Understatement time: Marketing has changed a ton in the last five years. Social media’s power to drive campaign success into uncharted territory has resulted in a massive shift in content marketing. The best campaigns have capitalized on the elements that make almost every marketing campaign a success.

Stop interrupting what people are interested in, and be what people are interested in.

Below, we’ve taken five of the best marketing campaigns, and have broken down key elements that contributed to their explosive success. Although some of these marketing campaigns were created by the biggest companies and agencies in the world, they succeeded not because of how much they cost, but because they understood fundamental truths about social media users.

Play to people’s emotions.

When I saw my boss cry when watching the ad, I knew it was going to perform well. Emotional stimuli, happiness, sadness, inspiration, anger and beyond, have been proven to activate the human nervous system and boost social transmission. In other words, if you can cause an emotional reaction in people, they’re far more likely to share your content.

This notion is clear when you look at what gets shared online. Go to a website like Upworthy or any other content aggregator and see what gets the most attention. It’s stories about unlikely heros, or videos of soldiers coming back from war and surprising their families, or stories of people and their pets. These videos, to use an internet expression, catch us ‘right in the feels’ and that’s why they succeed. Brands should be striving to make that same impression, and WestJet is proof as to why.

The airline also made their service a secondary element of the ad, which might seem counterintuitive to many brands but can actually pay off big time on social media. Many people are inherently hesitant to share brand-heavy content on social networks.

Use many channels … with new ways to communicate

Ignore conventional marketing. Instead be unique and memorable.

Old Spice didn’t just bend conventional marketing practices, they avoided them entirely, creating something far more impressive in the process. You wanted to play the video again and again to try and see how it was accomplished. You wanted to show it to friends and talk about it. It was so interesting and shareable that brands have been chasing this model ever since it aired.

Then, they did something even smarter. They created the response campaign to bring their viewers into the experience. Everyone who loved the ad had the opportunity to be a part of it. Users flocked to submit questions in the hopes for a direct interaction with the Old Spice Man.

Know your audience and cater ads to their interests.

Consider competitiveness … talking about REAL differences with competing offers … the value proposition

Differentiate and include audience

People love to be a part of something popular or viral. It’s like being part of a studio audience or being mentioned by a celebrity on Twitter. Not only is the experience enjoyable for them, it’s also something they want to share with their friends and followers. By creating these personalized videos, Old Spice turned a successful brand video into a shareable social media campaign.

Utilize creativity … inventing new ways to talk about products and services

Use humor.

Provide useful content … with meaning and relevance, not just entertainment value

Take risks.

With social media, users are empowered to skip over any ad they don’t find interesting. This puts the onus on brands to somehow catch people off guardor otherwise keep their attention. Humor is one of the most effective ways to do that.

Much like with Old Spice, K-Mart used humor in a way that you might not have expected from their brand. While it’s easy to call it juvenile, the results speak for themselves. The humor made the video so shareable that more people shared it on Facebook than commented on it. That type of engagement is invaluable of the brand.

This marketing campaign was also special because it was a risk. It wasn’t just a risk for K-Mart, it was a risk for any brand. Swear words and childish jokes isn’t something most retail brands would strive to be associated with. But social media is about creating discussion. Safe bets don’t create discussion, risks do. K-Mart put themselves out there and social media users appreciated the humor and the risk. They took a chance and it paid off.

Support a meaningful cause and share it with your audience.

So what are the main lessons to draw from the Always marketing campaign? Put your company behind a cause. Try to start a movement.

Always is working to become synonymous with women’s empowerment. This is their cause, and the basis of their ad. Again their product was put to the side, but where WestJet did it to focus on their customers, Always focused on the ‘greater good.’

Find a cause or a message that your business believes in. This is important: don’t just support it for an easy marketing win. Actually throw your company behind the cause. Raise awareness, fundraise, co-market with existing organizations that have taken on the cause. Looking like you support a cause isn’t enough, and can actually be damaging to your brand. You need to follow through. Always, for example, partners with UNESCO to support education for women across the world.

And the #LikeAGirl ad wasn’t just an ad, it was a call to action. In the same way that Old Spice succeeded by involving fans in their YouTube campaign, Always succeeded by making people want to join their #LikeAGirl movement. Athletes and businesses jumped onto the hashtag and threw their weight behind the movement, spreading the campaign even further.

This works for the same reason people latched on to the Ice Bucket Challenge. These movements are inclusive; they make you feel like a part of something good. All humans have a desire to be included and make a difference. If your brand can start a movement like Always was able to do, the positive impact on your brand will be substantial.

Clarity beyond the marketing … focusing on the business behind the marketing

Of course there are marketing formulas that have been proven to work time and time again:

Call to action … the most important factor … leaving behind value when the marketing is done

Awesome consumer targeting

Dollar Shave Club isn’t just marketing to men of shaving age; they’re marketing to tech-savvy younger men, the audience most likely open to buying razors online. “Young men” is written all over the video. There are toys in the background. They swear and use humor. There’s a machete. They make fun of tennis. It ends with a party. This isn’t an energy drink ad. There aren’t explosions and extreme sports. But it nails the target demographic in a simple, straightforward way. People often talk about targeting on social media. You can target your content once it’s created, or you can target it from the outset. Doing the latter made this video into a hit.

