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Top 3 Social Media Case Studies to Inspire You in 2024

Discover three successful case studies on social media marketing from top brands and learn how to create one. Benefit from their strategies and mistakes to ensure the success of your next campaign.

Top 3 Stellar Social Media Case Studies to Inspire You

Social media is every marketer’s safe haven for branding and marketing.

And why not?

More than 50% of the population is active on social media, and more are signing up with every passing second.

In a recent poll by HubSpot, 79% of the respondents have made a purchase after seeing a paid advertisement on social media .

This isn’t just a happenstance.

It’s the constant efforts that these brands put behind their dynamic presence on social media, that counts.

But how do they captivate their customers’ attention for this long despite the budding competitors?

Well, that’s something that we’ll reveal in this blog.

We shall assess 3 different case studies on social media marketing by top brands who are best in their niches. Their game is simple yet effective.

How effective? Let’s take a look.

Social Media Case Study 1: Starbucks

Starbucks and social media are a match made in heaven. Being one of the sensational brands online, they are stirring the social media world with their strong presence.

They brew the right content to elevate the experiences of their coffee lovers. But how do they nail marketing with perfection every single time? Let’s find out.

Starbucks in Numbers

Starbucks mastered the advertising transition from offline fame to online undertaking. They use each social media with a varied goal to target pitch-perfect reach. Drawing in more customers than ever before, they strike the right balance in content across multiple platforms.

Starbucks

Key Takeaways

Though not every company has a Starbucks budget to promote and spend lavishly on social media marketing, here are some quick takeaways that will undoubtedly help.

1. Chasing Trends

Be it any event, brands must take the advantage to showcase their viewpoints and opinions. Successful brands like Starbucks jump into the bandwagon and leave no stone unturned to make their voice count in the trending list.

Here’s one such social media campaign example from Starbucks.

Chasing

Starbucks is a firm believer in LGBTQ+ rights. When the pride wave surged, Starbucks came forward and reinstated its belief through the #ExtraShotOfPride campaign.

Starbucks joined hands with the Born This Way Foundation to raise $250K to support the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout the social media campaign, they shared quotes and stories of various Starbucks employees cherishing the pride spirit.

2. Less is More

Social media is not about quantity but quality. Starbucks follows the “less is more” principle to maintain the quality standards, even in the caption. Spamming followers’ feeds with constant posting is a big no-no. Starbucks shares 5-6 posts per week on Instagram and 3-4 weekly posts on Facebook .

Starbucks follows

Creative and crisp! That’s what defines a Starbucks caption. This post with 111+k likes is no exception. Nothing is better than a minimalist post with a strong caption.

3. User Generated Content is the King

Ditch the worry of creating content every day when you can make use of user generated content. Starbucks makes sure to retweet or post its loyal customers’ content. User generated content postings starkly improve brand credibility.

Generated Content

Look at this Facebook post made out of customers’ tweets. The new Oatmilk drink got the appreciation shower by some, and Starbucks couldn’t resist but share it with others. It saved them efforts on content brainstorming, plus they got free PR.

4. Building Rapport

Building rapport with the audience is an unsaid rule to brand fame. Social media has now taken the onus of dispensing quality service by aiding brands in prompting faster replies .

Building rapport

Starbucks is always on its toe to respond to customers actively solving concerns, expressing gratitude, or reposting. That kind of proactive service definitely deserves love and adoration.

5. Loads of campaigns

Starbucks is known for its innovative social media campaigns. Be it a new product launch or any festivity around the corner, Starbucks always turns up with a rewarding campaign.

Loads of campaign

In this social media campaign example, Starbucks introduced #RedCupContest with prizes worth $4500 during Christmas of 2016. A new entry came every 14 seconds.

The grand total of entries was a whopping 40,000 in just two days. Indeed Starbucks knows how to get the most out of the festive fever.

6. Content mix

Last but not least, the content mix of Starbucks is inspiring. They create tailored content for every platform.

Starbucks youtube channel

The official youtube channel of Starbucks comprises content in varied hues. From recipes to even series, Starbucks is the ultimate pioneer of experimenting.

Starbucks Instagram

Even on Instagram, they use all the features like Guides, Reels, and IGTV without affecting their eye-popping feed. Starbucks also follows the design consistency for its aesthetic content mix.

Starbucks has proved time and again to be a customer-centric brand with their unrelenting efforts.

Social Media Case Study 2: Ogilvy & Mather

Ogilvy & Mather needs no introduction. Founded by David Ogilvy, the ‘Father of Advertising’ in 1948, the agency continues the legacy of revolutionizing marketing long before the advent of social media.

The iconic agency helps several Fortune 500 companies and more make a massive impact on their audiences worldwide.

Ogilvy & Mather knows its game too well and never fails to astonish. Not just high-profile clients, Ogilvy nails its marketing with perfection every single time.

Keep on reading.

Ogilvy & Mather in Numbers

They use social media to target pitch-perfect reach. Drawing in more hype than ever before, they know how to strike the right balance and bring out emotions with their heart-warming campaigns.

Ogilvy

Not every company has David Ogilvy’s legacy or even affluent clients to boast of, but here are some quick takeaways that will undoubtedly help you become a pro marketer.

1. Integrating Values

Ogilvy stands apart from the crowd, creating trends. They leave no stone unturned to communicate values.

Ogilvy

Proud Whopper is one such social media campaign by Ogilvy that was an instant hit on the internet. People were offered whoppers in rainbow-colored wrappers, with a note that said, “Everyone’s the same on the inside.” This was to reinstate the importance of LGTQ+ rights.

The campaign got 1.1 billion impressions, $21 million of earned media, 450,000 blog mentions, 7 million views, and became the #1 trending topic on Facebook and Twitter.

Ogilvy made a remarkable #Tbt video to honor this momentous event showcasing their supremacy in creating impactful campaigns.

2. Quality over Quantity

Ogilvy believes in the “ Quality supremacy ” to maintain their high standards, even in post captions.

Arbitrary posting isn’t a part of their agenda. They share 5-7 posts on Instagram and Facebook weekly.

Quality over Quantity

Direct and very precise. That’s what defines an Ogilvy caption. This post is no exception. They have exhibited the success of their client work by describing the motive behind the campaign and sharing the ad they created for raising awareness.

3. Adding Credibility

Won awards? It’s time to boast! Because that’s the most authentic way of establishing trust among your clients. It bears proof of your excellence.

Adding Credibility

Look at this pinned Twitter post. Ogilvy won the Global Network of the Year by the very prestigious London International Awards. It also earned Regional Network of the year for Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

What better than this to give its audience an idea about Ogilvy’s roaring success and undoubted potential?

4. Being Innovative

Building rapport with the audience is an unsaid rule to brand fame. And that’s why you need to tell stories. Social media has become an indispensable medium to spread your stories far and wide.

Being Innovative

Ogilvy shares its historical tale of existence and how it has adapted to the challenges of the changing world. The team extensively talks about their adaptation to the latest trends to stay on top always.

5. Brainstorming Uniqueness

Being unique is what propels you on social media. People are always looking for brands that do something different from the herd. So your task each day is undeniably brainstorming unique content.

Brainstorming Uniqueness

KFC wanted more of its customers to use its app. Well, Ogilvy and KFC decided to hide a secret menu in the app, which was a mass invitation for the download without being salesy at all. Results? Downloads up by 111% at launch!

6. Inspire Your Peeps

Inspiration is everywhere. But how do you channelize and mold it as per your brand guidelines? The renowned brands move their audience, filling them with a sense of realization. Who doesn’t seek validation? We all need quotes and inspiration to live by.

Inspire Your Peeps

Ogilvy has dedicated its entire Pinterest profile to inspiration. The profile has numerous insightful infographics that encourage you to pursue marketing when your spirits run low. And that’s how it brings out the very essence of being the marketing leader: by inspiring its followers.

Got some good ideas for your branding? We have created templates and tools to help you execute them hassle-free. Tread on further and download the Trending Hashtag Kit for 2024 to get into action.

Social Media Case Study 3: PewDiePie

YouTube king with 111 Million subscribers on PewDiePie Channel, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, has defied all norms. One of the most prolific content creators of the decade, Felix was on the list of World’s 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine in 2016.

Needless to say, he is still relevant to this day and has a massive following on social media. Not just for branding, the Swedish YouTuber leveraged social media to give himself a new identity and opened doors to fame and a successful career.

What was the cause of this extraordinary trajectory?

Let’s find out.

PewDiePie in Numbers

PewDiePie likes to keep his social media raw and unfiltered. That’s why subscribers love to have a glimpse of his everyday life and follow him on other social media platforms as well. Here’s a quick snapshot of that.

PewDiePie

Felix took the early bird advantage and started creating content when it wasn’t even popular practice. We can’t go back in time, but we can definitely learn a lot from his social media success.

1. Start Now

If you are still skeptical about making the first move, then don’t. Stop waiting and experiment. It’s better late than never.

Social media is in favor of those who start early because then you create surplus content to hold your audience . You quench their thirst for more quality content.

PewDiePie started creating videos

PewDiePie started creating videos in 2011 and live-streamed his gaming sessions with commentaries. It was something new and completely original. Ever since, he has continued to make thousands of videos that entertain his audience.

2. Gather Your Tribe

Being a content creator, PewDiePie knows his act of engaging his audience very well. He strives to build lasting connections and encourages two-way communication. As a result, his followers like to jump onto his exciting challenges.

gaming community

Felix treasures his gaming community. He frequently asks his followers to take screenshots and turn them into funny memes . He gives them tasks to keep them engaged and amused .

3. Collaboration and Fundraising

Once you reach the stage and gain popularity, people want to see more of you with their favorite personalities. That’s what Felix does.

He collaborates with multiple YouTubers and brands and puts out exclusive content for his followers. He also goes for multiple fundraising campaigns to support vital causes and social wellbeing.

social media campaign

Here’s one such social media campaign example. PewDiePie supported the CRY foundation and raised $239000 in just one day to bring a positive impact for children in India. He thanked all for their contribution and taking active participation towards a noble cause.

4. Keep it Real

Felix likes to keep his content fluff-free. You get to witness raw emotions from an unfiltered life. This instantly appeals to the audience and makes the posts more relatable .

Apart from that, he also uses storytelling techniques to narrate his experiences, adding a very personalized touch to each of the videos.

PewDiePie

Here’s a video of Felix where he and Ken from CinnamonToastKen discuss what can be possibly done with a million dollars around the world. The topic is quite intriguing.

More than 3.8M people have watched it and 216K of them liked it as well, proving that you need not always sweat to create complex content. Even the simplest ones can make the cut.

How to Write a Social Media Marketing Case Study

Many small businesses struggle when it comes to social media marketing. But guess what? Small businesses can slay the competition with a powerful tool: A case study on social media.

These social media case studies are success stories that prove your hustle is paying off. Here’s how to weave a case study that showcases your small business wins:

Building Your Brag Book

  • Pick Your Perfect Project:  Did a specific social media campaign drive a surge in sales? Highlight a product launch that went viral. Choose a project with impressive results you can showcase.
  • DIY Interview:  Don’t have a fancy marketing team? No worries! Record yourself talking about your challenges, goals, and the strategies that made a difference.
  • Data Dive:  Track down social media analytics! Look for growth in followers, website traffic driven by social media, or engagement metrics that show your efforts are working.

Now that you have all the ingredients, it’s time to cook a brilliant case study

Crafting Your Case Study

  • Headline Hunt:  Grab attention with a clear and concise headline. Mention your business name and a key achievement (e.g., “From 100 to 10,000 Followers: How We Grew Our Bakery’s Social Buzz”).
  • Subheading Scoop:  Briefly summarize your success story in a subheading, piquing the reader’s interest and highlighting key takeaways.
  • The Business Struggle:  Be honest about the challenges you faced before tackling social media. This will build trust and allow other small businesses to connect.
  • DIY Social Strategies:  Share the social media tactics you used, such as engaging content formats, community-building strategies, or influencer collaborations.
  • Numbers Don’t Lie:  Integrate data and visuals to support your story. Include charts showcasing follower growth or screenshots of top-performing posts.
  • Simple & Straightforward:  Use clear, concise language that’s easy to understand. Bullet points and short paragraphs make your case study digestible and showcase your professionalism.

Remember: Your social media marketing case studies are a chance to celebrate your achievements and build businesses. So, tell your story with pride, showcase your data-driven results, and watch your brand recognition soar

Social media campaigns are winning hearts on every platform. However, their success rates largely depend on your year-round presence. That’s why being consistent really does the trick.

To excel further at your social media marketing, use our FREE Trending Hashtag Kit and fill your calendar with everyday content ideas.

On downloading, you get 3000+ hashtags based on each day’s theme or occasion. You also get editable design templates for hassle-free social media posting.

What are you waiting for? Download now.

Frequently Asked Questions

🌟 How do I start a social media campaign idea?

Here’s how you can start a social media campaign:

  • Finalize your campaign goals
  • Brainstorm personas
  • Pick a social media channel
  • Research your competitors and audience
  • Finalize an idea that’s in trend
  • Promote the campaign
  • Start the campaign
  • Track the performance

🌟 What are the different types of social media campaigns?

Different types of social media campaigns are:

  • Influencer Campaigns
  • Hashtag Challenges

🌟 Why is social media campaign important?

Social media campaigns have various benefits:

  • Boost traffic
  • Better Conversions
  • Cost-effective Marketing
  • Lead Generation
  • PR & Branding
  • Loyal Followers

🌟 What are some of the best social media campaign tools?

Some of the best social media campaign tools are:

  • SocialPilot

🌟 What are the top social media sites?

The top social media sites are:

About the Author

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Sparsh Sadhu

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Social Media Marketing Case Study Examples

20 Best Social Media Marketing Case Study Examples

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How would you like to read the best social media marketing case studies ever published?

More importantly, how would you like to copy the best practices in social media marketing that are based on real-world examples and not just theory?

Below, you’ll find a list of the top 20 social media case study examples along with the results and key findings. By studying these social media marketing studies and applying the lessons learned on your own accounts, you can hopefully achieve similar results.

Social Media Case Study Examples

793,500+ impressions for semrush on twitter  – walker sands social media case study, viral oreo super bowl tweet  – social media case study.

This is a popular case study to learn valuable insights for B2C marketing. During Super Bowl XLVII, the lights went out in the football stadium and the Oreo brand went viral with a single tweet that said “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.” Read the historical account of that famous social media marketing moment from the people who lived through it so you can gather ideas on how to be better prepared for future social media campaigns that you can take advantage of in real-time.

Facebook Posting Strategy That Lead to 3X Reach & Engagement  – Buffer Social Media Case Study

In this social media case study example, you’ll find out how Buffer cut its Facebook posting frequency by 50% but increased the average weekly reach and engagement by 3X. Hint: The strategy had to do with creating fewer, better-quality posts, that were aimed at gaining higher engagement.

Achieving a 9 Million Audience by Automating Pinterest SEO  – Social Media Case Study

This is a good social media marketing case study for marketers who use Pinterest. Discover how Chillital went from 0 to 9 million engaged audience members and 268 million impressions. You’ll learn about the step-by-step research process of finding where your audience lives and breathes content, get a detailed analysis of how the author used Pinterest to generate brand awareness, and learn about using community-driven content promotion to scale social media results.

5X Increase In App Installs from TikTok  – Bumble Social Media Case Study

With the use of TikTok on the rise, social media case studies are now being shared about how to get the most value out of marketing on this platform. This one, in particular, is good to read because it explains how Bumble, a dating app, used TikTok more effectively by following the mantra, “Don’t Make Ads, Make TikToks”. This case study in social media marketing resulted in a 5X increase in app installs and a 64% decrease in cost-per-registration.

330% Increase In Reach for the Make a Wish Foundation – Disney Social Media Case Study

Check out this case study to find out how the Make-A-Wish Foundation increased its social media reach, audience, and engagement by partnering with Disney in a Share Your Ears campaign. The strategy was simple: ask people to take a photo of themselves wearing Mickey Mouse ears, post it on social media with the hashtag #ShareYouEars, and a $5 donation would be made to Make-A-Wish. The results were unbelievable with over 1.7 million posted photos and 420 million social media impressions. This led to a 15% audience increase on Facebook and a 13% audience increase on Instagram with a total increase of 330% in social media reach and a 554% increase in engagement during the campaign.

How 3 Schools Used Social Media Advertising to Increase Website Traffic & Applications – Social Media Case Study

Client case studies – lyfe marketing social media case study.

LYFE Marketing is a social media management company that helps clients gain new customers, generate sales, and increase brand exposure online. This page includes several of its top social media marketing case studies along with the approach and key results from each campaign. It’s packed with screenshots of the social media posts and engagement metrics so you can understand how each strategy worked for success, and get inspiration for your own campaigns.

3X Leads for a Local Business – Vertex Marketing Social Media Case Study

This is a good case study about finding the right balance between organic reach with social media posts and paid reach with social media marketing ads. You’ll find out how Vertex Marketing helped a local kitchen and bath remodeling business increase the number of leads by 3X. As for the return on investment (ROI) for this campaign, each lead for the client was worth about $10,000. The result was 6,628 audience reach, $12.43 average cost per conversion, and 18 conversions.

235% Increase In Conversions with Facebook Ads Funnel – Marketing 360 Social Media Case Study

This is one of Marketing 360’s case study examples that demonstrates the effectiveness of a Facebook ads sales funnel for B2B marketing. An ads funnel is a series of social media advertisements that target a specific audience at each stage of the buyer’s journey. By mapping out the buyer’s journey and creating a social media marketing ad campaign for each stage, you can guide new leads through the sales funnel and turn them into paying customers. This case study resulted in a 235% increase in conversions for a truck lift manufacturer.

15% Increase In Social Media Followers In 6 Months – Hootsuite Social Media Case Study

This is one of the best social media marketing case studies available online for businesses in the hospitality industry. Find out how Meliá Hotels International incorporated social media directly into its business model, both as a channel for client communication and as a platform to listen and learn about client needs and preferences. As a result, Meliá Hotel’s social media following grew from 5 million to 6 million in six months; an increase of more than 15%.

The Impact of Social Signals On SEO – Fat Stacks Social Media Case Study

This is a good case study for understanding the effect social media can have on SEO. By building links for a web page on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc, the rankings for long tail keywords improved in Google’s search engine.

96 Link Clicks for a Vacation Rental – Maria Peagler Social Media Case Study

As the title of this social media case study example suggests, you’ll learn how Maria Peagler helped a vacation rental get 96 clicks out of 3,274 audience reach on a single Facebook ad; about a 2.9% click-through rate (CTR). What’s most important about this B2C example is those clicks were of the highest quality the client could receive because Maria dug into the analytics to find out the best time during the day to post the ad and the perfect age groups to target while also using specific language to only drive clicks that would more likely convert.

Vienna Tourist Board Uses an Instagram Wall to Attract Tourists – Walls.io Social Media Case Study

Complete instagram marketing strategy for sixthreezero – vulpine interactive social media case study.

