Sometime ago, Levi’s devised a unique strategy — to push its brand through the social media. It came up with a novel game in which participants were involved in a treasure hunt to locate a pair of jeans. What the company did was to release many pairs of jeans on the streets and give hints about where the jeans were.

This was done through Twitter. If the participant finally reached the location, the man wearing the jeans would pose a question to the gamer, “Are those Levis?” If you were able to get the answer right, the person would literally drop his pants!
Well, this innovative idea of promotion through Twitter brought spectacular results to the company — it managed to sell three lakh of jeans pairs this way.
Brands have realised that promoting through the social media definitely helps. It’s time to accept the fact that almost everyone is a regular on the web. And most prefer to catch up with friends on Facebook and Twitter. So many marketeers are promoting their brands through the social media.
Companies have realised that they can project a positive image through this medium and that the amazing part of this is it is free! Just consider what Levi’s did a few years ago. It promoted its ‘Water “Through this brand push, it was able to promote the image that it was a responsible company who was concerned about green issues. Naturally, the users who discussed the company did so in a good light,” says Saumya Chattopadhyay, director, Strategic Planning, Ogilvy Africa for Airtel Pan African business across 17 countries.
MAC Cosmetics, too, has recently advertised on Facebook about a particular shade they have come up with — a shade that is inspired by Lady Gaga. And yes, every cent from MAC Viva Glam goes to the MAC Aids Fund. A noble thought indeed! As S. Chatterjee, an advertising professional says, “It’s a great way to promote through the social media. You can rest assured that people would notice you and maybe even put up a ‘like’ mark on the brand!”
Other major brands like Virgin and Starbucks have been participating on the social web for a while. And what’s interesting is the fact that even small businesses have started following the trend.
If a recent survey by the University of Maryland is to be believed, the social media adoption by small businesses has almost doubled from 12 per cent to 24 per cent in the last year.
Here’s an interesting example of how an entrepreneur in San Francisco became popular because of his social media marketing tactics. He was known as the Creme Brulee man and carted food carts from one neighbourhood to another. He sold a delicious range of food but if you wished to know what the menu for the day would be and where the Creme Brulee man was in your neighborhood, you would have to log on. On Twitter, he would put up a list of the delicious fare that was available that day, and also where his cart was located. The man, whose actual name was Curtis Kimball, knew that a major portion of his business came from Twitter, and so he tweeted!
If you too wish to create brand awareness, and communicate your product’s key messages, the best way to go about this would be to tweet about it!

The writer is a well-known industry watcher