What about distinguishing their brand? Did you notice, there isn’t a single image of anyone actually using the razor in the video. Why wouldn’t they show the razor in use? Maybe because they know (correctly) assumed that men wouldn’t be sold on how the razor looks while in use, especially since it will essentially look the same as every other razor. They narrowed in on the elements that distinguished their product from every other similar product: the price and delivery method.

Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers. Yes, Seth, we agree that your best customers are far more valuable than your average ones. And you get the best by continuously winning new customers, don’t you?

Think about the process of developing and managing customers’ relationships with your firm – through the Website, a loyalty program, the contact center, at the point of purchase, or in after-sale service. All take continuous attention to detail.

Business is a “people activity” … people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. Ones with whom they have relationships are at the top of the desirable business option list. The stronger the relationships with your customers, the greater will be their trust and loyalty in your business.

Studies show time, and again, your best and most loyal customers are the aptest to tell their friends about your business, creating strong word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth marketing is the most important element of any marketing campaign.

Making new friends is becoming the most important element of social commerce. Creating positive experiences for building customer relationships often will take some serious thinking. But hopefully not at the expense of the things you can do to build customer relationships.

So there are many important reasons to focus on building strong customer relationships. Here are eight tips to help you forge new, and strengthen existing, relationships:

Identify customers

Do this on an individual basis, as you can’t have a relationship with an audience or a population. So before you start relationships, you must target your priority customers.

You don’t have to have each customer’s name and address, but you need to know that the customer on the phone right now is the same one who was in the store yesterday, or on your Web site the day before that.

Acknowledge that I am there

As soon as you possibly can. Don’t make your customers frustrated by making them wait. If you are busy with another customer, inform them you will be with there shortly.

Be friendly

Smile and introduce yourself. Have a nametag and personalize it to help create a meaningful conversation.

Differentiate

All customers are different from each other, regarding both their value to your business and what they need from your business. What a customer needs from you will drive behaviors that you can observe. And behaviors will create (or destroy) value. So pay close attention.

Be knowledgeable

Know all about your products and services. Always assume customers have done their homework and product research. If you don’t know, DON’T BLUFF, but make an offer to do some research. If you don’t have a product or service that can solve their problem, recommend someone else’s product if you can.

Offer free resources, information, and solutions … with no strings attached.

Don’t sell

Use your knowledge and experience to help customers decide. Help them in their search. Pushy sales pitches turn customers off. But personally relevant and interactive conversations switch them on.

Engage

Interact with customers. Almost by definition, a relationship depends on some engagement between the two parties. You want those interactions to be cost-efficient, so drive more and more interactions into more efficient channels. But you also want them to be effective — that is, to tell you something about their needs or value, for instance, that you can’t learn simply by observing. Make customers feel important. Create conversation … seek out common interests by asking effective questions.

Listen well

Hear and remember the ‘remarkable’ for their next visit. Make sure you understand their question(s). Then answer them as simply as possible.

Help them save time

Time is the customers most valued passion. Help them save it. Avoid seeking other help, or ‘handing them off.’

Be easy to work with

Exceed expectations whenever you can. If your business doesn’t have what the customer wants, offer alternatives, including other businesses.

Be honest

If you don’t know, say so. But use that question to research to be prepared next time. You don’t want to be saying you don’t know often.

Always do what you say

Do what you say and keep your promises. Not an option.

Follow through promptly

Keep them informed until you can close. Remember time is of the essence.

Tell the truth

Always tell the truth with no hidden agendas and ulterior motives. Marketing puffery is not the truth. Remember consumers are very educated on products and services.

Customize

The “pay off step” for managing a customer relationship comes when your business behaves differently toward each customer. We call this “customization” even though we’re not necessarily talking about it regarding literally customizing the product or service. But whenever I treat Customer A different from Customer B, based on what I think I know about their differences, I am “customizing” the customer’s treatment.

These are not things that we do not already know, of course.

These little things list simply reminds us of what we already know but may have forgotten. Then it is up to us to put these lessons of building customer relationships into daily use through persistence and practice.

Remember … all customer-facing employees need to be engaged in customer relationship building.

Does your business focus on relationship building? Do you have any stories to share?

Customers, any adders to this list?

Businesses, do you refresh this list with your staff frequently?

EMPLOY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE — Employ customer experience, yes?

So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you.

It’s up to you to keep improving winning new customers by relationship building. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.

When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.

Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving the customer growth in your business?

Do you have a lesson about making your growth hacking better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add to the section below?

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.

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Mike Schoultz likes to write about the topics that lead to small business success. He also likes to share his many business experiences. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.