Indulge your #selfie in a viral campaign that gets your brand at the top of everyone's Christmas list.

Although Christmas is a few months away, for marketers, it’s been top of mind for months:

 “How can we get our brand out there and cut through all the Christmas hype?”

“How do we do something different without spending a huge fortune?”

“How do we engage with our customers and encourage them to share content?”

Selfie campaigns are a great way to engage an audience and promote a certain product or brand. The key is to create a selfie campaign that isn’t hugely complicated, but fun and easy to do. Since selfie sticks make the ultimate stocking filler, surely we need some cool campaigns to capitalise on them?!

This article in The Guardian explores why brands should look at using selfies in their marketing campaigns. According to Paul Armstrong “Brands have to stop thinking selfies are for young people who have identity issues, or a way of simply adding volume to campaigns, and start looking for the next generation of brand storytellers.”

So how do we build the ultimate #selfie campaign?

1)      Learn from what’s working well for others.

Here is a list of the best selfie campaigns of 2014 and check out some of the cracking campaigns since then.  Last year Debenhams used #foundit for Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Christmas. Customers were encouraged to share what they found via social media for the chance to win £1000.

2)      Nail your call to action

Many selfie campaigns go viral but they often lose focus as people get so wrapped up in the motions, that they forget the reason they are doing it! We have all heard different opinions on the no make-up selfies; the real success measure for which was how much money was donated to the cause. Try to keep it simple and related to your end goal.

3)      Add some engagement

Although taking a selfie IS engagement, the journey with your customer or prospect doesn’t need to end there. Think about how to keep them engaged and provide the ultimate experience, while selling to them at the same time! Why not try something different like a selfie map? Check out this women in technology selfie map.  Having a map like this embedded on your web page will increase dwell time as they search for their selfie and explore others. This gives you more time to display those Christmas promotions. It also allows you to see where people are responding to your campaign and if you have really gone viral!

It is time to be creative and get planning, but first, let me take a selfie!