This is an in-depth case study on social media marketing with Instagram. You’ll discover how Vulpine Interactive was able to turn an existing, unmanaged account into a strong company asset for Sixthreezero, a bicycling company that uses ecommerce to drive sales. There was a lot of strategy and planning that went into growing the account by 39%, increasing website traffic from Instagram by over 300%, and achieving 77,659 total engagements. Inside, you’ll get the complete social strategy, tactics, key performance indicators (KPIs), and results

Twitter Marketing Success Stories – Social Media Case Study

How 3 big brands use pinterest for marketing – smartinsights social media case study.

This is a case study page by SmartInsights with an overview of how 3 big brands use Pinterest for marketing. Although it’s a quick read, you can learn some valuable tactics that Nordstrom, Sephora, and Petplan are using to market their brands on this social media platform.

25+ TikTok Social Campaign Results – Chatdesk Social Media Case Study

Reddit for business: meet your maker – social media case study.

Want to learn how to use Reddit to market your business online? This new social media marketing case study page by Reddit called “Meet Your Maker” showcases the people behind some of the most innovative and creative brand activations on our platform. Examples include campaigns by Adobe, Capcom, and noosa Yoghurt.

How Boston University Uses Snapchat to Engage with Students – Social Media Case Study

With more than 75% of college students using Snapchat on a daily basis, it became clear that Boston University had to make this platform a primary marketing channel. This social media case study outlines all of the top strategies Boston University uses to connect with prospective and current students.

What Is a Social Media Case Study?

A social media case study is an in-depth study of social media marketing in a real-world context. It can focus on one social media tactic or a group of social media strategies to find out what works in social media marketing to promote a product or service.

Are Case Studies Good for Social Media Marketing?

Summary for social media marketing case studies.

I hope you enjoyed this list of the best social media marketing case study examples that are based on real-world results and not just theory.

As you discovered, the social media case studies above demonstrated many different ways to perform well on social platforms. By studying the key findings from these case study examples, and applying the methods learned to your own accounts, you can hopefully achieve the same positive outcome. New social media case studies are being published every month and I’ll continue to update this list as they become available. So keep checking back to read the current sources of information on social media.

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How to write a social media case study (with template)

Written by by Jenn Chen

Published on  October 10, 2019

Reading time  8 minutes

You’ve got a good number of social media clients under your belt and you feel fairly confident in your own service or product content marketing strategy. To attract new clients, you’ll tell them how you’ve tripled someone else’s engagement rates but how do they know this is true? Enter the case study.

Social media case studies are often used as part of a sales funnel: the potential client sees themselves in the case study and signs up because they want the same or better results. At Sprout, we use this strategy with our own case studies highlighting our customer’s successes.

Writing and publishing case studies is time intensive but straight forward. This guide will walk through how to create a social media case study for your business and highlight some examples.

What is a social media case study?

A case study is basically a long testimonial or review. Case studies commonly highlight what a business has achieved by using a social media service or strategy, and they illustrate how your company’s offerings help clients in a specific situation. Some case studies are written just to examine how a problem was solved or performance was improved from a general perspective. For this guide, we’ll be examining case studies that are focused on highlighting a company’s own products and services.

Case studies come in all content formats: long-form article, downloadable PDF, video and infographic. A single case study can be recycled into different formats as long as the information is still relevant.

At their core, case studies serve to inform a current or potential customer about a real-life scenario where your service or product was applied. There’s often a set date range for the campaign and accompanying, real-life statistics. The idea is to help the reader get a clearer understanding of how to use your product and why it could help.

Broad selling points like “our service will cut down your response time” are nice but a sentence like “After three months of using the software for responses, the company decreased their response time by 52%” works even better. It’s no longer a dream that you’ll help them decrease the response time because you already have with another company.

So now that you understand what a case study is, let’s get started on how to create one that’s effective and will help attract new clients.

How to write a social marketing case study

Writing an effective case study is all about the prep work. You’ve got to get all of the questions and set up ready so you can minimize lots of back and forth between you and the client.

1. Prepare your questions

Depending on how the case study will be presented and how familiar you are with the client to be featured, you may want to send some preliminary questions before the interview. It’s important to not only get permission from the company to use their logo, quotes and graphs but also to make sure they know they’ll be going into a public case study.

Your preliminary questions should cover background information about the company and ask about campaigns they are interested in discussing. Be sure to also identify which of your products and services they used. You can go into the details in the interview.

Once you receive the preliminary answers back, it’s time to prepare your questions for the interview. This is where you’ll get more information about how they used your products and how they contributed to the campaign’s success.

2. Interview

When you conduct your interview, think ahead on how you want it to be done. Whether it’s a phone call, video meeting or in-person meeting, you want to make sure it’s recorded. You can use tools like Google Meet, Zoom or UberConference to host and record calls (with your client’s permission, of course). This ensures that your quotes are accurate and you can play it back in case you miss any information. Tip: test out your recording device and process before the interview. You don’t want to go through the interview only to find out the recording didn’t save.

Ask open-ended questions to invite good quotes. You may need to use follow-up questions if the answers are too vague. Here are some examples.

  • Explain how you use (your product or service) in general and for the campaign. Please name specific features.
  • Describe how the feature helped your campaign achieve success.
  • What were the campaign outcomes?
  • What did you learn from the campaign?

Since we’re focused on creating a social media case study in this case, you can dive more deeply into social strategies and tactics too:

  • Tell me about your approach to social media. How has it changed over time, if at all? What role does it play for the organization? How do you use it? What are you hoping to achieve?
  • Are there specific social channels you prioritize? If so, why?
  • How do you make sure your social efforts are reaching the right audience?
  • What specific challenges do organizations like yours face when it comes to social?
  • How do you measure the ROI of using social ? Are there certain outcomes that prove the value of social for your organization? What metrics are you using to determine how effective social is for you?

As the conversation continues, you can ask more leading questions if you need to to make sure you get quotes that tie these strategic insights directly back to the services, products or strategies your company has delivered to the client to help them achieve success. Here are just a couple of examples.

  • Are there specific features that stick out to you as particularly helpful or especially beneficial for you and your objectives?
  • How are you using (product/service) to support your social strategy? What’s a typical day like for your team using it?

quote from sprout case study

The above quote was inserted into the Sprout Lake Metroparks case study . It’s an example of identifying a quote from an interview that helps make the impact of the product tangible in a client’s day to day.

At the end of the interview, be sure to thank the company and request relevant assets.

Afterwards, you may want to transcribe the interview to increase the ease of reviewing the material and writing the case study. You can DIY or use a paid service like Rev to speed up this part of the process.

3. Request assets and graphics

This is another important prep step because you want to make sure you get everything you need out of one request and avoid back and forth that takes up both you and your customer’s time. Be very clear on what you need and the file formats you need them in.

Some common assets include:

  • Logo in .png format
  • Logo guidelines so you know how to use them correctly
  • Links to social media posts that were used during the campaign
  • Headshots of people you interviewed
  • Social media analytics reports. Make sure you name them and provide the requested date range, so that if you’re using a tool like Sprout, clients know which one to export.

social media contests - instagram business report

4. Write the copy

Now that the information has been collected, it’s time to dissect it all and assemble it. At the end of this guide, we have an example outline template for you to follow. When writing a case study, you want to write to the audience that you’re trying to attract . In this case, it’ll be a potential customer that’s similar to the one you’re highlighting.

Use a mix of sentences and bullet points to attract different kinds of readers. The tone should be uplifting because you’re highlighting a success story. When identifying quotes to use, remove any fillers (“um”) and cut out unnecessary info.

Screenshot of Pinterest's case study on Sweaty Betty, a UK-based brand, and their goals to increase online sales. Through Pinterest, they were able to create a 39% ROI on ad spend YoY and 34% drop in cost per acquisition compared to other platforms.

5. Pay attention to formatting

Sprout case study of Stoneacre Motor Group

And finally, depending on the content type, enlist the help of a graphic designer to make it look presentable. You may also want to include call-to-action buttons or links inside of your article. If you offer free trials, case studies are a great place to promote them.

Social media case study template

Writing a case study is a lot like writing a story or presenting a research paper (but less dry). This is a general outline to follow but you are welcome to enhance to fit your needs.

Headline Attention-grabbing and effective. Example: “ How Benefit turns cosmetics into connection using Sprout Social ” Summary A few sentences long with a basic overview of the brand’s story. Give the who, what, where, why and how. Which service and/or product did they use? Introduce the company Give background on who you’re highlighting. Include pertinent information like how big their social media team is, information about who you interviewed and how they run their social media. Describe the problem or campaign What were they trying to solve? Why was this a problem for them? What were the goals of the campaign? Present the solution and end results Describe what was done to achieve success. Include relevant social media statistics (graphics are encouraged). Conclusion Wrap it up with a reflection from the company spokesperson. How did they think the campaign went? What would they change to build on this success for the future? How did using the service compare to other services used in a similar situation?

Case studies are essential marketing and sales tools for any business that offer robust services or products. They help the customer reading them to picture their own company using the product in a similar fashion. Like a testimonial, words from the case study’s company carry more weight than sales points from the company.

When creating your first case study, keep in mind that preparation is the key to success. You want to find a company that is more than happy to sing your praises and share details about their social media campaign.

Once you’ve started developing case studies, find out the best ways to promote them alongside all your other content with our free social media content mix tool .

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A Comprehensive Dive Into Social Media Marketing Case Studies

A Comprehensive Dive Into Social Media Marketing Case Studies

Nowadays, social media goes far beyond chatting with friends on Facebook. Where we’re all connected online, it’s more than just a way to keep in touch with friends. Business owners all over the world are finding it to be an extremely useful tool.

Think about how social media has changed over the years. In the beginning, it was all about talking to your buddies online.

But as time passed, it became a big deal for companies too. Now, it’s a key part of integrated marketing campaigns for all sorts of businesses, no matter how big or small. It helps them connect with the people who might want to buy their stuff.

Social media marketing has grown into something really important for people who want to sell stuff. It’s a cool way to talk to potential customers and get them interested in what you’re selling.

To prove how powerful social media can be, we’ve put together some awesome social media case studies about how it has changed everything.

So, let’s know more about it!

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The significance of social media case studies.

social-media-case-studies

Before we delve into the specifics of these social media case studies, it is imperative to underscore the vital role they play in the realm of digital marketing.

A Social media marketing case study serves as tangible, real-world evidence of successful strategies, offering invaluable insights and actionable takeaways applicable to businesses of all sizes.

Case studies are like beacons in the digital marketing world as they provide a clear path forward by showcasing what has worked for others.

These real-life success stories serve as a source of inspiration and guidance, offering a roadmap for businesses looking to harness the power of social media.

The Influence of Social Proof

As inherently social beings, we often find ourselves seeking assurance from the experiences and achievements of others when making decisions.

In the same way, social media case studies provide a compelling form of social proof, instilling confidence in potential clients by demonstrating the viability of specific strategies.

When consumers see concrete evidence of how a particular social media strategy led to success for a business, it not only validates the effectiveness of that strategy but also builds trust.

This trust is a critical element in the decision-making process for consumers, making them more likely to engage with and ultimately support a brand.

Decoding the Science Behind Successful Social Media Marketing

Airbnb’s spectacular ascent.

social-media-case-studies-airbnb

In the annals of business history, Airbnb’s meteoric rise from a struggling startup in 2008 to a global hospitality juggernaut is nothing short of remarkable.

This particular case study on social media serves as a quintessential illustration of how Airbnb harnessed the power of user-generated content and tapped into the emotional resonance of travel to create a viral sensation.

Airbnb’s journey is not just a success story; it’s a masterclass in the art of storytelling through social media.

By encouraging users to share their travel experiences through captivating photos and videos, Airbnb not only engaged its audience but also created a sense of community. This sense of community is a potent driver of brand loyalty and advocacy.

The lesson from these social media case studies is clear: storytelling is at the heart of effective social media marketing. It’s not just about promoting products or services; it’s about crafting narratives that resonate with your audience on a personal level.

Navigating Challenges through the Lens of Social Media Marketing

Mcdonald’s “our food, your questions” campaign.

social-media-case-studies-mcdonalds

Even titans like McDonald’s, one of the world’s most iconic brands, encounter public skepticism. Facing questions about the quality of their food, McDonald’s responded with the “Our Food, Your Questions” campaign.

This insight, among other social media case studies, delves into how the fast-food giant used transparency and active social media engagement to rebuild trust with consumers.

McDonald’s recognized that addressing consumer concerns head-on was not just a PR move but a strategic decision. By openly addressing questions and concerns about their food, they demonstrated transparency and a commitment to quality.

This level of transparency resonated with consumers, fostering a renewed sense of trust.

Well! In the quest for social media success, having the right tools at your disposal is paramount. Socinator offers a comprehensive solution for automating, managing, and optimizing your social media campaigns. With Socinator, you can!

Let’s know how Socinator can help marketers to create a powerful impact on multiple social media platforms in just a few clicks!

Socinator: Your Social Media Partner

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While we’re on the topic of effective social media strategies, it’s essential to mention Socinator—a powerful tool that can enhance your social media marketing efforts.

Socinator is your partner in optimizing and automating social media campaigns across various platforms.

Here is what Socinator offers to its users:

  • You can schedule posts to be published automatically on a specific date, so you don’t have to post them yourself, especially when you’re busy.
  • Socinator offers automation capabilities for a variety of tasks, including commenting, liking, following, unfollowing, following back, and reposting.
  • Additionally, the tool assists you in discovering and extracting hashtags, identifying target audiences, and with the posting of profile pictures.
  • With Socinator, you can efficiently handle numerous accounts, remove posts, block followers, send out broadcast messages, and engage in live chats.

Now, let’s continue exploring more insightful social media case studies that showcase the potential of social media marketing.

Small Enterprises, Monumental Successes

Blendjet’s ingenious instagram-first strategy.

BlendJet, a portable blender company, captured the imagination of Instagram users worldwide with their creative and engaging content.

This social media case study highlights the potential for even modest-sized enterprises to flourish in the digital arena when armed with a well-crafted social media strategy.

BlendJet’s success story underscores the importance of understanding your audience and choosing the right platform for your brand. Instagram, with its visually appealing format, was the perfect canvas for BlendJet’s marketing efforts.

This strategy helped them reach a global audience and fostered a vibrant and engaged community of users.

The Metrics of Social Media Triumph

Hubspot’s data-driven odyssey.

social-media-case-studies-hubspot

HubSpot, a recognized leader in inbound marketing, embarked on their social media journey with data and analytics as their guiding stars.

This particular case study on social media elucidates how HubSpot meticulously employed metrics such as engagement rates, conversion rates, and customer lifetime value to fine-tune and optimize their social media campaigns.

HubSpot’s approach is a testament to the power of data-driven decision-making in social media marketing. In a world flooded with data, it’s crucial for you to know which metrics matter most to your business.

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyzing the data can provide invaluable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.

Also Read 11 Social Media Marketing Ideas for Non-Profit Charity Organization 5 Remarkable Marketing Campaigns for Your Brand Schedule Instagram Posts For Consistent Success

Unveiling Trends and Innovations in Social Media Marketing

Tiktok’s explosive evolution.

social-media-case-studies-tiktok

TikTok, the trailblazing short-form video platform, took the world by storm with its innovative approach to content creation. In this social media case study, we embark on a journey to understand the meteoric rise of  TikTok and contemplate its profound implications for the future of social media marketing.

TikTok’s success is a testament to the power of embracing emerging trends. In an ever-evolving digital landscape, staying ahead of the curve is essential.

TikTok’s emphasis on short, engaging videos tapped into the changing preferences of a younger audience. Businesses that adapt to new platforms and formats can gain a competitive edge in the market.

Extracting Insights from Social Media Case Studies

Key takeaways to supercharge your social media strategy.

After immersing ourselves in the captivating narratives of these social media case studies, it is essential to distill the key insights that can invigorate and enhance your own social media marketing efforts.

From the art of storytelling to the science of data-driven decisions, these case studies offer an abundance of actionable wisdom.

As we wrap up our exploration of these social media case studies, let’s summarize the key takeaways that can elevate your social media strategy:

  • Storytelling Matters: Craft compelling narratives that resonate with your audience.
  • Transparency Builds Trust: To foster trust, it is important to address any concerns in an open and transparent manner.
  • Platform Fit: Choose the right social media platform for your brand and audience.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Use metrics and analytics to refine your strategies continuously.
  •  Embrace Trends: Stay adaptable and explore emerging trends to remain relevant.

Having a strong online presence is crucial for business success in digital world. Social media case studies are like success stories and guides that can inspire and help you navigate the ever-changing world of social media.

As you embark on your own social media journey, remember that these case studies aren’t just tales of success; they’re like maps showing you the strategies to succeed in the exciting and always-changing world of social media marketing.

Social media is a big, ever-changing place. To do well here, it’s not about luck; it’s about making smart choices, being creative, and staying flexible as trends shift. So, get ready for your social media adventure.

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You are here: Influencer Marketing Hub » Social Media » Valuable Insights from Social Media Platform Case Studies Based on Real-Life Success Stories

Valuable Insights from Social Media Platform Case Studies Based on Real-Life Success Stories

Geri Mileva

For brands, it can be a struggle to understand how each social media platform works and how to use them for marketing. To grow your brand this year, get inspiration from actual social media platform case studies where we go through real-life applications so you can learn what works and what doesn’t when it comes to social media marketing.

Valuable Insights from Social Media Platform Case Studies Based on Real-Life Success Stories:

Why social media marketing is still relevant, social media platform case studies to gain insights from, key metrics to monitor the effectiveness of your social media campaigns, be guided by learnings from social media marketing case studies, frequently asked questions.

More than 50% of shoppers discover and purchase new products through social media . By 2024, the number of these social buyers is projected to reach over 110 million—and that’s in the US alone. Millennials, along with digital natives Gen Zs and Gen Alphas, are known to purchase directly from social channels. This consumer base is just too massive to ignore. Moreover, the power of social media also goes beyond the internet. After discovering products online, many social media users eventually buy them in physical stores.

Social commerce stats also prove how effective these social media platforms are for marketing. With most consumers spending several hours each day on social media, these platforms are undoubtedly the best places to reach them. Implementing social media marketing strategies to stay visible in these spaces—especially ones frequented by the younger generation—is a prime opportunity for revenue growth.

The following case studies give us a glimpse of how different brands successfully implemented their campaigns. These studies contain a wealth of insights and strategies that you can apply to your own marketing initiatives.

1. Purr-fectly Viral: Whisker’s Litter-Robot LR4 Conquers the Internet

Ubiquitous Social Media Case Study

Agency: Ubiquitous

Platforms: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok

Whisker has been providing paw-parents with self-cleaning litter boxes for over two decades. In 2022, they launched their 4 th generation Litter-Robot: the LR4. Wanting to dominate the pet market with their latest innovation, they sought the services of Ubiquitous to amplify the marketing of Litter-Robot LR4.

Strategy: 

Ubiquitous used a combination of in-house influencers and existing relationships with other agencies to expand the influencer pool. The budget was strategically divided among Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Instagram and TikTok aimed for broad awareness, while YouTube targeted serious buyers with high-intent content like tech reviews.

The agency used their proprietary technology to find influencer pet owners with engaged audiences and disposable income. Once the key influencers were identified, they were given specific guidelines to create content with some space for creative freedom. During an eight-week period, multiple posts were published on the three platforms, such as unboxing videos or clips of cats using LR4.

