Successful Twitter (now X) Campaigns and the Content that Makes them Shine

There are many aspects to a post. From the like opportunities it offers to an audience to the repost potential it has, there are many moving parts to one tweet – which is surprising for something that’s only 280-characters, isn’t it? These shareable components to a tweet are also heavily favoured in the world of X marketing, but it’s often that the most important part of the tweet is left to the wayside: the content.

The actual substance of the tweet, from the hashtags to the images, is what gives a tweet its shareability or virality. This means knowing both the kind of content you want to put out to the world, as well as what kind of content is currently well received in the X-verse.

These example tweets might teach you a thing or two about how to set up a successful X marketing campaign using viral content that really sticks in the mind of your audience.

Oreo’s “Dunk In the Dark”

The Super Bowl is one of the best ways for brands to gain visibility using television advertisement spots. Super Bowl commercials are legendary with many viewers specifically waiting for the commercials to air and not the football.

However, in 2013 one of the most viral ads wasn’t shown on TV. It was a tweet.

If you don’t recall, a massive blackout occurred during the 2013 Superbowl broadcast right in the middle of the game. During the 34 minute hiatus, Oreo posted a simple tweet: a picture of an illuminated Oreo and the caption ‘You Can Still Dunk In The Dark.’

What can you take away from this? Be advantageous and spontaneous. This was a completely unforeseen accident, but within minutes Oreo had made light of the situation – one they wouldn’t have been involved with otherwise. This tweet went viral, and yours could too.

Leonard Nimoy’s Last Tweet

Leonard Nimoy of “Star Trek” fame died in February of 2015. His last tweet read “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP”

This is a great example of an emotionally viral tweet. After Nimoy died, the tweet was shared over and over and now has almost 300,000 retweets on X. This is because of timing and emotional response. As his last tweet, the words hold an eerie meaning with a positive message, and this brings about feelings of grief, happiness and remembrance.

#LoveWins

America joined the ranks of countries who legally allow same-sex marriage on June 26th, 2015. On this day, President Barack Obama announced the ruling with this tweet: “Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins”

This content was already relevant in the U.S., as well as among LGBT communities around the world, but what really caught on was the hashtag. #LoveWins became a movement and is still used to this day to describe the landmark ruling and movement as a hole. X also allowed anyone that used the hashtag to have a rainbow-colored profile picture, which also increased awareness and virality.

For your own X campaign, you should always look into creative ways to make your own hashtags go viral, but also remember that using other established hashtags can get you instant visibility.

#PlutoFlyby

While at first it seemed like only science geeks would be interest in the pictures of Pluto that NASA tweeted out, the photos soon caught on with the rest of the X community and turned the ex-planet into a viral sensation. Why? The story that NASA told with their hashtag #PlutoFlyby.

NASA already used the hashtag in the past, but not for content that had the same impact as the actual Pluto photographs. When audiences clicked the hashtag, they suddenly had access to an amazing science adventure that they never would have seen had they not clicked that hashtag.

One Direction vs. Personal Accounts

There’s no mystery why content posted from the official One Direction X gets lots of shares, but sometimes the band member’s personal accounts get more responses than what their professional PR team puts out. Why? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?

In reality, no. Fans and audiences alike enjoy the experience of something personal being shared. This is why Niall Horan sharing pictures of he and Liam Payne making weird faces on stage went more viral than most official One Direction tweets – there’s an additional level of intimacy there.

In short, there’s essentially one overarching theme present in viral X content – emotion. If you continue to pump out tweets that offer an emotional aspect, content that’s immediately impactful and that share moments with an audience. When you share something inspirational, you give your audience the chance to connect with you, and that’s the most important marketing tool you’ve got.