Top 10 Social Media Challenges

The #DontRushChallenge made global cyberspace waves in the showtime quarter of 2020, garnering more than fifty,000 hashtag mentions during this time menses equally social media users shared short video clips of themselves seamlessly changing looks before passing on a makeup brush to someone else to changes their expect also.

It was one of the get-go social media challenges of the year that non only went viral but encouraged activity every bit strict lockdown restrictions were put into identify in countries across the globe.

Nevertheless, like the usual blueprint of well-nigh online challenges, it spread on social media in a classic wave pattern before fading away, every bit expected. Merely what'south actually going on when a challenge on TikTok, Twitter, or Instagram blows upwards? Why practice we answer so enthusiastically to some concepts, but not to others? And why do so many challenges seem to skirt the bounds of rational behaviour?

We gathered the collective insights of marketers, academics, and journalists to identify seven principles that define the success of social media challenges so you lot can integrate them into your social media direction strategy.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Social Media Challenge?

• Examples of Social Media Challenges

• Should Brands Participate in Social Media Challenges?

• vii Principles of Successful Social Media Challenges

• How to Join a Social Media Challenge

Challenges on social media have gained much momentum over the past several year as a means of getting rid of indoor boredom that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. With physical and social distancing measures in place, many people sought online methods of connecting with others, and challenging each other on social media became a manner to practise simply that. 

Have the Facebook challenge that swept the internet in January 2019, for example. The #tenyearchallenge, which clocked up 2.5 1000000 hashtag mentions over the month, saw celebrities and ordinary users posting electric current and past pictures of themselves online.

Journalists initially explored how the claiming reached back to the dawn of social media, smartphones, and the selfie. Then the media coverage evolved to include a controversial suggestion that the '10 Twelvemonth Challenge' was really engineered by Facebook in an effort to acuminate upwards its facial recognition technology (which Facebook denied).

From creating content that was made to entertain, to uplifting others in times of need, a number of social media feeds were inundated with online challenges that fabricated the global lockdown a footling more bearable. Social media challenges have since become a staple marketing method for generating content, engaging users, and growing one'southward follower count.  

Some of the most popular social media challenges that trended during lockdown beyond social media include:

1. #PillowChallenge 
2. #FlipTheSwitch 
3. 'Patience Challenge'
4. #DalgonaCoffeeChallenge
5. #MeAt20
6. #WipeItDownChallenge
7. #VogueChallenge
8. 'Who is more than...' Couples Claiming
9. #EmojiChallenge
10. 'It's Tricky' (This or That)

Should Brands Participate in Social Media Challenges?

Trending challenges on social media are 1 of the best ways for brands to engage with their audience and further build their online community. 

Think that online engagement is about much more than than just likes, comments, and retweets. It also most building relationships with your audience that are long-lasting and have the potential to  create advocates for your make. It's for this reason that Instagram challenges, like the ' December Instagram Challenge' or 'Instagram Photo Challenge', are so successful. With the consistent stream of content shared on the platform over xxx days, the challenge gives you 30 days to encourage engagement from your followers. This consistency also boosts your audition reach, opening the doors for new followers and potential customers to discover you. 

For brands that especially appeal to Generation Z, participating in online challenges volition exist well worth the effort. This is a generation that grew up with the net and knows how to create trends that go viral on social media. Equally a brand, apply this to your advantage by "trend jacking" to gain new followers and potential customers. 

1. Successful challenges naturally accommodate incremental change

The viral 'Flip the Switch' trip the light fantastic toe challenge began in early 2020 where people filmed themselves switching outfits to "Nonstop", a song past Canadian musician, Drake. The claiming, which started on TikTok, spread apace to other social media platforms, like Instagram and Twitter, and became a global video trend. 

Each participant was able to add a personal, innovative touch by exchanging the outfit that the other person was wearing. The concept was consistent, yet open to incremental personalisation, which is one of the well-nigh important structural features required for a social media challenge to tendency. It'south no wonder that this challenge has, to date, acquired half-dozen.9 billion views on TikTok. 