The campaign was a success across all platforms. The 130 posts that went live amassed a total of 68.1M views, 7.3M engagements, and a cumulative CPM of $7.27. Litter Robot saw site visits surpassing the 100K mark, and over one hundred transactions translated into an additional six-figure revenue.

Key Takeaway:

The Litter-Robot LR4 campaign underscores the power of strategic influencer marketing and the effectiveness of a multi-platform approach to maximize impact. The careful selection of influencers, diversification of platforms, and leeway given to campaign partners in terms of creative expression all contributed to the success of the campaign.

2. Illuminating Holiday Success: Energizer Makes Portable Lighting “Bunny-Famous”

Viral Nation + Energizer Case Study

Agency: Viral Nation

Platforms: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram

Most well-known for its iconic bunny and long-lasting batteries, Energizer sought to extend its brand appeal by positioning itself as the top choice for portable lighting. It was set on making its new products—the Energizer Headlamp and the TAC 700 Flashlight—household must-haves during the holidays and beyond. To do so, they enlisted the help of Viral Nation to launch a multi-platform marketing campaign. 

To boost sales during the holiday season, the campaign was focused on highlighting the new Energizer products as great stocking stuffers. Viral Nation engaged six influencers to publish content on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram and drive viewers to purchase directly from Energizer’s dedicated Amazon product pages.

Each influencer received both the products and integrated Energizer into their holiday-themed content.  The partners did unboxings, point-of-view reviews, and even hosted appearances by the beloved Energizer Bunny.

Viral Nation’s metrics speak for themselves: 832K interactions, 806K views, and 4.6K clicks. The campaign achieved substantial reach across platforms and successfully directed traffic to Energizer product pages.

The authentic and diverse promotional content led to a success that lit up the holidays, and the influencers effectively positioned Energizer as the go-to brand for portable lighting. The content they created not only drove awareness but also contributed to increased sales during the crucial retail period.

This Energizer campaign shows influencer marketing as a bright approach to holiday marketing. It highlights the effectiveness of tailored social media marketing strategies during key seasons. The strategic collaboration with influencers and campaign implementation on multiple platforms help brands shine brightly in the eyes of consumers.

3. Astronomical Success: Samsung Sees Galactic Growth of its Galaxy App Store 

Moburst Samsung Social Media Case Study

Agency: Moburst

Platforms: Facebook, X (Twitter), and other channels

To enhance user experience, Samsung launched a dedicated app store in the US called the Galaxy Apps. Noticing slow engagement, they aimed to boost marketing to increase app downloads, user retention, and revenue for the app. They also wanted to raise brand awareness and promote the personalization features of Galaxy devices. To create and implement effective marketing campaigns, they sought Moburst's services.

Moburst implemented a comprehensive strategy of leveraging various media channels to target distinct audience segments. They did micro-segmentation and tailored their campaigns to specific user interests: Gamers were directed to the gaming section, Galaxy advocates were guided to the Made for Samsung section, and design enthusiasts were offered font and theme options for personalized phone customization.

The targeted campaigns and personalized approach led to a significant increase in app downloads that translated into a substantial revenue boost. Galaxy Apps downloads surged by 79%, and revenue increased by 36%. Social media engagement also saw an astronomical rise, with Facebook followers skyrocketing by over 1,400%.

Samsung’s collaboration with Moburst is a good example of how to run micro-segmented mobile marketing strategies on social media platforms. By understanding the diverse preferences of Samsung's vast user base, Moburst was able to craft tailored campaigns that resonated with specific audience segments.

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4. Cobra Kai Chop: Netflix High Kicks Campaign on TikTok

NeoReach Netflix Case Study

Agency: NeoReach

Platform: TikTok

The Cobra Kai series is one of the most successful shows in Netflix history. Following the immense success of the first two seasons, Netflix pulled out all the stops to make the third season equally successful.

To build hype before the release of Cobra Kai 3, Netflix collaborated with NeoReach in crafting social media marketing campaigns. The agency formed an eclectic roster of influencers from its vast pool and designed a campaign focused on creating buzz. The platform of choice for this campaign was TikTok, which at the time was still a burgeoning social media platform with highly engaged users.

NeoReach tapped its pool of influencers to heighten the anticipation for the upcoming season. The lineup included creators from various backgrounds to ensure a wide-reaching and culturally diverse promotion in major countries worldwide.

The agency used TikTok’s interactive Cobra Kai Chop filter that allowed influencers to creatively incorporate the brand into their content. Using the hashtag #CobraKaiChop also enhanced visibility and awareness.

The campaign achieved remarkable results, with 2.8M+ views from paid content and 4.6B views from #CobraKaiChop. But the campaign’s success was not just in views. It also delivered 24K+ in engagement value and an ROI of 2.76X.

The success of the Cobra Kai Chop campaign gives marketers a glimpse of how to effectively leverage emerging social media platforms. It emphasizes the need for creative content strategies and diverse influencer rosters to resonate with different audience segments.

5. Fresh Strategies: HelloFresh Delights Users with TikTok Culinary Adventures 

Hype Factory+ Hello Fresh Social Media Case Study

Agency: Hype Factory

HelloFresh—the pioneers of fresh food and meal kit delivery services—wanted to boost views and conversions within its niche market. To achieve this, they collaborated with Hype Factory to create a recipe for marketing success.

Hype Factory engaged 24 large entertainment influencers and gave them full creative freedom to make content that highlighted the features of HelloFresh. To enhance visibility and engagement, the campaign used Spark Ads with discount codes and direct links in the bio. Reposting the content as Reels or Stories on Instagram further expanded the reach beyond TikTok.

With a 4.03M reach and 13.3K clicks, the campaign definitely elicited strong engagement. The genuine interaction of the creators with their audience was key to the campaign’s success.

The HelloFresh campaign serves as a reminder to adapt to evolving consumer trends and the constantly changing dynamics of social media platforms. It also stresses the importance of embracing the creative freedom of influencers to pave the way for more authentic brand engagements.

Metrics for Social Media Campaign Success

Monitoring metrics is important for measuring the effectiveness of your current campaigns and optimizing subsequent ones. For social media marketing, here are some of the key metrics you need to keep a close eye on:

This refers to the number of social media users who have seen your posts and gives you an idea of the approximate size of your audience. A broader reach often translates to increased visibility. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are forecasted to be the leading channels for social commerce , so you might want to focus on amplifying reach on these platforms. 

Impressions

This measures the overall visibility of your content. It refers only to the total number of times your posts have been viewed, regardless of whether they have been clicked or not. This will help you gauge how frequently your audience encounters your posts.

This metric consolidates the number of likes, comments, mentions, shares, and clicks on your posts. High engagement shows that your audience finds your posts interesting or valuable. 

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is expressed as the percentage of users who navigate away from your social media page after a few seconds. A high bounce rate indicates that your content does not resonate with your audience and signals a need to revamp your strategy and tailor your content to align with your audience’s needs.

Customer Sentiment

This indicates the overall attitude or feelings of your audience towards your brand and is often assessed through comments and sentiment analysis. By understanding customer sentiment, you can tailor your future marketing content and shape your online reputation.

Each case study offers valuable lessons that emphasize the importance of strategic influencer collaboration, multi-platform approaches, and tailored strategies. The proven success of these campaigns brings to light the universal principles that underpin effective social media marketing.

Still, every business is unique. Tweak the strategies you learned from these social media platform case studies to align them with your brand’s distinct goals. Determine the right social media channels for your business and focus your efforts there. The future unfolds a vast canvas for innovative marketing campaigns—paint it with insights gleaned from the compelling case studies we shared.

How can social media platform case studies help me craft marketing strategies for my brand?

Case studies show how marketing strategies are implemented in real life. They showcase proven tactics and actionable insights that help other brands implement similar strategies for their own businesses. 

Why is the selection of social media platforms important for marketing success?

While most people have multiple social media accounts, each platform still has its own nuances and appeal to different consumer segments. Choosing a social media platform is the same as choosing the right channels for broadcasting your message to the right audience. To amplify reach and engagement, focus on platforms where your target audience is most engaged.

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Social Media Success: Unveiling Impactful Marketing Case Studies

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Introduction: The Power of Social Media Marketing

In the dynamic digital landscape, the power of social media marketing is undeniable. It’s a vibrant, ever-evolving platform that allows businesses to directly connect with their customers. It’s not just about posting updates and accumulating likes. It’s about building relationships, fostering trust, and turning casual viewers into loyal customers. In our Ultimate Social Media Marketing Guide , we explore the various aspects of social media marketing. This article, however, delves into the real-world success stories of businesses who leveraged social media marketing to transform their digital presence.

From small businesses to global corporations, every brand has the potential to unlock the power of social media. The key lies in understanding the nuances of each platform, crafting relevant and engaging content, and effectively connecting with your audience.

However, the real magic happens when you combine these elements with strategic planning and timely execution. This is where case studies come into play. By examining the success stories of different brands, you can glean valuable insights and strategies that can inform your own social media marketing efforts.

But remember, every brand is unique. What worked for Starbucks or Dove might not necessarily work for your brand. The key is to understand the underlying principles and adapt them to suit your unique business needs and objectives. Let's dive into the world of social media marketing case studies to uncover the strategies that lead to unprecedented success.

social media strategy

Understanding Social Media Marketing: The 5 C's and 4 C's Framework

Embarking on a successful social media journey requires a deep understanding of the fundamental frameworks that drive engagement and growth. In the world of social media marketing, two such frameworks stand out: The 5 C's and the 4 C's. These frameworks provide a comprehensive roadmap for businesses aiming to leverage social media for growth and success.

Coordinates: Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

The first step in the journey is identifying the right coordinates or platforms. Each social media platform has a unique audience profile and requires a tailored approach. For instance, if your target audience is professionals or B2B clients, LinkedIn might be your best bet. On the other hand, if your business is more visual or targets a younger demographic, Instagram or TikTok could be more suitable. It's crucial to understand where your audience hangs out and align your social media efforts accordingly.

Channels: Utilizing Different Social Media Platforms for Marketing

Once your coordinates are set, it's time to explore the different channels available for marketing on these platforms. From organic posts and stories to paid ads and influencer collaborations, the possibilities are endless. The key is to leverage these channels to reach, engage, and convert your target audience.

Content: Crafting Engaging and Relevant Content

Content is the cornerstone of any successful social media marketing strategy. Whether it's a catchy tweet, a visually appealing Instagram post, or an informative LinkedIn article, your content should be engaging, relevant, and aligned with your brand identity. Remember, content that resonates with your audience can significantly boost your brand awareness and engagement.

Connections: Building Relationships with Your Audience

Social media is all about building connections. It's not just a platform to push out content; it's a two-way communication channel. Engage with your audience, respond to their comments, ask for their opinions, and show appreciation for their loyalty. Building strong connections with your audience can lead to higher brand loyalty and advocacy.

Corrections: Learning from Mistakes and Improving Your Strategy

Nobody gets it right all the time. Even the most successful social media campaigns have room for improvement. Monitor your performance, learn from your mistakes, and continually refine your strategy. Remember, social media marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistent learning and improvement are key to long-term success.

Content, Conversations, Community, and Connections: The 4 C's of Social Media Marketing

The 4 C's of social media marketing - Content, Conversations, Community, and Connections - are equally important. These elements work together to create a comprehensive and effective social media strategy. Your content initiates conversations, those conversations build a community, and those community members become your connections.

By understanding and implementing the 5 C's and 4 C's frameworks in your social media strategy, you can unlock the potential to drive awareness, interest, engagement, action, and advocacy among your target audience. In the following sections, we will delve deeper into the power of these frameworks by exploring real-world social media marketing case studies that have resulted in unprecedented success. Stay tuned!

Mercedes Benz Instagram

Case Study 1: Mercedes Benz's Instagram Campaign

Nothing speaks success louder than the astounding results achieved by Mercedes Benz in their Instagram campaign. This case study perfectly illustrates the power of social media marketing for small business, marking it as an essential component in today's digital marketing landscape.

The Strategy: Hiring Top Photographers for a Competition

Mercedes Benz was no stranger to the world of marketing, but in an impressive move, they decided to take the road less traveled. The luxury car manufacturer aimed to reach a younger audience, a demographic not typically associated with their brand. To achieve this, they flipped the traditional marketing script and embarked on a unique social media campaign.

In a quest to connect with the Instagram-savvy generation, Mercedes Benz hired five top Instagram photographers. They handed each a new Mercedes CLA, transforming their product into an interactive experience. The photographers were challenged to take the wheel both literally and metaphorically - the one with the most likes would get to keep the car.

This innovative strategy did more than just create buzz. It brought the Mercedes brand into the everyday lives of a younger demographic, blending product awareness with social media engagement in a fresh, competitive format.

The Results: 87 Million Organic Impressions and 2 Million Likes

The campaign's results were nothing short of spectacular. Mercedes Benz received 87 million organic Instagram impressions and a staggering 2 million likes. The competition also produced 150 new marketing assets in the form of stunning photos, adding value to their marketing arsenal.

The takeaway here? Social media competitions can be a game-changer, especially when they involve trying out your product. This campaign also underscores the importance of knowing your target audience and offering a prize that genuinely resonates with them.

But perhaps the most critical lesson from this case study is that you can use social media to break traditional demographic barriers. By targeting a younger audience and leveraging the power of Instagram, Mercedes Benz successfully expanded its brand appeal.

As you navigate your own social media marketing journey , consider how you might be able to implement similar strategies. What platform does your target audience frequent? What incentives would they value? And how can you turn your product into an experience? These are the questions that can lead to a successful social media campaign.

Stay tuned for more inspiring social media marketing case studies that can help shape your strategy and boost your online presence.

Case Study 2: Dove's #SpeakBeautiful Effect on Twitter

In the realm of social media marketing, one brand has consistently demonstrated its prowess in creating campaigns that resonate deeply with its audience: Dove. This beauty brand has been known to stir emotions with its powerful messages about self-love and acceptance. Let's delve into one of Dove's most impactful campaigns, the #SpeakBeautiful Effect on Twitter.

The Strategy: Combating Negative Chatter on Social Media

Understanding your audience is fundamental to creating a successful social media campaign. Dove, with a target audience primarily made up of women, did its homework. It discovered that a staggering 80 percent of women encounter negative chatter on social media. Dove's mission? To turn this tide and foster a more positive environment on social media platforms.

Partnering with Twitter, Dove launched the #SpeakBeautiful campaign. They built a tool to analyze body-related words used on Twitter, identifying when negative chatter was most prevalent. Dove aimed to counteract this negativity, encouraging women to #SpeakBeautiful about themselves and others. This is a perfect example of how to use one of the stages of the funnel framework, specifically, the Engagement stage, to connect with your audience at an emotional level.

The Results: Over 168,000 Uses of the Hashtag and 800 Million Impressions

Dove's #SpeakBeautiful campaign was a resounding success. The hashtag was used more than 168,000 times, and the campaign chalked up a whopping 800 million social media impressions. More importantly, Dove's message inspired women worldwide, fostering a more positive and empowering environment on social media.

Dove's success underscores the power of understanding your audience and creating content that resonates with them on a personal level. It's about more than just selling a product; it's about creating a brand that stands for something and connects deeply with its audience.

This case study exemplifies the impact a well-planned and executed social media campaign can have. It shows how a brand can leverage its understanding of its audience's pain points to deliver a campaign that not only drives engagement but also creates a positive social impact.

As you plan your own social media marketing strategy, remember to keep your audience at the heart of your efforts. Think about how you can address their challenges and needs in a way that aligns with your brand values. This is the key to creating a campaign that not only drives engagement and conversions but also strengthens your brand's reputation and relationship with its audience.

Stay tuned for more inspiring social media marketing case studies that can help shape your strategy and boost your online presence. As we explore these examples, we'll continue to uncover insights that can guide your journey towards social media marketing success.

Case Study 3: Nutella's Creative Content Strategy

The strategy: engaging audience with fun and creative content.

Let's dive into our third case study: Nutella. This well-loved brand has an enviable social media presence, and it's all down to their creative content strategy. Nutella's unique approach to content marketing is a testament to the power of thinking outside the box when it comes to social media marketing for small business .

The key to Nutella's strategy is simple: make people hungry for their product. And they've mastered the art of doing just that. Each post on their social media channels is carefully crafted to make you want to eat Nutella. They've taken a product as simple as a chocolate spread and turned it into a versatile ingredient that can be used in various food combinations, making their content diverse and engaging.

But Nutella's strategy goes beyond just showcasing their product. They've made their brand fun and interactive. They encourage followers to share their own Nutella-based creations, making their audience feel like they're part of the brand story. This level of audience engagement is a great example of the 'Connections' component of the 5 C's of social media marketing.

The Results: Increased Brand Awareness and Engagement

Nutella's creative content strategy has led to a significant increase in brand awareness and engagement. Their posts are widely shared and liked, creating an active community of followers who are eager to interact with the brand and its content. This has helped Nutella maintain a strong online presence and establish itself as a fun, creative brand that consumers want to engage with.

But the results go beyond just social media metrics. By creating a community of engaged followers, Nutella has also been able to foster brand loyalty and drive repeat purchases. It's a perfect example of the 'Advocacy' stage in the funnel stages framework, where satisfied customers become brand advocates, spreading the word about your product or service.

This case study of Nutella's creative content strategy is a great reminder for all businesses. Whether you're a small start-up or a large corporation, having fun with your brand and engaging your audience can lead to increased brand awareness and ultimately, a stronger connection with your customers.

In our next case study, we'll dive into how Oreo used real-time event marketing to increase brand visibility. Stay tuned to learn how you can incorporate these techniques into your own social media marketing strategy .

Case Study 4: Oreo's Real-Time Event Marketing

When it comes to real-time event marketing, few brands have managed to leave a lasting impression quite like Oreo. Their quick wit and timely response during the infamous Super Bowl blackout not only won them viral fame but also provided a valuable lesson in capitalizing on real-time events for social media success.

The Strategy: Tweeting During the Super Bowl Blackout

On February 3, 2013, as millions of viewers were glued to their screens watching the Super Bowl, the unimaginable happened - a 34-minute blackout. While most brands were left in the dark (literally and figuratively), Oreo saw an opportunity.

Within minutes, the cookie brand had crafted a simple but clever tweet: "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark." This swift response demonstrated Oreo's ability to think on its feet, turning an unexpected event into a perfect branding opportunity.

The Results: Over 15,000 Retweets and Increased Brand Visibility

Oreo's quick-witted tweet paid off massively. The post was retweeted more than 15,000 times and garnered widespread media attention. Moreover, this single tweet significantly boosted Oreo's brand visibility and demonstrated the power of real-time event marketing.

Oreo's successful strategy during the Super Bowl blackout is an excellent example of how brands can use real-time events to their advantage. By keeping a close eye on events as they unfold and being prepared to respond quickly and creatively, you can boost your brand's visibility and engage your audience in new and exciting ways.

This approach aligns well with the engagement stage of the funnel framework for social media marketing for small business . Brands should strive to be part of conversations that matter to their audience, and real-time events provide a perfect opportunity for this.

