18 Brands and the Compliment Challenge: Marketing Lessons from Leveraging Short-Term Trends

In today's world, where social media is flooded with advertisements, brands must do things that people actually enjoy watching and care about to attract customers. Social media trends have emerged as a quick and effective solution to help marketers tackle this challenging problem. As highlighted in Buzzmetrics' previous article, more and more brands are leveraging trending topics to interact with users on social media, especially the younger generation.

While social media trends are appealing, it’s important to understand their essence to use them properly and create "spin-off" products that are both creative and help amplify brand visibility to both traditional and potential customers. Let’s dive into the #complimentchallenge, a trend recently embraced by 18 brands, and answer these questions: What makes it so appealing? How have brands leveraged it? Which brands have done it the best?

A. WHAT IS #COMPLIMENTCHALLENGE?

After the "Puberty Challenge" trend exploded in April, internet users experienced a period of absence from inspiring trends, with social media largely filled with like-baiting posts or negative news and debates over TV shows. However, in July, the #complimentchallenge emerged as a "bright keyword," attracting more than 50,000 participants and generating over 80,000 posts and discussions across social media platforms in a short period. The appeal of #complimentchallenge was further proven by the fact that 18 brands adopted this trend in their social media interaction content.

The Compliment Challenge is a trend that encourages people to share the hashtag #complimentchallenge, asking them to comment their name and receive a positive compliment about something they like about themselves, with the spirit of "Spread love to your world." Posts with the hashtag #complimentchallenge continuously appeared on users' personal pages as well as on the fan pages of young people and brands.

Compared to trends like the Confused Duck, Puberty Challenge, Ice Bucket Challenge, Be Like Me, and others, the Compliment Challenge is a relatively short-lived trend (about a week) due to its content being primarily in the form of simple text posts. It lacks variations in image, video, or music content that could help sustain its virality.

B. 3 MAIN REASONS BEHIND THE APPEAL OF THE #COMPLIMENTCHALLENGE TREND

1. Exact Timing: Compliment Challenge – A Trend Born for July

The Compliment Challenge was once very familiar in the online community, having gone viral in July last year and making a return this July. The timing of this trend can be explained by the summer break in July, when young people have more free time and are looking for activities to fill their idle hours. At the same time, staying connected with friends during the summer is also a major concern. By facilitating interaction between friends, the Compliment Challenge created a huge surge on social media in both of the past two years.

Additionally, the negative news that flooded social media in early July (such as child abductions, child sexual abuse, controversies surrounding bullfighting festivals, and debates over reality TV shows) contributed to feelings of negativity. With its message of "Spread love to your world" through compliments, the Compliment Challenge helped alleviate these negative emotions, making users feel better. The challenge also encouraged people to have a more positive view of themselves by receiving compliments, boosting their confidence and fostering more connections during the summer months.

2. There is active participation and engagement with fans from KOLs and popular fanpages.

The presence of celebrities is always one of the key factors that help trends go viral on social media, especially those popular among young people. With their massive followings, trends on KOLs' fanpages or personal pages can reach a large number of young people and generate high virality within the community. Due to the nature of the challenge, KOLs are required to interact and send positive comments to their fans, creating a truly engaging experience for participants. It's clear that the strong growth of the #complimentchallenge trend on social media has been significantly boosted by the involvement of celebrities and prominent fanpages within the youth community.

3. Focusing on simplicity.

Simplifying everything—from the way the challenge is carried out to the hashtag—not only makes the trend easy to access and spread quickly on social media but also helps it stick in users' memories. In the Compliment Challenge, participants only need to mention something positive they like about the person who commented on the post. Additionally, the hashtag #complimentchallenge makes it easy for participants to remember and recall the trend when needed.

C. 18 Brands Leveraging the Compliment Challenge Trend

The Compliment Challenge has seen participation from 18 brands, ranging from consumer electronics brands (Oppo, Mobiistar, Vivo, Asus, Samsung) to food and beverage brands (Vinamilk Yogurt, Coca-Cola, Cowboy Jack's, Kichi Hot Pot Bar, Daruma), as well as other brands (Viettel Store, FPT Telecom, Sunsilk, etc.). Each brand has its own creative way of incorporating the trend into its social media interaction content.

As shown in the statistics for "How Brands Have Leveraged Social Media Trends" in 2016, the number of 18 brands adopting a small, short-lived trend like #ComplimentChallenge is truly impressive. Throughout 2016, only massive trends like Pokémon Go attracted such large numbers. Most trends only attracted around 3 to 15 brands. However, there is a significant variation in the number of posts and discussions generated by these brands. So, what are the reasons that help a brand successfully leverage this trend?

First: Quick Updates and Instant Action.

While long-term trends (lasting over 3 months) can be predicted based on data and industry insights, short-term trends often appear suddenly, requiring brands to act quickly to maximize their effectiveness. The Compliment Challenge only surged and truly gained high virality for about 4 days. After this period, the trend began to fade and lost its appeal. Quick updates and timely engagement with such trends are key factors in utilizing this content effectively.

Additionally, alongside their own fanpages, brands can also leverage other channels like KOL fanpages or entertainment fanpages to carry out the trend, increasing engagement and effectiveness on social media.

Second: Focusing on Simplicity.

Similar to the principle of simplifying everything mentioned earlier, easy-to-follow and simple rules for participation lead to more interaction. Consumer electronics brands were among those that attracted the most discussions. These brands kept their posts straightforward, asking participants to simply comment on the phone model they were using—making it easy for users to remember and respond instantly.

Additionally, offering rewards acted as an incentive to encourage user interaction. It is evident that brands like Samsung and Asus, despite joining the trend during its decline, still managed to generate more engagement than other brands at the same time.

Third: Interaction Between the Brand and Users.

Most brands with high discussion volumes in the Compliment Challenge had positive interactions with users. Interaction from the brand not only makes users feel respected but also helps expand the narrative and create a stronger connection with the target audience. An even more interesting application by brands is implementing the challenge on KOL pages. Being interacted with and complimented by a KOL is a huge motivator, significantly increasing participation and driving more people to engage with the post.