At Bailey Gardiner, social media campaigns are just one of many marketing strategies we put together for our clients. While there continue to be many articles written proving that social media marketing works I would like to share a recent personal experience.

While on one of my favorite marketing and networking applications, Facebook, last week I noticed a friend had joined the group “I bet I can find 10,000 people that think Fig Newtons are awesome!” The social media page was begun by a high school student.

Having been a long time fan of the figgy treat, I found this page hilarious and immediately joined (as of this post they are up to 2,404 members). And you know what, when I went to the store the next week for groceries what did I think about and buy? Fig Newtons! And it all stemmed from one small Facebook group that made me think about their product and remember it on my next shopping trip.

Realizing the chain of events that had occurred I made a few deductions about why this particular piece of social media worked:

1. Fun and interesting name. Instead of starting a group that simply allowed you to become “a fan of Fig Newtons”, this name poses a dare that invites you to join along.
2. Invites you to recruit members. The goal of recruiting 10,000 fans encourages you to forward the message to friends who will hopefully join with you.
3. Interactive media. Not only is there lively discussion about the Newtons but contests for the most creative Fig Newton photos and videos. They even created a Fig Newton day—it’s January 16th in case you’re interested!
4. Encourages reminiscing. Many of us remember these as an old school childhood treat, there is a lot of discussion on the board from people sharing their past experiences.

Last interesting note, although this page was started by a high school student, now Kraft brand manager Jim Bender is an officer. Pretty smart of Kraft to see what was happening and join in!