.

But why go to the effort of creating a fake story such as this one?

Easy, to create awareness for a product or service that the audience isn’t aware they are being exposed to. This is referred to as a social media stunt, designed to generate buzz.  In the previously mentioned case this social media stunt was used to “put Mooloolaba on the map.”

The success of  a social media stunt can be attributed to Jonah Berger’s 6 STEPPS model.

This campaign achieved success through its activation of an emotional response which leads us to act on the stimulus, done through the use of storytelling. People were inclined to share this news story as they believed they were helping someone find a lost love, creating social currency.

The positive effects of a social media stunt are significant when done in the right way, but a misstep could have dire consequences on a company’s reputation.

So, are the associated risks worth it? Definitely.

Social media stunts all across the world have proved to be one of the most effective methods in increasing brand awareness and driving sales up.

Another example of a successful social media stunt was SodaStream’s ‘SodaSoak’ campaign as shown below. This campaign  gained large  brand exposure worth millions of dollars. The success of this campaign was due to the way SodaStream used celebrities to deliver a light-hearted and humorous video, that still highlighted the features of their actual products available for sale, resulting in an increase in product awareness.

The positive impact of social media stunts is clear. So I ask you – are the risks associated worth it?