• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner | Social Media Marketing

Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • ☀️ Web3 Conference
  • 🔎 Find Marketing Help
  • ⚙️ Tools
  • 🗓️ Events
  • 🎧 Shows
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Crypto Business Podcast
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • Content
    • Articles
      • Web3
      • How To
        • Instagram Marketing
        • Facebook Ads
        • Facebook Marketing
        • YouTube Marketing
        • YouTube Ads
        • LinkedIn Marketing
        • TikTok Marketing
        • Clubhouse
      • View Points
      • Expert Interviews
      • Tools
    • Video Tutorials
      • Instagram Marketing
      • Instagram Ads
      • Facebook Marketing
      • Facebook Ads
      • LinkedIn Ads
      • TikTok
      • Clubhouse
  • Sponsor
    • Podcast Sponsorship
    • Email Sponsorship
    • Event Sponsorship
  • About
    • Society
  • Search
  • Web3 Business ConferenceLearn how to put NFTs to work for your business.BIG SALE, SAVE NOW!

    Sony Combines Social and Local for Successful Product Launch

    by Casey Hibbard / December 5, 2011

    social media case studiesSony Electronics makes tens of thousands of products. But the launch of its Tablet S – going head to head with Apple’s iPad – called for something special.

    Adding to the pressure, Sony’s social media team had a relatively small budget for the project.

    With a creative mix of social media and in-person events, Sony brought out thousands of people to locations to “Catch the Tablet” and tell their friends about it.

    Most notably, the campaign created buzz that inspired 1,000 clicks from Facebook to the Tablet S pre-order page, making it the most successful social media effort yet for the company.

    sony catch tablet adobe
    A Sony fan "catches" the company's new Tablet S.

    Organization: Sony Electronics

    Social Media Handles & Stats:

    • Website: www.sony.com
    • Facebook: 666,000+ fans
    • Twitter: 60,000 followers
    • Blog

    Highlights:

    • Sony tracked 41,437 engagements on the Catch the Tablet Facebook tab, including poll votes, clicks, shares and image and video views.
    • The contest collected 8,800 eligible contest entries.
    • The campaign inspired 1,769 tweets with the #CatchTheTablet hashtag during the campaign period.
    • Sony’s Facebook fan base increased by 8% and its Twitter following by 4.5% during the campaign.
    • 1,000 clicks were tracked from Facebook to the pre-order page on Sony’s website.

    How Do You Create a Viral Campaign?

    At Sony Electronics, a team of seven is dedicated to supporting the company’s thousands of products with social media. Understandably, the team focuses on select high-profile products, and the Tablet S was one of the biggest yet.

    sony tablet
    The Sony Tablet S launched in mid-September.

    “We wanted to increase awareness of our Tablet S, generate buzz in advance of the launch and drive in-store visits to Sony stores and dealer stores,” said Marcy Cohen, head of social media at Sony Electronics.

    “It was an interesting challenge for us to generate awareness before product availability and the only way to do that is by letting people touch and play with it,” she added.

    The goal: get as many people as possible to try the Tablet in person and encourage them to tell their social networks – in short, go viral.

    Step 1: Get people to show up

    Working with Atomic PR, Sony came up with the “Catch the Tablet” cross-country tour. Starting two weeks before the launch, fans could try the Tablet in one of 32 Sony stores or at specific locations in select cities nationwide: New York, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles.

    Fans would decide the sixth city on the tour by voting from among Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston.

    With Facebook as the home base for the campaign, Buddy Media created a unique tab on the company’s fan page. There, fans could find clues about where Sony’s social media team would be in each city, vote on the sixth city and enter to win one of the many Tablets Sony was giving away during that two weeks.

    Your Guide to the Future of Business

    Crypto Business Conference

    The Web3 renaissance opens up new opportunities for entrepreneurs, creators, and marketers who are ready to embrace the changes. But, who can you trust?

    Introducing the Crypto Business Conference; a premium event for anyone who wants to learn how to put Web3 to work for their business.

    Join us in sunny San Diego, California, for the first-ever crypto conference for business pioneers…not finance and tech nerds. You’ll get actionable, business-building ideas from proven innovators—without all the techie jargon.

    CLAIM YOUR SEAT
    Catch the Tablet
    On a campaign-specific tab on the Facebook fan page, fans learned where they could "Catch the Tablet" and voted on the sixth city.

    On Facebook, people could also RSVP for events and find interactive maps to city locations.

    Sony alerted fans of the team’s whereabouts with Facebook posts, keeping them relevant to fans in specific cities with geotargeting.

    sony orange fans
    Spirited fans in San Francisco showed their support for the Tablet.

    To control costs, the core social media team traveled to all locations on the city tour, rather than hiring street teams, giving the team firsthand interaction with fans and the Tablet.

    “It was invaluable [taking my core team],” Cohen added. “I became a total expert on the Tablet. I would be able to answer any question anyone posted to me about the Tablet.”

    Launch Social Projects Faster and Easier

    FindHelp Marketplace

    Looking for a content creator, campaign manager, or strategist for your social channels or a special project?