As we have seen from these social media marketing case studies, successful campaigns often involve a mix of careful planning, creativity, and the ability to seize opportunities as they arise. The key is to understand your audience, engage with them authentically, and deliver content that resonates with them.

Next, we'll examine a case study from Airbnb that leveraged user-generated content to create a strong connection with their audience. Keep reading to learn how you can apply these strategies to your own social media marketing efforts.

Case Study 5: Airbnb's User-Generated Content Strategy

Airbnb, the world-renowned online marketplace for lodging and tourism experiences, has been a game-changer in the hospitality industry. Its unique business model allows homeowners to rent out their properties to travelers, offering an alternative to traditional hotel accommodations. But it's not just the innovative business model that sets Airbnb apart. Their cutting-edge social media marketing strategies have also played a key role in their success. Let's take a closer look at how Airbnb achieved this through their user-generated content strategy.

The Strategy: Showcasing Experiences and Culture Through Stunning Imagery

Airbnb's strategy was anchored in the power of storytelling, leveraging their target audience's experiences as a potent marketing tool. They understand that their customers are not just renting a place to stay; they are seeking unique experiences and cultural immersion.

In 2016, Airbnb faced accusations of discrimination. In response, they launched a social media campaign called the ‘Community Commitment’ to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion and diversity. However, their most impactful campaign was #WeAccept. This campaign was launched in response to the US travel ban on some Muslim-majority countries, showcasing Airbnb's stand against this decision.

The campaign capitalized on user-generated content, with Airbnb hosts and guests sharing their stories and experiences. By doing so, they were able to paint a picture of an inclusive community that welcomes individuals from all walks of life. The campaign was rolled out on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, each platform offering a different way to engage with the content.

The Results: Strong Connection with Audience and Increased Bookings

The #WeAccept campaign was a resounding success. It garnered over 87 million impressions across all platforms, demonstrating the power of user-generated content in spreading their message. The campaign not only helped Airbnb connect with their existing audience on a deeper level, but it also attracted new users to the platform.

The campaign's success can be attributed to Airbnb's understanding of their audience's values and the type of content that would resonate with them. They understood that their audience valued inclusivity, diversity, and meaningful experiences, and they were able to effectively communicate these values through their campaign.

The results were not only limited to increased engagement and impressions. The campaign also had a positive impact on their bookings, further establishing Airbnb's reputation as a trusted and inclusive platform for travelers and hosts alike.

As this case study illustrates, a well-executed social media marketing strategy, like Airbnb's user-generated content campaign, can have a significant impact on your brand's success. It's about understanding your audience, delivering content that resonates with them, and fostering authentic interactions.

With the right strategy in place, your brand can also leverage social media to connect with your audience, increase brand awareness, and drive more business to your door. To learn more about how SocialSellinator can help you achieve similar results with your social media marketing efforts, visit our services page .

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How SocialSellinator Can Help You Achieve Social Media Success

Every business needs a partner who understands their distinctive needs and challenges to unlock the full potential of social media. SocialSellinator is committed to being that partner for small to midsize businesses, offering solutions that empower, engage, and transform.

Our Approach: Customizable Solutions and Cutting-Edge Strategies

At SocialSellinator, we recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to social media marketing. Each business is unique and requires a custom strategy tailored to its goals and target audience.

We begin by understanding your business and the challenges you face. Whether it's lack of brand awareness, lead deficiency, or the need for measurable results, we craft strategies that tackle these issues head-on.

Our team of experts leverage the power of data analytics to inform and optimize your social media strategy. We closely monitor your social media channels, analyzing engagement and audience growth to fine-tune content and maximize results.

Moreover, we prioritize authentic engagement, fostering genuine interactions that lead to customer loyalty and conversions. We handle comments, thank followers, answer FAQs, and even involve you in responding to more technical questions. Building a loyal community is key to our approach.

Finally, we know the importance of return on investment. We ensure that every dollar spent on marketing shows a return, focusing on KPIs that directly correlate with business growth.

Our Success Stories: Proven Results in Digital Marketing

We are proud of our track record of achieving successful results for our clients. One of the ways we do this is by creating a comprehensive content calendar filled with captivating posts, images, links, and hashtags tailored to each platform. This ensures your content is easily discoverable and reaches new audiences, thus increasing your brand's visibility online.

We also offer effective team and client management solutions, making it easy to coordinate with all your stakeholders without any login fuss. With our bulk scheduling feature, you can schedule up to 500 posts in one go, saving you time and effort.

One of our many success stories includes a small boutique clothing store. We collaborated with them to develop a social media strategy that resonated with their audience. The result was increased brand awareness, lead generation, and a strong return on investment.

At SocialSellinator, we believe in the power of social media to transform businesses. With our tailored strategies, data-driven analysis, and experienced team, we can help your business shine online. Visit our services page to discover how we can elevate your social media marketing game.

Harness the power of social media marketing to achieve your business goals with SocialSellinator. No matter your industry or size, our team is ready to help you unlock your online potential. Don't miss out—contact us today and take the first step towards social media success.

Conclusion: The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Business Success

In the dynamic world of digital marketing, social media has carved out a significant role. Its impact on business success is indisputable. The case studies we've explored, from Starbucks to Airbnb, demonstrate the immense potential that a well-crafted social media marketing strategy holds when it comes to brand visibility, customer engagement, lead generation, and ultimately, revenue growth.

The power of social media marketing lies in its ability to foster authentic relationships with your audience. It's not just about promoting products or services; it's about creating a community around your brand, engaging your audience in meaningful conversations, and building a strong brand identity. From utilizing user-generated content to jumping on trending topics, successful social media marketing involves a blend of creativity, strategy, and data-driven decision making.

Moreover, social media platforms provide businesses, especially small to midsize ones, with a cost-effective means of reaching potential customers on a global scale. With the right strategy, businesses can maximize their online visibility, enhance their brand image, and drive website traffic, all of which contribute to increased sales and business growth.

However, achieving success in social media marketing is not a walk in the park. It requires a comprehensive understanding of social media dynamics, a knack for creating engaging content, and the ability to swiftly respond to changes in consumer behavior and market trends. It's here that SocialSellinator comes into play. With our expertise in social media marketing, we can help you navigate the complexities of the digital landscape and unlock your business's online potential.

In conclusion, social media marketing, when executed correctly, can be a game-changer for businesses. It can propel your brand to new heights, enabling you to reach a larger audience, engage with customers more effectively, and drive more conversions. But remember, social media marketing success doesn't happen overnight. It requires patience, persistence, and continuous optimization.

To learn more about how to leverage social media for business success, explore our comprehensive guide on social media marketing for small businesses. For a deep dive into specific aspects of social media marketing, check out the detailed blog posts in our cluster hub. And if you're ready to take your social media marketing to the next level, SocialSellinator is here to help. Reach out to us today to start your journey towards social media success.

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5 outstanding social media marketing case studies

Do you read social media marketing case studies for inspiration? It’s always a good idea to benchmark against your competitors or pinch ideas from them, but it’s also worth looking at success stories from the biggest brands out there. You might not have their budget, but you can always gain inspiration from their campaigns.

Here are five of the best brands on social and what I think you can learn from them:

1.Mercedes Benz – Repeated, successful social media marketing campaigns

Mercedes Benz seem to win every time with their social media campaigns.  The one that stands out to me was back in 2013 when they created what I still believe to be one of the best Instagram marketing campaigns to date. Mercedes wanted to reach out to the younger audience so they hired five top Instagram photographers to each take the wheel of a new Mercedes CLA. Whoever got the most likes got to keep the car – so they all really worked at it!

By the end of the campaign, Mercedes has received:

  • 87,000,000 organic Instagram impressions
  • 2,000,000 Instagram likes
  • 150 new marketing assets (stunning photos)

What lessons can you learn from this? Could you put your followers up for a challenge and make it into a competition or campaign?

  • Can you do a competition that gets people trying out your product first?
  • Think about your target audience. What is a prize they would value?
  • Like Mercedes you could recruit bloggers/influencers via social media and get them blogging about your service or product. Whoever receives the most engagement wins .

2. Dove – Connecting with their target audience

Is it just me or do all the Dove marketing campaigns make you cry? If you’ve seen their Real Beauty sketches campaign, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Dove’s goal is to make women feel good about themselves. They know their target market and create content that tells a story that women can relate to.

Today I am… pic.twitter.com/VoAf2wRdwa — Dove UK & Ireland (@DoveUK) February 19, 2016

Dove did some research and found that 80 percent of women came across negative chatter on social media. Dove’s goal was to change that and make social media a more positive experience. As a result, Dove teamed up with Twitter and built a tool to launch the #SpeakBeautiful Effect, that breaks down which body- related words people use the most and when negative chatter appears during the day.

According to Dove, women were inspired by their message.

  • #SpeakBeautiful was used more than 168,000 times
  • Drove 800 million social media impressions of the campaign

Dove know their audience. Knowing your audience is the only way you will engage with them. The best way for this is creating personas. Knowing what life stage they are in, if they’re employed, what their interests are etc. will certainly help you when creating content. Then think about linking your audience to your brand values in order to create something just as successful as Dove’s campaign.

3. Nutella – Incredible content that makes you salivate

Each post makes you want to eat Nutella. There are a lot of people (including me) who take photos of their food before they eat it. Nutella does the same and it works. Nutella isn’t afraid to be fun and creative with different ingredients. Nutella is just a chocolate spread yet they manage to have fun with it. Do you, or could you, have a bit more fun with your brand?

Here are some ideas for having fun with your brand:

  • Are you on different social media channels? If you’re B2B you might not think that Instagram is for you, but it can be a great way to demonstrate your brand values by telling a story. Fedex is a great example of this, showing images of their trucks always on the move. This tells a story that they are always delivering and that is the key message we take away.
  • Key influencers/bloggers can be a great way to  different types of content and to see how they have fun with your brand (if this is new to you, read our post on the rise of the social media influencer ).
  • Instead of posting behind-the-scenes photos at your head office, can you encourage your followers to share their experiences with your brand? Maybe host an event or go out and meet them.
Take your #breakfast bread pudding to the next level with #Nutella ! 😉 pic.twitter.com/k0ko5Nm9iX — Nutella (@NutellaGlobal) May 5, 2016

4. Oreo – Smart content planning and timely delivery

Oreo is another brand that is known for their creative social media marketing. They must have a big design team to produce their content, but it works! They are consistent with their branding and manage to catch onto real time events. We all remember when the lights went out at the Super Bowl and during the half hour blackout Oreo tweeted out:

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC — OREO Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

This was retweeted over 15,000 times.  Are you thinking outside the box about your brand? Plan ahead for events coming up that you might be able to jump on to.

Do you plan your social media content out? If you’re in B2B and don’t currently create content read here for some B2B content marketing tips to help you get started, or check out our B2B marketing strategy tips ebook for 2021.

It’s always a good idea to prepare content ahead of time. If you can schedule content on a monthly basis – perfect, but if not bi-weekly is great. That way you can check what events are coming up and plan content around them. This gives you time for any ad hoc creative to be done, such as jumping on real-time events like the Oreo blackout example above.

5. Airbnb – Stunning imagery and UGC

What might look like a visual travel blog,  Airbnb ’ s content attracts fans with their visually compelling posts. On Instagram, they post user-generated photos from its hosts and guests. The content embraces their new campaign of ‘Don’t just go there, Live there’ which is captured through real photography. Each post receives high engagement, between 3,000 and 14,000 Instagram likes.

Airbnb social media case study

This is a great example of thinking slightly outside the box. Airbnb is all about accommodation. They don’t just post images of the inside of people’s homes. Seeing the culture and images of places all over the world comes with the experience of where you stay and that’s what connects with people. Think about your brand: are you just posting about the product/ service itself? Why not tell your followers a story instead?

Thanks for reading. I hope by reading these five social media marketing case studies it has spiked some inspiration! If you need any help with your social media advertising , influencer marketing , or other aspects of your social media strategy, feel free to contact us .

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9 Incredible Social Media Case Studies Every Social Marketer Should Read

Sahail Ashraf posted on 25 August 2015

The best brands in the world own social media.

Using their creative teams to the full, they pull out all the stops to create social campaigns that help to push their message and boost sales.

In this post, we look at some of the best case studies out there on social media, and pick out a few lessons to be learned.

theme

Oreo and its fantastic use of a power cut during a Super Bowl clash has become part of social media legend. But if you want to see how it was done and how it all worked, head here for a case study on it.

Because we picked such a big stage, we decided to have a social media command center, so that we could respond in real time to buzz

Always be listening to your audience, and keep your finger on the pulse of current events.

oreo

These guys have been killing it on social media for some years, but they have managed to tap into one platform that some companies find very difficult: Google Plus. This case study goes in depth to find out how the clothing company uses the platform to engage with fans.

We want our followers on Google+ to feel that what they get is unique

Regular, relevant posting on Google+ makes a huge difference.

h&m

GoPro has that insanely unique feel that makes it a cool brand anyway, but this YouTube case study really shows how they manage to corner the market on the video platform. Don’t forget a lot of this stuff is user generated too.

It is really neat to see people’s passion coming forward

If your audience are in love with your product, let them evangelise about it.

gopro

Sony can’t really put a foot wrong on social, and the veteran company has nailed it again with their approach to Pinterest, This study shows exactly how they manage to get it right.

The excitement about Pinterest got the web team to get really creative and figure out a way to make it work.

Research what other people are pinning, and do it better.

sony

Honda has always been that little bit more creative than other companies. This time it knocked it out of the park with this incredibly clever Pinterest move. Check out the case study here.

This gave Honda exposure to many more followers than it could have had on its own.

Carry out a spin on user-generated content by finding influencers and encouraging them to market for you.

honda

Air Asia are not the biggest airline in the world, but they created a very exciting campaign a couple of years ago that really demonstrated how to use social effectively on a number of different levels. They gave away a plane on Facebook.

The winner of the competition didn’t receive a free plane (obviously) but instead the opportunity to take 302 of their Facebook friends on a plane journey from Australia to Malaysia. The campaign was a huge success, with the ability to tag ten friends in the photo of the plane and its seating plan.

To say this was a huge success is a bit of an understatement however. As the case study shows , 20% of the entire Australian Facebook audience saw the campaign.

The viral aspect is what made the difference here, with everyone involved having 302 other potential people involved too.

The biggest Facebook friendship test ever conceived. It grew from local, to national to international news, generating PR value of $1,627,593.

Use your audience to create momentum.

airasia

Cisco used to do traditional product launches, with plenty of press releases and some rather dry presentations. Then they discovered social and found that, if they were a little more clever about things, people would listen more readily.

Using YouTube, Facebook and Twitter among other channels (including Second Life) this product launch went so well it has changed the way the company now does things. Enjoy reading this detailed case study and think about how you can tap into your customer’s innate need to have fun.

If they’re playing games, that’s how they want to engage and that’s who they are.

Find out what your audience loves and tap into that with your content.

cisco

Coca Cola is a huge brand and it has one of the most recognisable logos in the world. Right now, it’s FB reach is absolutely massive and something that couldn’t possibly be bettered, right?

Well, the way Coca Cola uses its Facebook presence is a lesson for all businesses everywhere. The ability to tailor pages and even content geographically has been clearly understood by Coca Cola. And it has done this well, with infrequent posting not being an issue, simply because the aim is to reinforce the brand through a variety of pages.

And it works. Really well, in fact. Coca Cola isn’t in danger of losing it’s well over 60 million fans on Facebook , but it knows that keeping that brand strong is simply a matter of using a channel to its full potential.

one of the privileges that comes with its international celebrity is the ability to leave its Facebook page unattended for long periods of time.

Use the platform’s filters and settings to tailor your content to segments.

cocacola

Standard Life were not early adopters on social by any means, and it took them some time to get things right. But they have totally maximised their Twitter usage so that it has become second nature for them now to find leads and develop massive customer engagement. They have cracked the evangelist route, where Twitter followers become your best selling tool by waxing lyrical about your service on the platform. They did this by targeting the right people to follow and then building up engagement.

It has worked really well. The case study shows that 72% of the followers the company now has are financial advisors, which is the community the company wants to reach.

Over the past 18 months we’ve managed to grow our number of followers organically, engaging in conversations only where appropriate.

Follow the right people and keep things specific on Twitter. It pays. Literally.

standard life

These case studies make for good reading, but for the small business it’s all about taking one step at a time. Use a couple of the takeaways here to start structuring your social strategy. It makes sense that you should follow the right people on Twitter, and get selective for example. Pretty soon, you’ll have a social strategy with a solid foundation to build upon.

Need the ‘right numbers’ for an all-out attack on social but don’t know where to start? How about fully automated social metrics, all delivered by the nicest guys on the planet? Try Locowise on a trial basis, and learn how to rock social media with the data to back you up.

Related Posts:

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Inspiring Social Media Case Studies from Reputable Brands and Digital Agencies

Brands are more than their products in today’s digital world. Memorable brands are the ones who know how to engage with their target audience effectively through their social media channels. In this article, we have curated the best social media case studies of all time.

Being on all social media platforms is not necessary; however, it is important to be successful if you exist in one. There are a lot of brands inspiring us with their effective social media strategies. They are powerful enough to start a movement, raise awareness, and change the way people think or buy.

Almost 4 billion people are using social media today worldwide. That fact clearly shows how huge potential there is to reach out to your buyer persona.

Social media marketing services comprise organic social media, paid social media, community management, social listening, feed-based / dynamic ads, Facebook ads, Twitter ads, LinkedIn ads, Snapchat ads, TikTok ads, Reddit ads, Quora ads, and so on.

Effective social media case studies come from either an experienced social media marketing agency or a very successful in-house social media team of famous brands. So, if you don’t have an in-house option, you should find the right marketing agency . Making a shortlist of agencies that appeal to your business needs is not easy, but if you have a digital marketing marketplace to refer to, you’re one of the lucky ones.

In this article, we have gathered the best social media marketing case studies by both brands and digital marketing companies to inspire your upcoming work.

Top Social Media Marketing Agencies with Effective Case Studies (in the DAN Ecosystem)

  • Fenty Marketing

The Good Marketer

Social media 55, spark social agency, emote digital.

  • Hallam Agency

The LOOKOUT Sri Lanka is the top Luxury Private Villa in Sri Lanka. CEEK Worked closely with the brand and the project consisted of Website Development, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Content Creation and Paid Targeting services. The LOOKOUT social media was created by CEEK to showcase the beauty of the country and the villa itself in light of the increase in tourism around Sri Lanka and the country’s strong domestic growth in the use of social media. It has been established as a site that people enviously desire to stay at just for the aesthetics without taking into account the high level of service thanks to high-quality content and a highly active social media marketing strategy. Below you can find an example of the influencer marketing campaign:

Did you know that one of DAN’s member agencies has earned a prestigious social media award?

Favoured, well-known digital marketing agency, has been shortlisted for the UK TikTok Ad Awards . This recognition celebrating excellence in creativity and performance on social media platforms praises the agency’s ability to craft campaigns that resonate with audiences on TikTok.

