Early last month, two men who were vying for the second highest office in the land, Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, were debating each other before an audience of millions and, frankly, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
I was watching a Facebook Live video on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s Facebook page that was showing the television broadcast of the event. However, in front of the screen was a large pen full of cute, little kittens divided by two separate carpets, one red and the other blue, with a box of kitty litter in the middle labelled, “Undecided.”
Hilarious.
Of course, if you’re looking for a lot of attention, you can’t go wrong by hitching your social media wagon to anything to do with this year’s election season. All eyes have been on that runaway freight train of a news story. It’s been a perfect newsjacking opportunity if ever there was one.
But cats and dogs are always in vogue, not just every four years. And the savviest social media marketers will try to take advantage of this fact. For example:
TODAY Show on Instagram
What a cute picture! What a great idea! Add a puppy to the cast of regulars and you have a win-win all-around. Charlie follows in the paw prints of his predecessor, Wrangler, who left the Today Show to “work” as service dog for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Charlie is being trained to be one of America’s VetDogs. In the meantime, he’s taking advantage of more than his fair share of photo ops on the set.
Tomorrow is Dog Day at Fenway presented by NutriSource! You & your best friend can be there: https://t.co/2jIko7tuax pic.twitter.com/AVsJfYtDyF
— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) June 27, 2016
Not that the Red Sox need any help in filling seats, but this sure is a great way to attract a few fans, including those of the four-feet variety, to the ballpark. If every dog has his or her day, what could be better than spending that day at Fenway Park (even if there isn’t a game being played)?
I love the fact that Best Western made the dog the star of this photo. How can you resist looking at it, never mind wanting to caption it? Man’s best friend is a marketer’s best friend, too.
Happy #NationalDogDay from Ralph Lauren, with family dog Rugby, rescued near the Double RL Ranch in Colorado pic.twitter.com/LeEBPB1fRM
— Ralph Lauren (@RalphLauren) August 26, 2016
Thanks to the emergence of social media and the ubiquity of pop culture, every day is a holiday. And the savviest brands among us make sure they’ve included themselves in that celebration, newsjacking the conversation about it on social media in some way, shape or form as Ralph Lauren so smoothly does here.
She’s a big rock star and a huge brand who, according to Trackalytics, has the 25th most-liked page on Facebook. She’s Katy Perry, her fans are KatyCats and this is a purr-fect example of how well felines play on social media.
Happy Hour may be illegal in the state of Massachusetts, but no one said anything about Yappy Hour. What a great idea! Not only is this a very clever way for 29 Sudbury to attract customers, it’s an excellent example of cause marketing, promoting your business while also raising funds for a good cause.
It’s the International Cat Day –the fluffiest day of the year! #internationalcatday #volkswagen pic.twitter.com/TYHu66T73c
— Volkswagen (@Volkswagen) August 8, 2016
In this clever video, Volkswagen jumped on the International Cat Day bandwagon and used a handful of fluffy felines to demonstate how its Driver Alert System works, showing them springing to attention whenever the warning bell sounds.
Blending in nicely with the Instagram environment, American Express includes a clever, colloquial caption along with this picture of a dog and his or her shipment of treats, toys and Tchochkies from BarkBox. This post has got it all going on – product placement, hashtags, URL, you name it – and nearly 1,000 likes to show for it.
Note: The original version of this post was published on ClickZ on October 27, 2016. To read the post there, click here.