    Find the right expert for even the most complicated project or campaign in just a few clicks with our new FindHelp marketplace. You'll have more time to focus on other areas of your business without sacrificing your social presence. Browse highly qualified Facebook and Instagram experts today.

    FIND HELP TODAY
    sony fans in stores
    The chance to try the Tablet S, and possibly win one, brought fans to Sony stores.

    Step 2: Make it worth their time

    Many of those who showed up at events or stores not only got a one-on-one experience with the Tablet but also took away free SWAG like t-shirts, buttons and cotton candy, and depending on the event, food and drinks. Though giveaways were small and inexpensive, Cohen says fans were excited to score free stuff and wear it.

    But the real draw was the chance to win one of four Tablets being given away each day. Fans could enter to win two ways: by submitting their emails on the Facebook tab or by taking a photo of themselves “catching” the Tablet and then tweeting it with the hashtag #CatchTheTablet.

    sony catch tablet dallas
    More than 600 people entered to win a Sony Tablet S by tweeting photos of the Tablet.

    Step 3: Get them talking

    By requesting a Twitter post to enter, Sony netted more than 1,700 tweets with the campaign hashtag, many of which included a photo. Out of 8,800 contest entries, 600 were from fans who “caught” the Tablet live.

    sony australia
    The U.S. social media campaign generated global awareness of the Tablet.

    Step 4: Partner with others

    Sony stretched its budget and reach by partnering with other companies in tour cities, drawing up to 600 people at some events.

    “If you partner with another company that either has their own social media following or has an event already going on, you get so much more bang for your buck,” Cohen said. “A lot of the logistics have already been worked out by the other company.”

    Those partner events included a meetup at Adobe, an exclusive tour of Google’s headquarters for Sony fans and a visit to TechCrunch Disrupt, all in San Francisco. In New York, Sony joined forces with GetGlue, which was already hosting an event. In Miami, it was a breakfast meetup at BGT Partners, a web development company that works with Sony.

    sony honeycomb
    Sony fans toured Google's headquarters as part of a joint event.

    1,000 Clicks to the Pre-Order Page

    The city tour was just one piece of a major national campaign, which included TV and print ads and PR. But the viral impact of the pre-launch social media effort exceeded Sony’s expectations.

    The company tracked 41,437 engagements on the CatchTheTablet Facebook tab, including poll votes, clicks, shares and image and video views. In the process, Sony’s Facebook fan base increased by 8% and its Twitter following by 4.5% just during the campaign.

    Approximately 2,300 people weighed in on the tour’s sixth city location, with Seattle winning with 40% of the vote.

    sony seattle
    A Sony fan tries the Tablet in Seattle, which won a Catch the Tablet visit with 40% of the vote.

    The 1,000 clicks from Facebook to the pre-order page were the best evidence that the team’s efforts drove real interest in buying the Tablet, giving Sony momentum as it headed into the actual launch.

    “We were very pleased with pre-orders,” Cohen said.

    The campaign’s success now has Sony teams around the world talking.

    “It certainly generated a lot of recognition internally at Sony,” Cohen said. “Colleagues in other countries want to know what we did. Every time we’re meeting with a product group, they say, ‘We want a campaign like Catch the Tablet.'”

    “We’re over the moon about it. It’s something we never engaged with before in terms of putting the whole team out on the street. We had limited budgets and big goals so we felt we needed to do something a little bit risky but within our budget.”

    What Worked: Sony’s Social City Tour

    1. Give people multiple ways to enter contests – The team learned that many fans were not on Twitter but were on Facebook. “Offering your users a choice of platforms is really important,” Cohen said.
    2. Team with others – Partnering on events expanded Sony’s reach and kept costs and legwork down.
    3. Take your core social media team – Cohen’s group values the direct interaction they had with fans. “If you have the budget, I would consider hiring a street team but not at the expense of your in-house people going.”
    4. Geotarget your Facebook updates – Stay relevant for your fans by not showing updates about specific locations to the masses.

    What do you think? How have you effectively used social media to drive people to in-person events? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

    Curious about NFTs, DAOs, and Web3?

    Crypto

    Follow the Crypto Business podcast to find out how NFTs, social tokens, DAOs (and so much more) will affect your business in the near future.

    Every Friday, host Michael Stelzner interviews leading industry experts about what works right now in Web3 and what to expect in the future, so you can prepare your business for the shift, even if you're a total newbie.

    FOLLOW THE SHOW

    Tags: Social Media Strategy

    About the authorCasey Hibbard

    Casey Hibbard is Social Media Examiner's case study writer. She is also president of Compelling Cases Inc. and author of Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales & Marketing Asset.
    Other posts by Casey Hibbard »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (39 pages, 50+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Facebook Ads

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Find out how thousands of marketers plan to change their social marketing activities in our 14th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. This 39-page report reveals what marketers have planned for their organic social activities, video marketing, social ads, and more. Get this free report now and never miss another great article from Social Media Examiner.

    Enter your email to get
    our free report:


    Footer

    Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
    Copyright © 2022 Social Media Examiner®
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • Write for us…
    • RSS
    • Accessibility