DAN member agency, Favoured’s award-nominated campaign was designed for a leading beauty brand, aiming to enhance visibility and engagement on the popular social media platform. The campaign is powered by in-depth audience research, the creation of an engaging storyline, and strategic collaborations with TikTok influencers. By creating high-quality content production and a branded hashtag challenge, Favoured captured the attention of its target demographic while carrying out significant user interaction and brand awareness.

The results of Favoured’s campaign were outstanding, with a substantial increase in likes, shares, and comments. Additionally, they achieved a notable rise in user-generated content through the hashtag challenge.

Fenti Marketing 

The social media approach that Fenti Marketing created for a neighborhood bakery is evidence of their skill in strategy and creativity. By leveraging humor and excellent content, Fenti Marketing improved the bakery’s brand on social media and produced measurable financial gains. 

Let’s go back to the beginning:

The bakery, known for its artisanal biscuits, faced stiff competition and needed a campaign to highlight its unique products and engage and captivate its target audience. The DAFenti Marketing worked closely with the bakery to refine its brand message, focusing on the artisanal quality plus unique flavors of its biscuits. The messaging emphasized the playful and quirky nature of the brand, aiming to create a distinct identity on social media. 

Fenti’s campaign centered on humorous and visually appealing social media posts, featuring the biscuits in unexpected and amusing scenarios. The digital agency focused on high-quality photography and witty captions to create content that resonated with the target audience and encouraged social sharing. The result? Check it out.

The Good Marketer is another agency that has demonstrated its expertise by implementing a comprehensive social media strategy for one of its clients, The House Outfit . 

The client, an e-commerce business specializing sustainably, sought to enhance brand awareness, engagement, and sales through social media platforms. The Good Marketer crafted a tailored social media strategy focusing on key platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. They produced high-quality, visually appealing content aligned with the brand’s sustainable values, including product photos, lifestyle images, infographics, and video content. At the same time, influencer partnerships played a pivotal role in expanding the brand’s reach and credibility.

The Good Marketer planned to engage directly with followers through comments, messages, and interactive stories and yes, fostered a strong community spirit and increased traffic to the client’s website.

@thehouseoutfit #fyp #interior #interiordesign #art #home #homedecor ♬ original sound – theoriginaltiktoktrends

Since working with The House Outfit, the DAN-member agency has:

  • Achieved an average Facebook ROAS of 5.45 over 3 months,
  • Increased sales value by 791.10%,
  • Generated 1065 purchases,
  • Got a 52% increase in online store sessions, 
  • Achieved a 13% increase in overall sales in less than 3 months.

Want to hear the full story of The Good Marketer works for The House Outfit? Head out this way . 

When it comes to developing a comprehensive social media strategy tailored to the brand & target audience, Social Media 55 is a well-known name in the DAN ecosystem. 

Studio Cody Caissie faced the challenge of increasing their online visibility and improving their search engine rankings, partnered with Social Media 55. 

Social Media 55 developed a comprehensive social media strategy that included sharing high-quality content across various platforms. These efforts were designed to build a loyal community, increase brand visibility, and drive more traffic to Studio Cody Caissie’s website, enhancing its SEO performance at the end of the day.

Social Media 55 X Studio Cody Caissie highlights the critical role of social media in boosting SEO performance &  the importance of integrating social media strategies into overall digital marketing efforts.

inspiring-social-media-case-studies-from-reputable-brands-and-digital-agencies-spark-social-agency

Spark Social Agency works with a variety of well-known brands from a selection of different industries, one of them being Johnson&Johnson. Spark is a boutique social media marketing agency. This enables Spark to provide J&J with fast turnaround and greater impact than larger agencies they’ve traditionally worked with.

When J&J collaborated with Spark, the brand needed to pivot social content to reach an updated audience for multiple J&J brands such as Band-Aid, Aveeno Baby, and Tylenol. Additionally, the company sought assistance so that J&J brands could be more active on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. For various J&J brands, Spark produces a monthly stream of captivating social content. Social posts on their monthly content calendar now feature short-form video, which has a significantly higher interaction rate than previous content.

All these efforts resulted as the following:

  • 1,600% increase in engagement per post for Band-Aid
  • 110% increase in engagement per post for Motrin
  • Produced 40 assets for J&J baby brands in 3 weeks.

social-media-case-studies-emote-digital

Since it might be difficult to convey complex ideas using social media advertising, Australian digital marketing agency Emote Digital believes that you need excellent and simple-to-read content as well as targeted audience marketing. Emote Digital ran campaigns for the Bakers Delight Franchise over the course of a year that included frequent content and creative improvements to prevent user fatigue. Utilizing a variety of advertising channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google, Youtube, and more, the agency developed a broad-reaching campaign to identify the relevant leads first. Emote Digital assisted Bakers Delight in growing its franchise network by using a variety of top and bottom of the funnel methods to improve the quality of the leads.

These are the outcomes:

  • 45% Increase in conversions from social media,
  • 29% increase in franchise enquiries over 12 months.

social-media-campaign-case-study-loop-digital

LOOP is a fully charged digital agency that explores the intersections between design, digital technology and content marketing for leading brands. They have offices in New York, Sydney, Berlin and Copenhagen.

LOOP has worked with a lot of famous brands through social media case studies. My favorite one between those is their influencer marketing campaign with PUMA . They actually have run more than one case study with them. We will be focusing on the one with PUMA and Usain Bolt.

As a human being, we can be attracted by the brands which are preferred by the people we admire, just like Usain Bolt. In LOOP’s social media case study with PUMA and Usain Bolt, they let Usain Bolt tell his story in his point of view. We can, of course, find a lot of articles explaining his background, achievements etc. However, they can never be as effective as Usain Bolt’s own words.

With this social media campaign, PUMA has reached 4.7 million views and 828,000 engagement with 41.2 million total reach . You can check LOOP’s website to see the full case study and get information to work with them for your social media campaigns.

inspiring-social-media-case-studies-from-reputable-brands-and-digital-agencies-hallam-agency

Hallam is a UK-based social media marketing agency founded in 1999. Since then, they’ve they have combined strategic thinking, creativity, and technical know-how to develop integrated digital marketing strategies that produce the only outcome that matters: business success. Four of the eight gas distribution networks in the UK are owned and managed by their customer, Cadent Gas, who needed to develop their brand and raise awareness of this aspect. The goal of Hallam’s comprehensive video-based campaign was to promote the true stories of the “Cadent Heroes” across various service areas.

Three campaigns were created to provide Hallam the chance to plant positive seeds and take ownership of constructive topics. Their earned Media and Creative Teams worked together to create a landing page that served as the organization’s main hub of information. The 5 Campaigns attracted a significant number of views during the course of their 6-month run. The video showing a day in the life of a Cadent Gas Limited employee received over 4 million views . The campaigns generated nearly 15 million impressions overall, exceeding the initial goals and expectations.

Now, we all agree that the design crafted to be both eye-catching and shareable, encouraging followers to repost and engage means so much on social media management. 

Knowing that the DAN-member agency KOTA teamed up with Floan to ensure that every element of the brand – from their tone of voice to their visual aesthetics – reflected their mission. 

Inspired by boundless skies, KOTA meticulously crafted a cohesive digital experience that embodies Floan’s vision and values.

The comprehensive branding effort included designing Floan’s tone of voice and creating a seamless social media experience. Each detail was thoughtfully integrated to resonate with Floan’s audience, fostering a strong and consistent brand presence. 

Here is a quick glimpse of the brand’s Instagram profile: 

kota-social-media-case

The Most Effective Social Media Marketing Case Studies by Reputable Brands

There are many brands that use social media in the best possible way. With the rise of social media platforms such as TikTok, brands have changed the world of social media marketing and became even more creative and popular online. Below you’ll find our all time favorite social media marketing case studies by the big names:

Tesla & Elon Musk

Apple – shot on iphone.

With no doubt, Apple is very fast and effective when it comes to social media marketing. Their case studies are leading the industry.

With their social media case study #ShotOnIphone, millions of pictures and videos are shared on social media platforms.

It clearly shows that people do not need other cameras to take pictures or videos as long as they have their iPhones with them.

This campaign is not only followed by the general public, but also by the famous singers and bands such as Selena Gomez and Florence + The Machine. Some singers took their videoclips with an iPhone whereas some of them have used an iPhone on their concert tours in the world.

This campaign has been used in all the social media platforms. However, as it is more related to taking pictures and videos, of course, the hashtags are more common on Instagram.

If you just scroll down your Instagram feed, we promise that you will see a lot of pictures with the hashtag #shotoniphone, which indicates this social media case study is known by the world. You can read our article on Apple’s digital marketing strategy , in which we explore how the company got to be one of the most well-known names in the world, to discover more about the brand’s worldwide success.

Starbucks – #WhatsYourName

Starbucks is remembered for its successful social media campaign to support transgender and gender-diverse youth on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and traditional advertising.

Brands will be memorable with where they stand for the social phenomena. In this social media case study, Starbucks UK partnered with Mermaids to understand the gender-diverse youth better and create a way to support them.

If you buy and post photos of your mermaid tail cookie with the campaign hashtag, you help to raise funds for Mermaids.

Disney – Share your ears

Disney’s digital marketing strategy is ever successful, making the company one of the leading media and entertainment brands in the world. Celebrating 90 years of Mickey Mouse, Disney created a social media campaign with the hashtag #ShareYourEars on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. For every photo shared with the hashtag, Mickey Mouse donated $5 to Make-A-Wish®.

Make-A-Wish® is a nonprofit organization helping to fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness. At the end of the case study, Disney donated $2 million to the organization.

This has been one of the greatest social media case studies of all times with 1.77 million photos shared and 420 million social media impressions.

Always – #LikeAGirl

Equality of the sexes is another controversial phenomenon in the world. It has been placed in the cultures and languages so strongly that sometimes we don’t even realize how sexist we might sound.

“Like a girl” is a phrase in English and many more other languages, which is mostly used as an insult to women. Always definitely raised awareness for this subject with their social media case study #LikeAGirl. I promise if you watch the video below, you will be more careful with the expressions, idioms and phrases you say or hear in your daily life:

Airbnb | We accept

There are different ways to use social media effectively. It can depend on the brands, target audience, brand culture and identity. Some brands might prefer to speak up for a social phenomenon whereas some prefer to stay silent and unbiased.

There can be some situations where you are expected to explain something, for example, if your company or a branch of your brand is accused of something. What you say/share there is very critical which can affect the life of your business.

Airbnb was accused of discrimination in 2016, which they answered with their “Community Commitment”. After a few months, the US banned travel to some countries with a Muslim majority. That has created a chance for Airbnb to create a social media case study, #WeAccept. This successful campaign has reached over 87 million impressions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Doubtlessly, they handled this critical situation really well with their video below:

Nescafé – Really Friends?

You might not be using Facebook now as much as you used to do. However, Facebook can be still a powerful platform for your social media campaigns depending on your target audience. Certainly, Nescafe’s marketing strategy proves it right.

Our Facebook friends can be from our childhood, the neighbourhood we used to live 20-30 years ago, a friend circle who we are not in touch with any more, etc. Sometimes, when we scroll down in Facebook feed, we don’t feel so close to some of these old friends. Regardless of their age, I’m sure everyone feels the same way every now and then.

With this fact in mind, Nescafé France ran a successful social media case study on Facebook, which is their biggest platform.

This video is an example of emphasizing with your buyer persona and affecting them emotionally so that they feel attached to your brand:

Tesla is a leading brand for electric vehicles. We might not know the CEOs of similar companies; however, the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk is known by people all around the world. Considering the way he is using social media, we can even say that he is an influencer. Despite the marketing methods of other major companies, Tesla’s marketing strategy is distinct, exactly like its social media marketing.

Tesla’s social media marketing way is going to be a little different from what we have discussed in the other examples above. The reason is below:

successful-social-media-case-study-tesla-and-elon-musk

When there is a new product launch or an update regarding one of their services, Elon Musk shares some spoilers on his social media – before Tesla announces it officially. His followers are very interactive which also shows a successful social media engagement case study as a brand.

Tesla doesn’t even need to do influencer marketing as its CEO is already a powerful influencer who has dedicated followers for the brand.

If you feel like this wasn’t enough, make sure to check out social media campaign ideas for more inspiration.

Hope you have enjoyed reading our article. If you are interested in creating effective social media case studies for your business, you can check our list to partner with a social media marketing agency.

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132 Social Media Case Studies – Successes and Failures

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Do you think social media is bullsh&t? It is not. But you have to know how to use it. Here is a list of resources with multiple case studies about how businesses are successfully using social media for their business #socialmedia #socialmediatips #socialmediamarketing #socialmediaexamples #marketingexamples #socialmediacasstudies

That is such a short-sighted and limiting point of view.

Social Media Marketing is not sales – but it can help to sell things. And personally, I have to admit that I have several times bought something, booked an event or took part in something because I saw people (friends and acquaintances OR strangers) talking about it on social media. At the same time, I have never bought anything a salesperson tried to sell me on the phone. So yes, you actually can sell me things on Social Media. And I am not the only person.

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Before you read on - we have various resources that show you exactly how to use social networks to gain massive traffic and leads. For instance, check out the following:

But limiting Social Media Marketing success or failure to the statement: For sales, you need to pick up the phone is simply b%llshi$t. You can use social media for lead generation to fill your sales funnel – but you can also use Social Media for totally different aspects of business like customer management, brand awareness, reputation management, audience building, website traffic and many other things your business can profit from.

Many people do it. I do it and have done so for other projects in the past. The honest answer to “Social Media is not working” is: It is obviously not working the way you are doing it. Try different tactics, learn, adjust, measure, optimize, try something else, try harder, and never stop at “You cannot sell on Social Media!”

So the answer is, yes you can make money with Social Media, but it is not working the same way for each and every business or situation.

Most of the time, if you do not have success with getting ROI out of your Social Media activities, it is not Social Media, which is not working, it is you who are doing something wrong or have the wrong social media strategy.

You can use social media for lead generation to fill your sales funnel – but you can also use Social Media for totally different aspects of business like customer management, brand awareness, reputation management, audience building, website traffic and many other things your business can profit from. here are 132 social media marketing case studies and examples. #socialmediaexamples #socialmediamarketing #socialmediatips #socialmedia #socialmediacasestudies

Social Media cannot simply be done by following a recipe step by step.

That can only get you so far.

In Social Media often the best approaches are already cold coffee when they become common knowledge, and everyone tries to hop on the train. You need to make assumptions, test your assumption, measure success and adjust your marketing strategy according to your results.

Hey, before you read on - we have in various FREE in-depth guides on similar topics that you can download. For this post, check out:

Social media cannot be learned by the book.

But one thing is certain: To shout out sales messages in Social Media is most likely going to fail to give you any return.

What people want and expect from their Social Media activity is so diverse, and there are many Social Media case studies in multiple situations.

Join our  free Email Course  to learn how to start your social media marketing journey:

All the basics in 4 Days, 4 Emails

case study social media news

Instead of selecting a handful of case studies for this article, I decided to provide you with a list of resources with multiple case studies about how businesses are successfully using social media for their business success.

1.  15 B2B Case Studies for Proving Social Media ROI

Rob Petersen looks at the special situation of using social media platforms to market to businesses instead of consumers. He provides 15 examples ranging from CISCO and Demand Base to LinkedIn and SAP.

2.  50 Social Media Case Studies you Should Bookmark

SimplyZesty looks at a variety of use cases for the different social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram and more.

3.  IBM Turns its Sales Staff Social Media Savvy

I love this example as it shows how sales and Social Media Marketing can work hand in hand. Contrary to the above-mentioned comment on our blog, IBM realized that even sales can profit from Social Media with cost-effective leads.

4.  11 Examples of Killer B2B Content Marketing Campaigns Including ROI

Lee Odden of TopRank Marketing focuses more on the Content Marketing side and provides 11 B2B Content Marketing case studies.

5.  B2B Social Media Case Study: How I made $47 million from my B2B blog

This is a personal success story from AT&T’s experience and success with a content strategy.

6.  How ASOS Use Social Media [CASE STUDY]

The story of how the fashion and beauty store ASOS has become Britain’s largest online retailer with the aid of Social Media for ecommerce and online marketing.

7.  5 Outstanding Social Media Campaigns

The examples include the story from a hairdresser who increased sales by 400% without spending a penny. It is not only the big companies who can profit from Social Media.

8.  3 Small Businesses That Found Social Media Success

The examples range from customer service, brand perception to social engagement.

9.  The Best Social Media Campaigns of 2014

These marketing campaigns are more about creating more engagement, generate more fans and increase loyalty amongst audience members for the brand and not so much about direct ROI. Still, they explain how to get it right.

It is not only the social media success stories you can learn from. Sometimes you can learn from other peoples’ failures at least as much as from their successes. Here are some social media case studies on failed social media activities. The failures tend to be on a smaller scale, resulting from bad communication and reactions turning the Social Media conversation in an unwanted direction. It is rare that a company admits to a complete campaign and a ton of money gone down the drain. Still, even from these smaller examples, we all can learn our lessons for our behavior in Social Media:

1.  Social Media Fails: The Worst Case Studies of 2012

The examples are campaign focused and include examples from McDonald’s and Toyota.

2.  19 horrific social media fails from the first half of 2014

These are examples of how you should not communicate in Social Media and showcase some ways you should not copy on how to jump onto trending hashtags and events in Social Media.

3.  5 Big Social Media Fails of 2013 (and What We Learned)

What people want and expect from their Social Media activity is so diverse, and there are many Social Media case studies in multiple situations. Here are 132 social media examples that you will find interesting and can learn from. #socialmedia #socialmediatips #socialmediamarketing #digitalmarketing #onlinemarketing #marketingstrategy

4.  Top 12 Social Media Marketing Mishaps

These are examples of what can happen to you and how a social media Sh$tstorm can brew up. It makes sense to read some of these and talk about possible reactions before any of this kind happens to you. Simply be prepared.

Final Words

I hope you find some useful marketing tips in my little collection of Social Media case studies – or at least, have some fun browsing through these examples. I find them encouraging as they show the variety of cases where Social Media can help your business. And they show how many humans are in Social Media, making it a place where things can go wrong and go well. It is up to you to leverage the full power of social networks and turn the tide.

If you are looking for even more case studies here you go:

Digital Marketing Case Studies

Content Marketing Case Studies

Instagram Marketing Case Studies

Twitter Marketing Case Studies

Forget Failure. Get the simple process to success:

We show you the exact steps we took to grow our first business from 0 to 500k page views per month with social media and how we got 50k visitors per month from social media to this blog after 6 months. We show you the exact steps you need to take to see traffic success.

You get easy-to-follow step-by-step action plans and you will see the first results after a couple of days. Check out “ The Social Traffic Code ” – there is a special offer for you!

“The Social Ms blog and books have shown us great possibilities of growing on Twitter and via online media. In addition, they actually respond to email reactions. Practicing what they preach gives them the credibility edge.” Guy Pardon, Atomikos

Don’t miss out – make a decision for success! 

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How to Write a Social Media Case Study: A Handy Template for Agencies

case study social media news

When you’re talking to prospective clients during the sales process, they may want to see proof that you can achieve the results you’re promising them. So why not show them an example of your past achievements?

A social media marketing case study that’s full of persuasive data and client quotes is the perfect way to demonstrate the success customers can expect if they enlist your services.

