As our digital team here at Wilbert knows well, there’s never a dull moment working in social media. One day, you’re an analyst, another day, a video editor, sometimes even a hand model or creative director. In 2022, our social media experts were tested more than ever by new trends and big changes on social media platforms, but we leveled up our creativity and strategic thinking to ensure clients got the engagement and awareness they hired us for. Here are a few of my favorite social media moments from our clients this year, some ways we were creative, cool and - most importantly - focused on our clients’ online objectives.

Past Meets Future at West Edge 

West Edge rises in Los Angeles as a mixed-use destination anchored by Riot Games’ as the sole office tenant, a modern, sleek Silicon Beach project. However, before Hines took over the site, it served as a family-owned Cadillac dealership for decades, and our team loved the mental image of a classic Cadillac cruising down Sunset Boulevard in its heyday juxtaposed with the tech-focused West Edge.

We incorporated the history of the site as a content theme to build affection and authenticity around West Edge as the project is built. My favorite initiative was our Cadillac Scavenger Hunt, in which we edited a classic blue Cadillac into renderings of West Edge and had our followers play “I Spy” to find it. It was popular with social media users, and a creative way to tie the past with the future. Can you find the car?

Collaboration and Content Wins at Fenton

If you work in marketing, no doubt you’ve heard the words “user-generated content” being thrown around more than ever this past year. There’s a reason why: It’s incredibly valuable to bank content that features real people excited about your business as authentic, human-centered content performs much better than pretty stylized photos these days. 

At Fenton, a new mixed-use community in Cary, North Carolina, we’ve hacked the UGC game through an innovative program known as Fenton Ambassadors. Of course, our content team visit Fenton often to generate our own content, but we identified an opportunity to 1) Always have a stream of fresh, authentic UGC and 2) Encourage local influencers to post about Fenton at a low cost for our client.

We reached out to local Triangle area influencer who had already organically posted about Fenton, and offered them a spot as an official “Fenton Ambassador,” meaning they would get VIP Fenton experiences such as the first meal at a new restaurant, a gift card to shop a recently-opened retailer or ice skating passes for their family in exchange for helping us gather content of these experiences. So far, we have eight awesome Ambassadors and Ambassador posts have earned anywhere from 5K to 60K views on Instagram.

Trendjacking at Atlantic Station

TikTok and Instagram Reels have presented a new challenge for social media managers over the past few years - mainly you have to be fast to hop on a trend. We’ve worked with our TikTok and Reels clients to foster a sense of trust and allow us to use trending audios while they are at their peak, ensuring videos earn as many views as possible while remaining on-brand.

Atlantic Station is a great example of how trendjacking and trust in your social media team can earn great results. Our top Reels of the year earned well over 100K views, and my personal favorite is our take on the “Negroni Sbagliato” trend from a few months back.