2. Glory involvement drives uptake

The ALS Ice Bucket challenge saw a stunning nineteen million hashtag mentions from the offset of July to the end of August 2014. The ALS office of the name refers to an organisation that supports research into and support services for people affected by Motor Neuron Disease. Donations resulting from the challenge are  reported to have reached equally much as $115 1000000.

In 2019, British singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran, launched his own global hashtag challenge on TikTok called ' #BeautifulPeople' which references his hitting song that features Khalid. The song inspired the challenge, which asked TikTok users to share a moment with the most beautiful people in their lives as a way of spreading love and positivity. To engagement, the challenge has more than than ane billion views on TikTok, highlighting how online challenges involving celebrities often proceeds momentum towards virality and add rocket fuel to the challenge fire. 

Sometimes a charitable structure can push button celebrities to become involved, and sometimes they'll participate off their ain bat. Regardless, when the influencers have a nomination or are involved in the concept, conditions are good for viral spread and the claiming to become widely pop.

3. No i wants to join a claiming tardily

Social science researchers at the Academy of Kent explored the social media claiming miracle in a 2017 paper,  Prestige, Performance and Social Pressure in Viral Challenge Memes,  which included a survey of the opinions of social media challenge participators. I of the paper's more intriguing propositions is that once a viral challenge meem (VCM) has hit full steam its popularity ways nominees increasingly feel they might actually lose social credibility by participating.

Take the infamous Instagram challenge, the 'Kiki Challenge' for example. It saw 6.ii million hashtag mentions from one June – 31 Baronial 2018, at an average of roughly two meg mentions per month. Too known equally the  In My Feelings Challenge , Kiki involved jumping from a moving vehicle and dancing in the road to the tune of Drake'south " In My Feelings ". Information technology all started when American comedian Shiggy posted an Instagram video (which didn't actually involve a automobile – this only became a feature of the challenge afterward his friend, Odell Beckham Jr, danced in front of a vehicle). With celebrity participation and the ability to add incremental changes pretty much baked into the format, this Instagram challenge was destined to outperform 2013's The Harlem Shake (5.5 million mentions in Feb / March 2013). Past October 2018, however, 'Kiki' mentions were nevertheless all the manner downwards to 500,000 and falling.

The rule is simple: as a challenge hits peak popularity we start to come across participation in it every bit simply post-obit the crowd – the opposite of cool. And so the wave breaks, the challenge is no longer as pop and it loses power

Many challenges on social media involve stunts that can crusade physical harm. One such example is the " Cinnamon Challenge", a viral YouTube challenge where users were required to film themselves eating a spoonful of basis cinnamon in less than sixty seconds. While creating a video similar this may sound like fun, the gamble this challenge presented was far from favourable. Given that cinnamon is fabricated from tree bark and contains cellulose, a substance that is difficult to break down, the challenge can go dangerous for participants. 

Many social media challenges involve stunts that can cause physical harm.  Wired Mag examined why physical adventure can exist so compelling in a 2018 article that cites Damon Centola, acquaintance professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of  How Behaviour Spreads .

"Adopting dangerous behaviours is usually triggered by emotional excitement, which is amplified in crowds," he says. On social media, mass comments, likes, and shares easily trigger this state of group excitement, encouraging participation in order to join the tendency or get viral. Thus, if a challenge has simply enough hazard to create emotional excitement and participation, but not enough danger to make information technology implausible, it is likely to tap into our group instinct to be a fiddling thrilled by danger.

It's no accident, so (pun intended), that many of the biggest challenges on social media, equally of late, examination the bounds of homo rubber. In fact, the risk is part of what makes a claiming appealing and popular to inherently excitable online groups.

five. Cocky-identity matters more than fame

Somewhat counter-intuitively, most online challenge participants don't actually want to suspension the Net with incredible Harlem Milk shake or Kiki trip the light fantastic moves. Instead, our priority is more on connecting with peers by demonstrating a bear on of personal style.

Prestige, Performance and Social Pressure level in Viral Claiming Memes  raises the idea that VCM participants feel some pressure to show their 'skills' by posting something 'good plenty'. This is an important notion that suggests almost participants don't want to stand out too much. Rather, they relish following the rules to communicate aspects of their personal identity within the social context of their peer grouping.