Though it may take some time to produce, a well-put-together case study is worth the effort. In this article, we’ll explain how to create a social media success story, with some key things to include. And to help you get started, we’ll provide you with an example based on one of our own case studies.

Using quintly, you can automate the whole process of social media data collection , and use the data you’ve collected to create compelling marketing reports and case studies. Learn more about how to collect and analyze your clients’ social media data in a single platform.

What is a social media case study?

A social media case study is an in-depth exploration of one of your biggest client success stories. It describes how you helped them solve their problems and reach their goals.

Often, case studies focus on a specific campaign designed to achieve a certain result. Perhaps your clients wanted to improve ROI on social media by 20%. Or, maybe they were struggling to make an impact on Facebook and looking to improve performance on that channel.

The case study should be based on conversations with your clients and include lots of quotes from them throughout. It should also include evidence and data to back up the claims.

You can publish case studies on your company’s website or blog, and share them with leads as part of your sales funnel.

How to write a social media success story

A customer success story must be relatable, persuasive, and interesting enough to make sure that prospective leads will actually read it. Every marketing case study is different and will follow your client’s unique business and story. While there’s no one-size fits-all approach, there are some elements we think are important to include. If you’re not sure where to begin, here’s a few ideas to get you started.

1. Reach out to your client

First, you need to ask the right clients to participate in your case study. Choose a company that came to you with a specific problem or goal, and with your help has been able to overcome challenges and achieve great results.

Ideally, the featured business should be similar to the ideal clients you are hoping to attract , so that potential clients can relate to their problems and desires.

You’ll need to reach out and make sure they’re happy for you to feature them in the case study, and don’t mind investing some of their time. It may take a while for all the decision-makers to agree and sign off on the project, so allow plenty of time for this process. Once you have their agreement, you can start preparing to interview them.

2. Conduct an interview for your case study

The client interview is one of the most important steps because their feedback will become the backbone of the case study. 

You could send your client over a list of questions and ask them to respond by email. However, it’s better to set up a conversation with one or two representatives from the company , either by phone or video call, so you can have a more natural conversation and get deeper insights.

It’s important that you don’t go into a client interview cold. Being prepared means doing your research so that you won’t waste your or your client’s time.

Before the call, send over your questions so that they can start thinking about their answers. You should also request any assets or information you might need for the case study, such as the company logo and images you’ll want to use.

Ask lots of open-ended questions that elicit detailed responses. Try to cover every angle so you won’t have to go back and forth later for further clarification.

Here are a few example questions:

  • Why does social media matter for your brand?
  • What were your biggest challenges regarding social media marketing?
  • How have our services helped you overcome those challenges?
  • What’s changed in your social media and marketing strategy since we began working together?

Check that it’s ok to record the call so you can focus on the conversation and not have to worry about taking notes. A transcription software such as Otter.ai (available with a free plan) can help you record audio and transcribe it.

3. Compile data from social media analytics

Along with customer quotes, backing up your good work with social media data will go a long way. 

When it comes to persuading new clients that you’ve got what it takes to help them overcome their challenges and reach their objectives, there’s nothing more convincing than hard data.

It shows that your past campaigns have objectively performed well, and you’re not just interpreting your results as positive. And, it builds trust with prospective customers because it shows that you’re committed to tracking your own progress and keeping yourself accountable. 

Graphs and screenshots also help to make your case study more engaging. You can use them to break up big chunks of text with visuals.

Select the most eye-catching and impressive metrics to include in your case study. If you are using a social media platform such as quintly, you can take screenshots from your dashboards to illustrate the points you’re talking about.

You can include some data comparing your client’s performance with their competitors. 

For example, the graph below shows that even though Barcelona FC and Real Madrid shared roughly the same number of posts on Facebook in the selected period, the Catalan football club had a higher Interaction Rate than its rival:

01 social media case study - facebook own posts and interaction rate graph

You can also contrast the client’s current numbers against past results to show the improvement. 

For example, the following graphs show a month-to-month increase in FC Barcelona’s Interaction Rate on Instagram. 

02 social media case study - instagram interaction rate by post type graph october

Retrieving high-quality data and presenting it in an easy-to-understand format is essential for creating an effective case study. And, it can shape the way your case study is going to look, depending on what specific data points you decide to focus on. So make sure you have all the necessary metrics and dashboards set up before you begin writing your content. 

4. Write your case study

When you’ve got your client’s responses to your questions and you’ve picked out some key data points to include, it’s time to focus on the content of your case study.

To write an engaging case study, you must first grab the reader’s attention with a great headline that’s brief and clear. It can also mention the company name and a specific result they achieved.

Your headline could be something like: “Company A achieves X% increase in social media conversions with help from Y campaign”.

As a subheading, summarize the contents of the case study in a single sentence so that even those who don’t read the full article will get an idea of what you achieved.

Format your case study as a story with your customer  as the protagonist. This can help to grab the reader’s attention and take them on a journey with you.

When telling the story, remember to: 

  • Describe where they began – the problems they were facing and the goals they wanted to achieve.
  • Explain what tactics you used to help them, and why you decided on this strategy.
  • Talk about how these tactics began to improve their results and bring them closer to hitting their social media KPIs and increasing ROI.
  • Keep the focus on your customer , using their own words to describe the situation.

Style and formatting matter . Your case study should be informative yet easy-to-read. So use conversational language and make sure the tone of voice is in keeping with your brand and appealing to your target customer.

Bullet points, short paragraphs, and images are good to break up the text. Make sure quotes and impressive statistics stand out, and cut down unnecessary words from quotes to keep them on-topic.

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Case study example

At quintly, we use case studies to highlight the outstanding results that our customers have achieved. 

For inspiration, you can read our social media case study on Benefit Cosmetics and how they increased their engagement by 50% using our platform.

Let’s go through this case study step by step so you can use it for creating your own.

1. Write a headline and a summary

The headline must attract people’s attention straight away. We did this by mentioning the company name, and a specific result achieved: 50% increase in engagement.

We’ve then summarized the case study in one sentence providing a key takeaway of what our client was able to achieve.

04 social media case study - benefit cosmetics

2. Provide background on the company

Who is your client? What do they do, and who is their target customer? Giving some background on your client will help readers relate to them.

Here, you can see that we provide some basic stats relating to the company and what the brand believes in.

05 social media case study - benefit cosmetics - background

3. Highlight key results

Select a few of your most impressive metrics and make them stand out. We’ve chosen three metrics here that clearly demonstrate the success of our campaign.

06 social media case study - benefit cosmetics - key results

4. Describe the problem or challenge

What wasn’t working well for your client before they contracted your services?

In our case study, we used quotes from Toto Haba, Senior Vice President of Global Digital at Benefit to highlight the critical need for the company to produce great content and engage its audience through social channels.

We explained the problems they were facing, and how using quintly helped them overcome them.

07 social media case study - benefit cosmetics - the challenge

In your case, it could be that your clients don’t have enough expertise in data tracking to effectively analyze their social media campaigns and create new strategies.

There may be various ways in which you've helped your client get better results, so don’t be afraid to talk about them here, using direct quotes as much as possible.

5. Conclusion

You can close your report by summarizing once again the benefit that your clients has achieved. 

Or, you can use another quote from your client’s team, as we have done in our case study:

08 social media case study - benefit cosmetics - concluding quote

Collect and track data for your success stories

Collecting and analyzing data for case studies doesn’t have to be a hassle.

With quintly, you can automate the whole process and access a wealth of high-quality metrics and dashboards. 

Our tailor-made analytics solution for agencies can help you get amazing results for your clients on social media and have everything you need to put together your client testimonials. 

So start automating your social media analytics now!

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Vivien magyar, 7 tips for using social media reporting data to tell a story to your client, how to build an engaged audience on tiktok.

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Vector art illustration for the concept of posting Case Studies on social media for the article How to Post Case Studies on Social Media

How to Post Case Studies on Social Media

case study social media news

  • June 1, 2021
  • Using Case Studies

Once your Case Studies are finished, social media is the best place to share them. However, it’s not enough to simply post a link to your Case Study on LinkedIn and hope people will read it. Crafting a strong social media post that compels your audience to read your Case Study requires more strategy and finesse. 

This article serves as your ultimate guide to composing social media posts about your Case Studies that will grab your target audience’s attention. You’ll learn about what parts of the Case Study you should mention in your post and how to write about them in a way that gets people off social media and on your website—and, ideally, joining your client base.

Should You Post Your Case Studies on Social Media?

You know you want to post your Case Studies on social media—but should you? Run through this list of questions to find out:

  • Do you have permission from your client to post it? If you don’t have your client’s approval to post the Case Study, don’t post it. Instead, consider reworking the Case Study so that the client is anonymous.
  • Does your Case Study convey a compelling story? You’ll wind up with annoyed readers if your expertly crafted social media post lures them to your website but dead ends in boring content. Make sure your Case Study is interesting to read from start to finish.
  • Does your Case Study promote what you want to promote? A Case Study is no good to you if it describes how you helped a client solve Issue X when you really want to be known for solving Issue Z. This may lead you to attract work that doesn’t align with your true passion. Hold off on posting and work on creating Case Studies that showcase the areas in which you really want to shine.

Bottom line: If you’ve got the client’s permission and a juicy story to tell that makes you and your client look good, it’s time to create that post.

Tips for Creating Posts About Your Case Studies on Social Media

Follow the format.

A successful social media post about your Case Studies should follow a specific formula—specifically, the same one your Case Studies do! Ensure that your post includes the following elements in this order:

  • Headline. Use an intriguing opening sentence to make your post stand out and capture your audience’s attention right away.
  • Situation or Problem. Introduce the company and the problem or situation it had.
  • Solution and Results. Tease some of the company’s real, specific results that stemmed from the solution you provided.
  • Conclusion/Call to Action. Conclude the post with a call to action, such as “Click the link to learn more.”

Keep It Short and Sweet

Be brief when writing a social media post about Case Studies. Most people have short attention spans and a vast sea of content awaiting them on social media. When scrolling through News Feed on Facebook, people typically spend 2.5 seconds with a piece of content if they’re on desktop and even less if they’re on mobile. Make those few seconds worthwhile for the user and offer them something compelling that will make them engage with your post. There are only four key elements to the formula, so your post should be no longer than four fascinating sentences.

Be a Little Mysterious

Share just enough of the Case Study story in your social media post to make someone want to click the link. Remember: The goal is to get people to read the Case Study on your website, and that won’t happen if you give away all the details upfront! Aim for intrigue. Be honest, but be mysterious about the solution and the results, and never give away the ending!

Stick to Company Brand Guidelines

Adhere to your company’s voice and branding when writing your social media post about your Case Study. This helps ensure a consistent client experience, which fosters loyalty and trust. If you don’t have a brand identity, start exploring how to create one.

Make It Personal

Social media is all about making connections, which is difficult to do if your post is too formal or standoffish. Even if your company culture or brand skews more serious, using we and us in your social media posts to refer to your company can help build that bridge between you and your existing and potential clients.

Speak to Your Target Audience

Tailor your social media post about your Case Study for the specific audience you want to reach. For example, if you have a B2B company, use professional terminology to emphasize your experience and understanding of your industry. If your audience comprises the general public, use less formal language and avoid terminology that requires background knowledge to understand.

Use Relevant Images

You have less than three seconds to capture your audience’s attention, so use that time wisely by including an image with your social media post. Images leave a stronger impression than words alone and can make a wordy post easier to digest. Use an image from your Case Study or a photo of your Case Study subject when posting on social media. Remember to choose images that, like your messaging, are on-brand.

Sample of a Case Study Social Media Post

The following is an example of a social media post about a Case Study that adheres to the aforementioned tips:

An example of a LinkedIn post promoting a Case Study that reads, "Client X was having trouble growing their online sales. They couldn’t find anyone who could understand their complex business enough to generate new leads. Click now to learn how we grew their revenue by 5x in 6 months."

Posting your Case Studies on social media takes some strategy and skill. However, if you have a solid Case Study, approval from the client, and clear brand guidelines, you can create a post designed to get attention, clicks, and more business.

Need a Case Study to post on social media? Click here to find out how SuccessKit can help you reach that goal.

case study social media news

Stef Mates, SuccessKit's Creative Director, has been writing, designing, editing, and managing a variety of content types for several different industries for more than 15 years. She started at the company as a freelancer in November 2019 and became an official part of the team in June 2021.

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28 Nov 2023

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The latest trends, developments and statistics in social media. Stories this quarter include the release of new research from Walmart into the role of social media, the latest generative AI features from Meta, Snap and TikTok, and the new ad formats currently being tested.

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Unable to connect: a case study in social media addiction.

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On Tuesday, Sept. 14, The Wall Street Journal published an article detailing three-years-worth of extensive research done by Facebook to better understand how Instagram—which the tech giant purchased in 2012—affects its users. Despite Facebook publicly downplaying and withholding this data, The Wall Street Journal reported that internal investigations have demonstrated that “Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of [users] , most notably teenage girls.” However, with or without quantifiable data, most users—chiefly its younger, Gen Z demographic—have been grappling with Instagram’s harmful effects for years.

In response to The Wall Street Journal ’s investigation, The Washington Post published an opinion piece discussing the larger issues elucidated by the research. The Washington Post ’s editorial board noted that in conversations about Instagram, it’s referred to “like it’s a drug” but that “we can’t study the active ingredient.” However, on Mon., Oct. 4, I got to see a real-life case study on Instagram addiction unfold before my very eyes. 

Upon waking up, I tried to begin my day the same way I have since I joined Instagram in 2011: by scrolling through my feed. I joined under the username “tigerlily5” in fifth grade—my biggest flex is I haven’t changed it since—and never looked back. The grip Instagram has had on me (and most users) for ten years is shocking. The longevity and consistent growth of the app is as impressive as it is disturbing. When I was met with a fateful “unable to connect” message and an empty feed, I shrugged it off and continued with my morning routine of perusing the rest of my social media platforms.

Throughout the day, I overheard conversations, read Twitter threads, and received texts about both Facebook and Instagram being down—something I have yet to be convinced was an accident. It was as if the world had stopped, the Gen Z equivalent to a stock market crash. Instagram users like me shuffled through other social media platforms to occupy ourselves. After Facebook and its other apps went dark at 11:40 a.m. (EST), Twitter HQ tweeted “hello literally everyone” only two hours later and received over 3 million likes. Twitter itself then experienced an influx of technical issues over the next two hours, highlighting the sheer volume of users seeking out other platforms to fill the stimulus void Instagram’s crash had generated. 

At 6:33 p.m. (EST) Facebook tweeted to share apologies and good news: 

“To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we’re sorry. We’ve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us.”

Within five hours, Facebook and its subsidiary apps slowly came back to life and so did the world. Companies could target their ads, photo dumps could be posted, and oversimplified infographics could circulate once more. We could all happily re-enter the Instagram echochamber of instant gratification and posturing. I could unpack the meaning of the latter, but that is a whole other article in and of itself.

The sentiments expressed in The Wall Street Journal investigation, The Washington Post piece, and countless other articles were not new to me. As a young woman, I have been acutely aware of the negative impact Instagram has on my self-image, psyche, and overall mental health. What blew me away, however, was the extent of the worldwide dependence on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Small businesses and content creators lost revenue, family members using WhatsApp were stripped of their means of communication, and a large percentage of our world’s population confronted their inability to simply exist with their own thoughts.

One Twitter user (@TwitterOfGod) summed up the blackout perfectly : “ Instagram and Facebook are currently not working, as are democracy, society and a healthy sense of self.” Following the blackout, I continued to think critically about my relationship with Instagram, but it was the terrifying, empirical proof of social media’s drug-like quality that has stuck with me. Facebook and its subsidiaries have sunk their claws into virtually every aspect of our minds and they’re not letting go anytime soon.

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  • Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-court-hears-arguments-in-tiktoks-challenge-to-law-forcing-sale-or-ban-of-social-media-app

LISTEN: Court hears arguments in TikTok’s challenge to law forcing sale or ban of social media app

TikTok faced off with the U.S. government in federal court on Monday, arguing a law that could ban the platform in a few short months was unconstitutional while the Justice Department said the measure is critical to eliminate a national security risk posed by the popular social media company.

Watch in our player above.

Attorneys for the two sides – and content creators – appeared before a panel of three judges at a federal appeals court in Washington, where TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are challenging the law that is forcing them to break ties by mid-January or lose one of their biggest markets in the world.

Andrew Pincus, a veteran attorney representing the two companies, argued in court that the law unfairly targets the company and runs afoul of the First Amendment because TikTok Inc. – the U.S. arm of TikTok – is an American entity. Another attorney representing creators who are also challenging the law also argued it violates the rights of U.S. speakers and is akin to prohibiting Americans from publishing on foreign-owned media outlets, such as Politico, Al Jazeera or Spotify.

“The law before this court is unprecedented and its effect would be staggering,” Pincus said, adding the act would impose speech limitations based on future risks.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China.

The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. The U.S. also says the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.

Daniel Tenny, an attorney for the Justice Department, argued in court that data collection is useful for many companies for commercial purposes, such as target advertisements or tailoring videos to users’ interests.

“The problem is that same data is extremely valuable to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the United States,” he said.

Pincus, the attorney for TikTok, said Congress should have aired on the side of disclosing any potential propaganda on the platform instead of pursuing a divesture-or-ban approach, which the two companies have maintained will only lead to a ban. He also said statements from lawmakers before the law was passed show they were motivated by the propaganda they perceived to be on TikTok, namely an imbalance between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel content on the platform during the war in Gaza.

But the panel – composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges – expressed some skepticism, pressing the attorneys on TikTok’s side if they believe the government has any leeway to curtail an influential media company controlled by a foreign entity in an adversarial nation. The judges also asked if the arguments presented would apply in cases where the U.S. is engaged in war.

Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said the creators suing over the law could continue speaking on TikTok if the company is sold or if they choose to post content on other platforms. But Jeffrey Fisher, their attorney, pushed back, arguing there are not “interchangeable mediums” for them because TikTok is unique in its look and feel, and the types of audiences it allows creators to reach.

In the second half of the hearing, the panel also pressed the Justice Department on First Amendment challenges to the law.

Judge Sri Srinivasan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said efforts to stem content manipulation through government action does set off alarm bells and impact people who receive speech on TikTok. Tenny, the attorney for the DOJ, responded by saying the law doesn’t target TikTok users or creators and that any impact on them is only indirect.

For its part, TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that concerns the government has raised have never been substantiated. In their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance have also claimed divestment is not possible. And even if it was, they say TikTok would be reduced to a shell of its former self because it would be stripped of the technology that powers it.

Though the government’s primary reasoning for the law is public, significant portions of its court filings include classified information that has been redacted and hidden from public view.

In one of the redacted statements submitted in late July, the Justice Department claimed TikTok took direction from the Chinese government about content on its platform, without disclosing additional details about when or why those incidents occurred. Casey Blackburn, a senior U.S. intelligence official, wrote in a legal statement that ByteDance and TikTok “have taken action in response” to Chinese government demands “to censor content outside of China.” Though the intelligence community had “no information” that this has happened on the platform operated by TikTok in the U.S., Blackburn said there is a risk it “may” occur.

