It took a tag-team of Green Bay Packers fans driving across the Southwest to remind me of social media’s greatest gift:
Social media, at its best, is fun.
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen enough. I spent three days bombarding followers with tweets that included @tsand and #MBteamS. I lost a handful of followers in the process, but I’d do it all again without thinking twice.
I’ve never had more fun on Twitter.
Let me explain: Todd Sanders (@tsand), a colleague in higher education, nabbed a spot in the Twitter-fueled MB Tweet Race. Winning the race meant Todd’s wife scored a new Mercedes-Benz and St. Jude’s Research Hospital would get $45,000 to help kids fight cancer. Tweets and retweets fueled Todd’s car; hence, the need to launch a full-on Twitter assault with #MBteamS.
Michael Stoner shared some great thoughts on how to stage a similar social media event and succeed. Karine Joly also shared her insights from the occasion. They both touched on a theme around my own observation: The “race” was a success because it was fun.
It was amusing to watch Todd and his co-pilot post pics from the road. It was cool to see so many higher education professionals rally around the cause. And it was fun just being a part of something bigger than myself.
We often use buzzwords to measure the success of social media efforts — content, engagement, influence, etc. They’re important measures to ensure we’re doing our job. But an effective social media campaign goes beyond these numbers. The most successful campaigns are fun.
Thanks, Todd, for bringing the fun. Congrats on the win.
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It was a heck of a ride. I’m glad I got to play along.