Ben and Jerry’s Knows How to Curate Content

TalentZoo.com | Beyond Madison Avenue | Flack Me | Digital Pivot

Archives | Categories

By: Casey Schoelen

All brands today are wondering how to best leverage social media. They know consumers are out there in the social media space talking to each other and talking about the brands and products they love. The question is, how do brands get consumers to talk with them and tell them what they love about their products? The answer? Give them a reason and a way to talk.

Ben and Jerry’s is currently running operation “Capture Euphoria” and is using popular photo-sharing platform Instagram to provide a way for customers to interact with the brand. The goal of “Capture Euphoria” is to allow customers to share their love of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in whatever form that takes: balancing a pint on their head, sharing the ice cream with their dog, or letting Ben and Jerry’s bring people together. They can then tag their Instagram photos with “#captureeuphoria” and the top twenty photos will be used in geo-targeted advertising. What better than to have your biggest brand fans create your advertising?

Not only is this campaign exciting for Ben and Jerry’s, it gives customers something to be excited about. By sharing their love, they can have the opportunity to be a local celebrity. One of the major challenges of social media is getting consumers to be social with a brand, instead of just being social about a brand. “Capture Euphoria” is a great strategic campaign to increase user-generated content. Even if it’s not to capture euphoria, Ben and Jerry’s still chooses one fan photo for #fanfotofriday just to share with other followers. When consumers know a brand will actually engage with them, it creates more of an incentive for them to interact with a brand, instead of tweeting at them and never hearing back or posting on a Facebook wall only to feel ignored.

Ben and Jerry’s is not the first brand to figure out why it’s important to connect with customers on social media. The city of Philadelphia embarked on an aggressive social media campaign last summer to drive tourism and visitor engagement by having special check-in badges on Foursquare. Dunkin’ Donuts ran a successful social media contest promoting it’s Coolatta drink where followers were asked to take a photo enjoying the beverage, make the photo their profile picture on Facebook, and then they were entered to win prizes. These are just a few examples of how brands can leverage social media to drive word of mouth just be giving consumers a reason to share.

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Casey Schoelen is a young millennial excited and passionate about branding, advertising, and marketing. She is also a Nashville-native who loves traveling, reading the NYT, and watching sports.

Beneath the Brand on