The U.S. has said it’s not required to wait until something detrimental happens before responding to the threat, but the companies have argued the government could have taken a more tailored approach to resolve its concerns.

During high-stakes negotiations with the Biden administration more than two years ago, TikTok presented the government with a draft 90-page agreement that allows a third party to monitor the platform’s algorithm, content moderation practices and other programming. TikTok says it has spent more than $2 billion to voluntarily implement some of these measures, which include storing U.S. user data on servers controlled by the tech giant Oracle. But it said a deal was not reached because government officials essentially walked away from the negotiating table in August 2022.

Justice officials have argued complying with the draft agreement is impossible, or would require extensive resources, due to the size and the technical complexity of TikTok. The Justice Department also said the only thing that would resolve the government’s concerns is severing the ties between TikTok and ByteDance given the porous relationship between the Chinese government and Chinese companies.

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paperclip Higher Education How the University of Sydney Proves the Value of Social Media

The University of Sydney, Australia's first university, was founded in 1850 and today has over 8,100 faculty, 73,000 students, and 380,000 alumni in more than 170 countries.

  • 31.5% Increase in brand sentiment score since the launch of #usydonline
  • 4x Instagram campaign engagement rate 4x higher than platform benchmarks
  • 41% year-over-year increase in social video views

What they did

The University of Sydney created a social media strategy that enables the Social Squad to align content, goals, and reporting across the core social media team and the 36 official channels owned by various faculties.

Let's do this

Products used in this study, aligning content strategy across the university.

Before Hootsuite, there was a lot of inconsistency across the university’s social media channels. The central team had no visibility into how the faculties were managing content or measuring its success.

The social media team had a vision for what they wanted to achieve and what success looked like—but they needed better alignment across the university to bring that vision to life.

With Hootsuite, the team has greater insight into what’s happening and can measure the individual and combined success of the Social Squad.

The Social Squad meets weekly to discuss upcoming content, determine its strategic importance, and decide which channels to share it on to ensure it reaches the right audience. They also collaborate on best practices, test different ways of working, align on content, and track their progress.

Mapping the student journey with Hootsuite and Adobe

The University of Sydney’s website is built, managed, and measured through Adobe Experience Manager. The preconfigured Hootsuite integration with Adobe enables the university to track the impact of social media across the entire student journey.

Using built-in tracking codes, the school can measure engagement from the first time an individual engages on social media to when they become a prospective student on the website.

This end-to-end visibility into the student journey enables the social media team to measure and prove the return on investment in social media.

Tracking sentiment and proactively managing brand reputation

The University of Sydney uses Talkwalker and Hootsuite to understand people’s perceptions of the brand in various online channels.  Sentiment tracking  has transformed the university’s ability to measure and manage its brand reputation.

By monitoring brand sentiment scores and engaging in social listening, the social media team gains helpful insights to inform campaign strategy. It can then take proactive steps to boost sentiment through social media communications as needed.

For example, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the team noticed negative sentiment around travel in Australia among international audiences. Following a thoughtful campaign called Stay Strong India, the team saw an incredible 30% increase in net sentiment score.

Measuring the impact and value of social media

In the past, the social team found it difficult to report on its progress in a meaningful way. There was so much content being shared across so many channels, it was hard to keep track of it all.

With the help of Hootsuite’s Business Value and Customer Success teams, the University of Sydney set benchmarks against other higher education institutions. The University can now demonstrate how it tracks higher than both industry and average platform benchmarks, mainly because it has a great understanding of its audiences.

With Hootsuite Advanced Analytics, the team can also clearly report on everything from engagement to campaign performance and return on investment without spending days or weeks analyzing data in spreadsheets.

The results

The University of Sydney is less than one year into its new social media strategy, and it is already using social media and tracking its performance in a way that raises the university to an entirely new level of social media best practice.

The team plans to continue executing its effective strategy, gathering more insights on student and academic audiences, and recruiting more influencers to help it continue to grow its social media presence and achieve its ambitious goals.

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The ability to show stakeholders how a social media post leads prospective students to the website and eventually to apply for a specific course helps us prove the value of social and justify more investment.

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The truth about teens, social media and the mental health crisis.

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Michaeleen Doucleff

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For years, the research picture on how social media affects teen mental health has been murky. That is changing as scientists find new tools to answer the question. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

For years, the research picture on how social media affects teen mental health has been murky. That is changing as scientists find new tools to answer the question.

Back in 2017, psychologist Jean Twenge set off a firestorm in the field of psychology.

Twenge studies generational trends at San Diego State University. When she looked at mental health metrics for teenagers around 2012, what she saw shocked her. "In all my analyses of generational data — some reaching back to the 1930s — I had never seen anything like it," Twenge wrote in the Atlantic in 2017.

Twenge warned of a mental health crisis on the horizon. Rates of depression, anxiety and loneliness were rising. And she had a hypothesis for the cause: smartphones and all the social media that comes along with them. "Smartphones were used by the majority of Americans around 2012, and that's the same time loneliness increases. That's very suspicious," Twenge told NPR in 2017.

But many of her colleagues were skeptical. Some even accused her of inciting a panic with too little — and too weak — data to back her claims.

Now, six years later, Twenge is back. She has a new book out this week, called Generations , with much more data backing her hypothesis. At the same time, several high-quality studies have begun to answer critical questions, such as does social media cause teens to become depressed and is it a key contributor to a rise in depression?

In particular, studies from three different types of experiments, altogether, point in the same direction. "Indeed, I think the picture is getting more and more consistent," says economist Alexey Makarin , at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

How to help young people limit screen time — and feel better about how they look

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How to help young people limit screen time — and feel better about how they look, a seismic change in how teens spend their time.

In Generations , Twenge analyzes mental health trends for five age groups, from the Silent Generation, who were born between 1925 and 1945, to Gen Z, who were born between 1995 and 2012. She shows definitively that "the way teens spend their time outside of school fundamentally changed in 2012," as Twenge writes in the book.

Take for instance, hanging out with friends, in person. Since 1976, the number of times per week teens go out with friends — and without their parents — held basically steady for nearly 30 years. In 2004, it slid a bit. Then in 2010, it nosedived.

"It was just like a Black Diamond ski slope straight down," Twenge tells NPR. "So these really big changes occur."

At the same time, around 2012, time on social media began to soar. In 2009, only about half of teens used social media every day, Twenge reports. In 2017, 85% used it daily. By 2022, 95% of teens said they use some social media, and about a third say they use it constantly, a poll from Pew Research Center found .

"Now, in the most recent data, 22% of 10th grade girls spend seven or more hours a day on social media," Twenge says, which means many teenage girls are doing little else than sleeping, going to school and engaging with social media.

Not surprisingly, all this screen time has cut into many kids' sleep time. Between 2010 and 2021, the percentage of 10th and 12th graders who slept seven or fewer hours each night rose from a third to nearly one-half. "That's a big jump," Twenge says. "Kids in that age group are supposed to sleep nine hours a night. So less than seven hours is a really serious problem."

Teen girls and LGBTQ+ youth plagued by violence and trauma, survey says

Teen girls and LGBTQ+ youth plagued by violence and trauma, survey says

On its own, sleep deprivation can cause mental health issues. "Sleep is absolutely crucial for physical health and for mental health. Not getting enough sleep is a major risk factor for anxiety and depression and self-harm," she explains. Unfortunately, all of those mental health problems have continued to rise since Twenge first sounded the alarm six years ago.

"Nuclear bomb" on teen social life

"Every indicator of mental health and psychological well-being has become more negative among teens and young adults since 2012," Twenge writes in Generations . "The trends are stunning in their consistency, breadth and size."

Across the board, since 2010, anxiety, depression and loneliness have all increased . "And it's not just symptoms that rose, but also behaviors," she says, "including emergency room visits for self-harm, for suicide attempts and completed suicides." The data goes up through 2019, so it doesn't include changes due to COVID-19.

All these rapid changes coincide with what, Twenge says, may be the most rapid uptake in a new technology in human history: the incorporation of smartphones into our lives, which has allowed nearly nonstop engagement with social media apps. Apple introduced the first iPhones in 2007, and by 2012, about 50% of American adults owned a smartphone, the Pew Research Center found .

The timing is hard to ignore, says data scientist Chris Said , who has a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton University and has worked at Facebook and Twitter. "Social media was like a nuclear bomb on teen social life," he says. "I don't think there's anything in recent memory, or even distant history, that has changed the way teens socialize as much as social media."

Murky picture becomes clearer on causes of teen depression

But the timing doesn't tell you whether social media actually causes depression in teens.

In the past decade, scientists have published a whole slew of studies trying to answer this question, and those studies sparked intense debate among scientists and in the media. But, Said says, what many people don't realize is scientists weren't using — or didn't even have — the proper tools to answer the question. "This is a very hard problem to study," he says. "The data they were analyzing couldn't really solve the problem."

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The mental health of teen girls and lgbtq+ teens has worsened since 2011.

So the findings have been all over the place. They've been murky, noisy, inconclusive and confusing. "When you use tools that can't fully answer the question, you're going to get weak answers," he says. "So I think that's one reason why really strong evidence didn't show up in the data, at least early on."

On top of it, psychology has a bad track record in this field, Said points out. For nearly a century, psychologists have repeatedly blamed new technologies for mental and physical health problems of children, even when they've had little — or shady — data to back up their claims.

For example, in the 1940s, psychologists worried that children were becoming addicted to radio crime dramas, psychologist Amy Orben at the University of Cambridge explains in her doctoral thesis. After that, they raised concerns about comic books, television and — eventually — video games. Thus, many researchers worried that social media may simply be the newest scapegoat for children's mental health issues.

A handful of scientists, including MIT's Alexey Makarin, noticed this problem with the data, the tools and the field's past failures, and so they took the matter into their own hands. They went out and found better tools.

Hundreds of thousands of more college students depressed

Over the past few years, several high-quality studies have come that can directly test whether social media causes depression. Instead of being murky and mixed, they support each other and show clear effects of social media. "The body of literature seems to suggest that indeed, social media has negative effects on mental health, especially on young adults' mental health," says Makarin, who led what many scientists say is the best study on the topic to date.

In that study, Makarin and his team took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: the staggered introduction of Facebook across U.S. colleges from 2004 to 2006. Facebook rolled out into society first on college campuses, but not all campuses introduced Facebook at the same time.

For Makarin and his colleagues, this staggered rollout is experimental gold.

"It allowed us to compare students' mental health between colleges where Facebook just arrived to colleges where Facebook had not yet arrived," he says. They could also measure how students' mental health shifted on a particular campus when people started to spend a bunch of their time on social media.

Luckily, his team could track mental health at the time because college administrators were also conducting a national survey that asked students an array of questions about their mental health, including diagnoses, therapies and medications for depression, anxiety and eating disorders. "These are not just people's feelings," Makarin says. "These are actual conditions that people have to report."

They had data on a large number of students. "The data comes from more than 350,000 student responses across more than 300 colleges," Makarin says.

This type of study is called a quasi-experiment, and it allows scientists to estimate how much social media actually changes teens' mental health, or as Makarin says, "We can get causal estimates of the impact of Facebook on mental health."

So what happened? "Almost immediately after Facebook arrives on campus, we see an uptick in mental health issues that students report," Makarin says. "We especially find an impact on depression rates, anxiety disorders and other questions associated with depression in general."

And the effect isn't small, he says. Across the population, the rollout of Facebook caused about 2% of college students to become clinically depressed. That may sound modest, but with more than 17 million college students in the U.S. at the time, that means Facebook caused more than 300,000 young adults to suffer from depression.

For an individual, on average, engaging with Facebook decreases their mental health by roughly 22% of the effect of losing one's job, as reported by a previous meta-analysis, Makarin and his team found.

Facebook's rollout had a larger effect on women's mental health than on men's mental health, the study showed. But the difference was small, Makarin says.

He and his colleagues published their findings last November in the American Economic Review . "I love that paper," says economist Matthew Gentzkow at Stanford University, who was not involved in the research. "It's probably the most convincing study I've seen. I think it shows a clear effect, and it's really credible. They did a good job of isolating the effect of Facebook, which isn't easy."

Of course, the study has limitations, Gentzkow says. First off, it's Facebook, which teens are using less and less. And the version of Facebook is barebones. In 2006, the platform didn't have a "like" button" or a "newsfeed." This older version probably wasn't as "potent" as social media now, says data scientist Chris Said. Furthermore, students used the platform only on a computer because smartphones weren't available yet. And the study only examined mental health impacts over a six-month period.

Nevertheless, the findings in this study bolster other recent studies, including one that Gentzkow led.

Social media is "like the ocean" for kids

Back in 2018, Gentzkow and his team recruited about 2,700 Facebook users ages 18 or over. They paid about half of them to deactivate their Facebook accounts for four weeks. Then Gentzkow and his team looked to see how a Facebook break shifted their mental health. They reported their findings in March 2020 in the American Economic Review.

This type of study is called a randomized experiment, and it's thought of as the best way to estimate whether a variable in life causes a particular problem. But with social media, these randomized experiments have big limitations. For one, the experiments are short-term — here only four weeks. Also, people use social media in clusters, not as individuals. So having individuals quit Facebook won't capture the effect of having an entire social group quit together. Both of these limitations could underestimate the impact of social media on an individual and community.

Nevertheless, Gentzkow could see how deactivating Facebook made people, on average, feel better. "Being off Facebook was positive across well-being outcomes," he says. "You see higher happiness, life satisfaction, and also lower depression, lower anxiety, and maybe a little bit lower loneliness."

Gentzkow and his team measured participants' well-being by giving them a survey at the end of the experiment but also asking questions, via text message, through the experiment. "For example, we sent people text messages that say, 'Right now, would you say you're feeling happy or not happy,'" he explains.

Again, as with Makarin's experiment, the effect was moderate. Gentzkow and his colleagues estimate that temporarily quitting Facebook improves a person's mental health by about 30% of the positive effect seen by going to therapy. "You could view that meaning these effects are pretty big," he explains, "or you could also see that as meaning that the effects of therapy are somewhat small. And I think both of those things are true to an extent."

Scientists still don't know to what extent social media is behind the rising mental health issues among teenagers and whether it is the primary cause. "It seems to be the case — like it's a big factor," says MIT's Alexey Makarin, "but that's still up for debate."

Still, though, other specifics are beginning to crystallize. Scientists are narrowing in on what aspects of social media are most problematic. And they can see that social media won't hurt every teen — or hurt them by the same amount. The data suggests that the more hours a child devotes to social media, the higher their risk for mental health problems.

Finally, some adolescents are likely more vulnerable to social media, and children may be more vulnerable at particular ages. A study published in February 2022 looked to see how time spent on social media varies with life satisfaction during different times in a child's life (see the graphic).

The researchers also looked to see if a child's present use of social media predicted a decrease of life satisfaction one year later. That data suggests two windows of time when children are most sensitive to detrimental effects of social media, especially heavy use of it. For girls, one window occurs at ages 11 through 13. And for boys, one window occurs at ages 14 and 15. For both genders, there's a window of sensitivity around age 19 — or near the time teenagers enter college. Amy Orben and her team at the University of Cambridge reported the findings in Nature Communications .

This type of evidence is known as a correlative. "It's hard to draw conclusions from these studies," Gentzkow says, because many factors contribute to life satisfaction, such as environmental factors and family backgrounds. Plus, people may use social media because they're depressed (and so depression could be the cause, not the outcome of social media use).

"Nevertheless, these correlative studies, together with the evidence from the causal experiments, paint a picture that suggests we should take social media seriously and be concerned," Gentzkow adds.

Psychologist Orben once heard a metaphor that may help parents understand how to approach this new technology. Social media for children is a bit like the ocean, she says, noting that it can be an extremely dangerous place for children. Before parents let children swim in any open water, they make sure the child is well-prepared and equipped to handle problems that arise. They provide safety vests, swimming lessons, often in less dangerous waters, and even then parents provide a huge amount of supervision.

Alyson Hurt created the graphic. Jane Greenhalgh and Diane Webber edited the story.

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TikTok heads to court over US law that could lead to a ban on the popular platform

  • Updated: Sep. 16, 2024, 7:58 a.m.
  • | Published: Sep. 16, 2024, 7:53 a.m.

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FILE - The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., on March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) AP

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The U.S. government and TikTok will go head-to-head in federal court on Monday as oral arguments begin in a consequential legal case that will determine if – or how — a popular social media platform used by nearly half of all Americans will continue to operate in the country.

Attorneys for the two sides will appear before a panel of judges at the federal appeals court in Washington. TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are challenging a U.S. law that requires them to break ties or face a ban in the U.S. by mid-January. The legal battle is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was a culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. But TikTok argues the law runs afoul of the First Amendment while other opponents claim it mirrors crackdowns sometimes seen in authoritarian countries abroad.

In court documents submitted over the summer, the Justice Department emphasized the government’s two primary concerns. First, TikTok collects vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits , that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Second, the U.S. says the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.

TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that concerns the government has raised have never been substantiated. In court documents, attorneys for both TikTok and its parent company have argued that members of Congress sought to punish the platform based on propaganda they perceived to be on TikTok. The companies also claimed divestment is not possible and that the app would have to shut down by Jan. 19 if the courts don’t step in to block the law.

“Even if divestiture were feasible, TikTok in the United States would still be reduced to a shell of its former self, stripped of the innovative and expressive technology that tailors content to each user,” the companies said in a legal brief filed in June. “It would also become an island, preventing Americans from exchanging views with the global TikTok community.”

Opponents of the law stress a ban would also cause disruptions in the world of marketing, retail and in the lives of many different content creators, some of whom also sued the government in May. TikTok is covering the legal costs for that lawsuit, which the court has consolidated with the company’s complaint and another filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc.

Though the government’s primary reasoning for the law is public, significant portions of its court filings include classified information that has been redacted and hidden from public view. The companies have asked the court to reject the secret filings or appoint a district judge who can ferret through the material, which the government has opposed because it will cause a delay in the case. If admitted into the court, legal experts say those secret filings could make it nearly impossible to know some of the factors that could play a part in the eventual ruling.

In one of the redacted statements submitted in late July, the Justice Department claimed TikTok took direction from the Chinese government about content on its platform, without disclosing additional details about when or why those incidents occurred. Casey Blackburn, a senior U.S. intelligence official, wrote in a legal statement that ByteDance and TikTok “have taken action in response” to Chinese government demands “to censor content outside of China.” Though the intelligence community had “no information” that this has happened on the platform operated by TikTok in the U.S., Blackburn said there is a risk it “may” occur.

In a separate document submitted to court, the DOJ said the U.S. is “not required to wait until its foreign adversary takes specific detrimental actions before responding to such a threat.”

The companies, however, argue the government could have taken a more tailored approach to resolve its concerns.

During high-stakes negotiations with the Biden administration more than two years ago, TikTok presented the government with a draft 90-page agreement that allows a third party to monitor the platform’s algorithm, content moderation practices and other programming. TikTok says it has spent more than $2 billion to voluntarily implement some of these measures, which include storing U.S. user data on servers controlled by the tech giant Oracle. But it said a deal was not reached because government officials essentially walked away from the negotiating table in August 2022.

