"Dressing" for Success

Most of the tips I have been giving in helping get you to a solid social media presence for your brand have involved being thought out and doing some planning. Well, for this post, throw that out the window.

Social media is constantly changing. Some platforms, such as Twitter, have posts with lifespans of less than an hour. To stay up to date with trends and topics, you have to be adaptable and able to think on your feet. One of the best things you can do as a brand is stay current. This means posting about something that just broke in the news/is trending in the media/etc. You know where I'm going with this don't you? If you don't, let me give you a little hint: it has a little something to do with a dress that changed the world.

The Buzzfeed Dress. Yes, it has a name now. And it is breaking up families, causing world wars, and making people question reality. Regardless of what colors you see (and the colors are without a doubt gold and white, you idiots), there is one thing that is undeniable and indisputable: Brands that incorporated the dress into their social media posts absolutely struck gold (just like the color of the dress.)

In my opinion, Lego got it right, among many others. But I really appreciate that Lego had the ability to incorporate both dress color combinations as well as including a sort of call to action - "You can have both." Lego tweeted this in the midst of the social buzz surrounding the dress. By inserting themselves into the conversation, they were able to stay current and even provide some entertainment involving a situation that literally the entire world was talking about. Props to them.

Lego, along with the countless other brands that tweeted about the dress, didn't plan this. No one has a magical crystal ball that can tell them about all the things that will be trending and news worthy in the future. Planning tweets and social media posts in advance can sometimes fall short. This is why having a dedicated, creative social media team is VITAL. What would have happened if Lego's social media team would have missed the moment? Nothing detrimental would have happened, but they would have blown a perfect opportunity to increase their social engagement the way they did. Having a creative team allowed Lego to compose an in-the-moment tweet that was entertaining as well as relevant - 2 very important factors in social media.

To sum it up, you can plan your social media posts until you are blue in the face (which just so happens to NOT be the color of the dress, FYI), but that will only get you so far. Being flexible and being able to adapt to the trending topics will put you way above your competition.