The popular Instagram claiming, Mannequin Challenge, which received xx million mentions in the terminal two months of 2016, illustrates this dynamic. Started by students at Ed White High Schoolhouse in Jacksonville, Usa, the challenge involved adopting sudden mannequin poses – substantially repeating the formula of the 'Planking' miracle of 2013. Sports teams and professional athletes loved the concept, and delivered a litany of Mannequin poses that reinforced fun and innovative aspects of their identity within the nuanced and localised social rituals of sport, friends, and fans.

6. The media ever plays a function – and sometimes takes over

The Tide Pod miracle took off in early on 2018, challenging people to literally consume colourful laundry detergent pods. The concept is said to have arisen from  an ironic article originally posted several years before in the satirical publication,  The Onion . Presently later the Tide Pod Challenge appeared online, articles highlighting the poisonous nature of the detergent within the pods and warning of severe injury also appeared, including calls from relevant associations and stakeholders for participants – chiefly children, tweens, and teenagers – not to respond to nominations.

However, every bit this  article on Mashable explains, while cases of pod-related poisoning rose dramatically in the USA, the numbers were still very depression. Statistics from the American Clan of Poison Command Centres show that 39 such cases were reported in the first xv days of 2015. Yep, at that place were only 53 cases in the entire preceding year, but ultimately 39 cases from 40 million teenage Americans remains a minor number.

Nonetheless, the Tide Pod hashtag gained 2 million mentions in the first ii weeks of 2018. In this instance, though, the mentions chronicle more often than not to discussions around the idea of the claiming, rather than executions of the claiming itself. Likewise, the warning nature of extensive media coverage saw nigh sites taking downwardly videos of Tide Pod consumption. When you search for Tide Pod Claiming videos today, the returns are almost always of fakes – videos purporting to be Tide Pod Challenges that actually end up being a warning not to practise participate.

Social media challenge participants generally have a potent feel for what the 'range' for their try should be, including an instinctive sense of the reputation risks that come with pushing the boat out too far. This ingrained social instinct allows us to enjoy through the process even as we obey ingrained social rules. The authors of  Prestige, Functioning and Social Pressure in Viral Challenge Memes  offer a peachy summary:

"For virtually of the participants, negotiating these boundaries and tensions produced an enjoyable, creative, and fleetingly shared moment. The latter indicate suggests another important characteristic of participation, namely an overarching desire to be part of the social."

In that location are a number of organic online challenges that brands tin can participate in, especially on platforms similar TikTok and Instagram. By using a social media monitoring tool, yous can place what is currently trending amidst your audition and so focus on creating a strategy where yous organically participate besides. 

Once you have identified a challenge you desire to bring together, make certain that you know which platform and video functionality you lot will utilise. Whether you want to film in-app or utilise a DSLR camera to edit afterwards, go on the platform'southward 9:16 attribute ratio in mind when creating the video content for the claiming. 

Where music is involved, ensure that you utilise the same vocal found in other challenge videos. Click on the challenge hashtag to find what song is being used for the specific claiming so that you tin can match information technology.

Some online challenges may require a sure filter or editing technique to utilise. TikTok and Instagram, however, brand it easy for you to add these features to your videos as an enhancement to the video overall. 

From here, once you have the complete video ready to post, don't forget to employ the challenge hashtag. You desire your video to be discoverable so include the hashtag in the caption of your video. Post it, promote information technology, and run across just how viral your video tin go.

In Determination 

Social media challenges have been a great way for people to connect and inspire creativity despite the circumstances of remaining indoors. Regardless of all our well-founded feet most the changes our new digital lifestyles have wrought, most of us all the same relish the opportunity to share the fun with friends and family. And that's probably a good thing. 

Information technology'southward this insight that, ultimately, defines why challenges are destined to remain a stiff feature of social media. Despite all our well-founded anxiety well-nigh the changes our new digital lifestyles have wrought, most of us nevertheless savour the opportunity to share the fun with friends and family unit. And that'south probably a expert thing.

To larn how you tin can stay on top of trending memes, popular online conversations, and brand opportunities, fill out the form below and chat with the Meltwater squad about our range of social media listening tools.

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