Justice officials have argued complying with the draft agreement is impossible, or would require extensive resources, due to the size and the technical complexity of TikTok. The Justice Department also said the only thing that would resolve the government’s concerns is severing the ties between TikTok and ByteDance given the porous relationship between the Chinese government and Chinese companies.

But some observers have wondered whether such a move would accelerate the so-called “decoupling” between the U.S. and its strategic rival at a time when other China-founded companies, such as Shein and Temu, are also making a big splash in the West. Last week, the Biden administration proposed rules that would crack down on duty-free products being shipped directly from China.

For its part, ByteDance has publicly said TikTok is not up for sale. But that has not stopped some investors, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, from announcing bids to purchase the platform. However, even if such a sale would occur, it would most likely be devoid of TikTok’s coveted algorithm, leaving a big question mark on whether the platform would be capable of serving up the type of personally tailored videos that users have come to expect.

The political alignments on the issue are playing out in unconventional ways.

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The law, which passed with bipartisan approval in Congress, had encountered resistance from some progressive and Republican lawmakers who voiced concerns about giving the government the power to ban a platform used by 170 million Americans. Former President Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok while in office, is now opposing a ban because that would help its rival, Facebook, a platform Trump continues to criticize over his 2020 election loss.

In court, free speech and social justice groups have submitted amicus briefs in support of TikTok, arguing it restricts the First Amendment rights of users and suppresses the speech of minority communities by disrupting a tool many of them use to advocate for causes online. Some libertarian groups with ties to ByteDance investor Jeff Yass have also filed briefs supporting the company.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has received the backing of more than 20 Republican attorneys general, former national security officials and China-focused human rights groups who are asking the court to uphold the law.

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Case Western Reserve University

Hispanic Heritage Month: Meet Ivette Noriega and three other Hispanic members of the CWRU community

Ivette Noriega headshot

From working in nursing at Cleveland Clinic to studying the impact of violence among youth, individuals of Hispanic heritage are engaged with countless facets of Case Western Reserve University.

In recognition of  Hispanic Heritage Month , which takes place annually from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15,  The Daily  is celebrating the accomplishments and experiences of four Hispanic members of the CWRU community. Discover more about their experiences at the university—and learn how their heritage has impacted their lives.

Ivette Noriega

Senior research associate at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education

Ivette Noriega ’s passion in understanding the impact of violence in youth started in 2012 when she was a graduate psychology research assistant in El Paso, Texas, studying the impact of community violence and forced displacement. Today, Noriega continues her work in this area at CWRU—and has also incorporated a focus on public health and substance abuse. 

“I am fortunate enough to use my language skills to help translate forms and reach out to underserved Spanish-speaking communities in the northeast Ohio region,” said Noriega, whose family is from present-day New Mexico and Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico.

Hear more from Noriega. 

Q: What are some important aspects about your culture? How do you/your family incorporate these things? 

A: An important aspect of our culture is education. One of my favorite memories is going to my grandparents’ house and seeing my parents, aunts, and uncles’ diplomas hanging on their living room wall. College and professional degrees from Mexico and other Latin American countries typically have the graduate’s head portrait printed on them, so it was very special seeing all of our family’s educational achievements and faces on that wall. Eventually, my brother and I were able to add our undergraduate and graduate degrees on that wall although those did not have the cool head portrait shot in them.

Q: What does Hispanic Heritage Month mean to you?

A: It is an opportunity to honor and recognize individuals from our culture who have paved the way in our field. It is also a month to celebrate the rich diversity and collective memory in Hispanic and Latin American communities. 

Q: What do you think the campus community should know about Hispanic heritage in general?

A: Hispanic heritage is very diverse and rich. We have so many variations in culture, cuisine, language, history, and customs that it would take more than a month to be able to learn from all the diversity that exists within Hispanic culture. 

Read about the other Hispanic members of the CWRU community .

AI tool cuts unexpected deaths in hospital by 26%, Canadian study finds

Researchers say early warning system, launched in 2020 at st. michael's hospital, is 'saving lives'.

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Inside a bustling unit at St. Michael's Hospital in downtown Toronto, one of Shirley Bell's patients was suffering from a cat bite and a fever, but otherwise appeared fine — until an alert from an AI-based early warning system showed he was sicker than he seemed.

While the nursing team usually checked blood work around noon, the technology flagged incoming results several hours beforehand. That warning showed the patient's white blood cell count was "really, really high," recalled Bell, the clinical nurse educator for the hospital's general medicine program.

The cause turned out to be cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection. Without prompt treatment, it can lead to extensive tissue damage, amputations and even death. Bell said the patient was given antibiotics quickly to avoid those worst-case scenarios, in large part thanks to the team's in-house AI technology, dubbed Chartwatch.

"There's lots and lots of other scenarios where patients' conditions are flagged earlier, and the nurse is alerted earlier, and interventions are put in earlier," she said. "It's not replacing the nurse at the bedside; it's actually enhancing your nursing care."

A year-and-a-half-long study on Chartwatch, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that use of the AI system led to a striking 26 per cent drop in the number of unexpected deaths among hospitalized patients.

"We're glad to see that we're saving lives," said co-author Dr. Muhammad Mamdani, vice-president of data science and advanced analytics at Unity Health Toronto and director of the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine. 

'A promising sign'

The research team looked at more than 13,000 admissions to St. Michael's general internal medicine ward — an 84-bed unit caring for some of the hospital's most complex patients — to compare the impact of the tool among that patient population to thousands of admissions into other subspecialty units. 

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"At the same time period in the other units in our hospital that were not using Chartwatch, we did not see a change in these unexpected deaths," said lead author Dr. Amol Verma, a clinician-scientist at St. Michael's, one of three Unity Health Toronto hospital network sites, and Temerty professor of AI research and education in medicine at University of Toronto. 

"That was a promising sign."

  • AI will be critical for the future of rural health care in Canada, experts say

The Unity Health AI team started developing Chartwatch back in 2017, based on suggestions from staff that predicting deaths or serious illness could be key areas where machine learning could make a positive difference.

The technology underwent several years of rigorous development and testing before it was deployed in October 2020, Verma said.

Dr. Amol Verma, a clinician-scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital who helped lead the creation and testing of CHARTwatch, stands at a computer.

"Chartwatch measures about 100 inputs from [a patient's] medical record that are currently routinely gathered in the process of delivering care," he explained. "So a patient's vital signs, their heart rate, their blood pressure … all of the lab test results that are done every day."

Working in the background alongside clinical teams, the tool monitors any changes in someone's medical record "and makes a dynamic prediction every hour about whether that patient is likely to deteriorate in the future," Verma told CBC News.

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That could mean someone getting sicker, or requiring intensive care, or even being on the brink of death, giving doctors and nurses a chance to intervene. 

In some cases, those interventions involve escalating someone's level of treatment to save their life, or providing early palliative care in situations where patients can't be rescued. 

In either case, the researchers said, Chartwatch appears to complement clinicians' own judgment and leads to better outcomes for fragile patients, helping to avoid more sudden and potentially preventable deaths.

AI on the rise in health care

Beyond its uses in medicine, artificial intelligence is getting plenty of buzz — and blowback — in recent years. 

From controversy around the use of machine learning software to crank out academic essays, to concerns over AI's capacity to create realistic audio and video content mimicking real celebrities, politicians, or average citizens, there have been plenty of reasons to be cautious about this emerging technology.

  • Canadian researchers use AI to find a possible treatment for bacteria superbug

Verma himself said he's long been wary. But in health care, he stressed, these tools have immense potential to combat the staff shortages plaguing Canada's health-care system by supplementing traditional bedside care.

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How AI could change the future of our health care

It's still the early days for many of those efforts. Various research teams, including private companies, are exploring ways to use AI for earlier cancer detection. Some studies suggest it has potential for flagging hypertension just by listening to someone's voice; others show it could scan brain patterns to detect signs of a concussion .

  • From virtual care apps to AI algorithms: the trouble with data collection in healthcare

Chartwatch is notable, Verma stressed, because of its success in keeping actual patients alive.

"Very few AI technologies have actually been implemented into clinical settings yet. This is, to our knowledge, one of the first in Canada that has actually been implemented to help us care for patients every day in our hospital," he said.

'Real world' look at AI's health-care impact

The St. Michael's-based research does have limitations. The study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when the health-care system faced an unusual set of challenges. The urban hospital's patient population is also distinct, the team acknowledged, given its high level of complex patients, including individuals facing homelessness, addiction and overlapping health issues.

"Our study was not a randomized controlled trial across multiple hospitals. It was within one organization, within one unit," Verma said. "So before we say that this tool can be used widely everywhere, I think we do need to do research on its use in multiple contexts."

  • Opinion Regulating artificial intelligence: Things are about to get a lot more interesting

Dr. John-Jose Nunez, a psychiatrist and researcher with the University of British Columbia — who wasn't involved in the study — agreed the research needs to be replicated elsewhere to get a better sense of how well Chartwatch might work in other facilities. There also needs to be considerations around patient privacy, he added, with the use of any emerging AI technologies.

Still, he praised the study team for providing a "real-world" example of how machine learning can improve patient care.

"I really think of AI tools as becoming one more team member on the clinical care team," he said.

Dr. Muhammad Mamdani, vice president of data science and advanced analytics at Unity Health Toronto and director of the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine.

The Unity Health team is hopeful their technology will roll out more widely in the future, within their own Toronto-based hospital network and beyond.

Much of that work is happening through GEMINI , Canada's largest hospital data-sharing network for research and analytics, said Mamdani, Unity Health's vice-president of data science.

  • Researchers give a robot hand the power of touch, designing a human-like fingertip

More than 30 hospitals across Ontario are working together, he said, offering opportunities to test Chartwatch and other AI tools in various clinical settings and hospitals. 

"It just sets the groundwork now to be able to deploy these things well beyond our four walls," Mamdani said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Senior Health & Medical Reporter

Lauren Pelley covers the global spread of infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness and the crucial intersection between health and climate change for CBC. She's a two-time Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario Media Award winner for in-depth health reporting in 2020 and 2022 and a silver medallist for best editorial newsletter at the 2024 Digital Publishing Awards for CBC Health's Second Opinion. Contact her at: [email protected]

  • @LaurenPelley

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Man in custody after Trump golf club incident was once convicted of possessing a machine gun

The man in custody in connection with what is being described as a second attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump was vocal about U.S. support for Ukraine and has a long criminal and civil court history, including a conviction for possessing a machine gun.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was taken into custody after Secret Service agents fired shots at him at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, three senior law enforcement sources said. In 2002, court records show, he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction — a machine gun.

Follow live updates here

In that case, a man named Ryan Routh, 36 at the time, allegedly led authorities on a vehicle chase before he holed up at a roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to an account by the Greensboro News & Record .

A person named Ryan Routh resided for decades in North Carolina, property records show. Most recently, a Ryan Routh lived in the small coastal community of Kaaawa on Oahu’s eastern shore in Hawaii. Authorities there did not immediately respond to an inquiry about any possible contacts with Routh.

Ryan Routh

After the 2002 arrest, authorities said they found the suspect in possession of a fully automatic machine gun, according to the Greensboro News & Record. The arrest coincides with North Carolina criminal court records that include Routh's conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

Records also show convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run. In those cases, which included misdemeanor convictions for violations such as resisting an officer and driving on a suspended license, the defendant received a suspended sentence and parole or probation.

There is no record of time spent in state prison related to those cases in the early 2000s.

Court records show more than 100 criminal counts have been filed against Ryan Routh in North Carolina, most in Guilford County, which underlies Greensboro. The exact outcome of each case was not immediately clear.

Photos show a weapon, a backpack and a GoPro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., taken after what authorities said was an apparent attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The court records for a person named Ryan Routh also show a 2003 divorce, as well as multiple civil judgments after contractors and individuals sued a roofing company he helped run.

Routh told the publication Semafor last year that he was director of a group he called International Volunteer Center as part of his attempts to support Ukraine's war against Russia.

Routh spoke of his frustration with Ukraine over what he said were roadblocks to admitting foreign fighters, including Afghan commandos, who either volunteered or were available to join Ukraine's war effort.

“Ukraine is very often hard to work with," he told Semafor. "They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy."

In an interview with Newsweek in 2022, Routh said he was 56 at the time and that he was from North Carolina and had flown to Ukraine from Hawaii. He complained about U.S. leadership as it related to Ukraine and urged greater support for the country from the U.S. government.

"This conflict is definitely black and white," he said. "This is about good versus evil."

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, after Trump's term in the White House. Trump has promoted a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election and has refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win its war against Russia. He has also expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There was no immediate indication that Trump's stance on Ukraine motivated Routh's alleged actions Sunday.

Routh had previously criticized Trump on social media after saying he supported his first run for president.

Writing on X, then called Twitter, in June 2020, he said: “@realDonaldTrump While you were my choice in 2106 [sic], I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving; are you retarded; I will be glad when you gone [sic].”

Routh also used X to signal his support for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and referred to President Joe Biden as “Sleepy Joe.”

In one post also in 2020, he said: “Bernie.... give them hell..... fight to the death.”

Routh’s X account  is now  suspended.

It also appears Routh, while he was living in Hawaii, made several small contributions to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, including 19 payments in 2019 and 2020 in amounts from $1 to $25, according to Federal Election Commission records. ActBlue did not immediately respond Sunday night to an emailed request for comment about the donations.

On Sunday, Palm Beach County State’s Attorney Dave Aronberg told MSNBC that the federal government is taking over prosecution in the West Palm Beach case, with the U.S. Justice Department expected to file any charges.

He argued that a defendant would not have to open fire for the case to include a charge of attempted assassination.

Aronberg said it was his understanding that Routh was “lying in wait” for Trump before Secret Service agents spotted him. Routh had aimed at the agent who fired at him, Aronberg said; the exact chronology of what took place is still unclear.

Routh was “pretty quiet” and “pretty compliant” after a Martin County sheriff’s traffic unit took him into custody on Interstate 95 one county to the north of Palm Beach, Aronberg said.

case study social media news

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

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Alleged would-be trump assassin ryan routh, 58, of hawaii echoed harris, biden’s anti-trump rhetoric as he backed dem candidates.

The alleged gunman who authorities said targeted former President Donald Trump while he golfed in Florida on Sunday afternoon previously declared on social media that “Democracy is on the ballot” this year and “we cannot lose” — echoing the anti-Trump rhetoric used by Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden.

Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58. 

Routh, who has a lengthy criminal record from North Carolina, frequently posted about politics and exclusively donated to Democratic candidates and causes dating back to 2019.

Ryan Routh

He also bashed Trump in an April 22 post on X in which he declared, “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”

He advised Biden, 81, in an April 22 X post, when he was still running for re-election, to run a campaign around keeping “America democratic and free.”

He claimed Trump wants to “make Americans slaves against master.”

“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he wrote, a slogan similar to those commonly used by Biden and Harris. 

“We cannot afford to fail,” Routh continued. “The world is counting on us to show the way.”

This is similar to language that Harris continues to use on the campaign trail. On Aug. 29, she said at a rally in Savannah, Ga., “We are fighting for our democracy.”

Trump would-be assassin

On July 31, she said at an event in Houston that “our fundamental freedoms are on the ballot and so is our democracy” — after using identical wording at a sorority event the same day.

Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, told The Post: “It is no coincidence that Routh repeated Kamala’s and Joe’s extremist rhetoric against Trump. At this point it is inexcusable incitement.”

Here's what we know about the assassination attempt on Trump in Florida:

  • Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024.
  • Trump sent out a statement to supporters soon after to report that he was “SAFE AND WELL.”
  • The suspect — identified as Ryan Routh, 58, of Hawaii — was able to get within 300 to 500 yards of Trump at a chain link fence on the edge of the course, where he had an AK-47 and a GoPro camera set up, apparently to record the planned shooting.
  • Routh has a history of supporting progressive causes online and has made 19 donations to Democratic candidates since 2019.
  • A Secret Service agent spotted and opened fire on Routh as he put his gun through the fence. The suspect fled and was arrested on I-95 a short time later.
  • According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Trump’s security detail was lighter because he isn’t a sitting president — despite the previous attempt on his life in July.

Spokespeople for Biden and Harris did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Following the Trump assassination attempt in July, when the GOP nominee was wounded in the ear, he tweeted at Biden that he should visit the victims of the Pennsylvania rally where Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire and attend the funeral of the 50-year-old volunteer firefighter who was killed.

Ryan Routh

“You should visit the victims in the hospital of the trump rally victims and attend the funeral of the fireman that died; Trump certainly never would. SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL LEADERS DO,” he posted on July 16.

He also tweeted at Trump in June 2020 that while he supported the Republican in 2016, he was left disappointed by his tenure in the Oval Office.

“I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving; are you retarded; I will be glad when you gone,” he wrote.

A Sherrif block the street outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida

Routh chipped in money for Democrats running for office and liberal causes since 2019.

Between September of that year and March 2020, he contributed more than $140 on the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, Federal Election Commission filings show.

The records did not list an employer.

His LinkedIn shows that he attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, but relocated to Hawaii sometime around 2018.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58 is in custody after the terrifying incident at Trump International Club almost exactly two months after a separate assassination attempt against Trump

Routh describes himself on LinkedIn as “mechanically minded” and enjoying “ideas and invention and creative projects with artistic flair.”

Routh was spotted by Secret Service agents near the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach with a Soviet-style SKS assault rifle, according to sources.

The agents opened fire on him, but he fled. Routh was later arrested on I-95 by local police.

An evidence box which may contain the rifle used to during the shooting

His social media account was also filled with nonsensical tweets and replies while also voicing strong support for Ukraine in its war against Russia and Taiwan in its struggle against China.

One reply to X owner Elon Musk seemed to suggest purchasing a rocket from the billionaire.

“I would like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putin’s Black Sea mansion bunker to end him. Can you give me a price please. It can be old and used as not returning,” Routh wrote.

Trump wouuld-be assassin next

He  claimed on X  that he tried to “sell” the idea of having former Afghanistan troopers fight for Ukraine in Russia, but was denied multiple times before giving up after six months.

He also said he visited Kyiv and claimed he would be willing to fight on the front lines if he were permitted to.

In a 2022 interview with Newsweek Romania , Routh, wearing an American flag-style shirt, spoke about recruiting others to fight in Kyiv.

An evidence box which may contain the rifle used to during the shooting

“The question as far as why I’m here. To me, a lot of the other conflicts are gray but this conflict is definitely black and white,” he said. “This is about good versus evil.”

“We need thousands and thousands and thousands of people here fighting with Ukrainians,” he added.

In an interview with Semafor a year later, Routh expressed frustration with Ukrainians.

“Ukraine is very often hard to work with,” he said. “Many foreign soldiers leave after a week in Ukraine or must move from unit to unit to find a place they are respected and appreciated.”

Routh was a supporter of Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, according to one of his posts in which he encouraged the Republican presidential candidates to continue their races.

“You cannot quit. Why. You must stay on the ballot to the end. You must fight. You must continue giving speeches and push all the way to election day no matter the election results. Do not give in. Join Nikki and keep working. Never give up,” he wrote to Ramaswamy.

Ryan Routh

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