Get hot on social media with the British #heatwave

“94% of British respondents admit to having conversed about the weather in the past six hours, while 38% say they have in the past 60 minutes.”

It’s not unusual for us Brits to obsess over the weather, it’s pretty much all we talk about… With the incredible warm weather descending upon our normally chilly and wet isles many brands are taking to social media in order to boost their products or sculpting content around the #heatwave.

Here are some examples of how to take advantage of the hot weather, and some great examples of good social media practice.

British Vogue has used this sunny opportunity to promote their blog; giving fashion and wardrobe advice for the Summer weather.

Many of us are never ready for hot weather, as it always seems too good to be true. British Vogue are targeting those unprepared readers who will surely be popping out in their lunch break to the nearest high street retailer to buy something a little less sweaty.

Fortnum & Mason are using the heatwave hashtag to promote 25% off their Champagne ice pops with a bright and colourful GIF to showcase their range of flavours. Any London office would be flocking to the nearest store for an after-work treat!

GIF’s are a fantastic addition to any campaign, catching the readers eye immediately, and quickly loading onto the Twitter platform, without sound needed.

In true BBC Three style, they have been pushing some funny content with the use of GIFs. Obviously, Twitter now allows you to embed GIFs from their GIPHY-search function, which has been taken advantage of by brands and Twitter users alike.

Being able to quickly search for a funny or relatable image to go alongside your messaging is easy, so there’s no excuses!

Alternatively, you could be more like HelloU who used the Facebook Live feature to see if an egg could cook in the heat of the sun. They reached over 1Million views and received nearly 9,000 comments, showcasing how quickly content can go viral when in the right tone of voice and on the right platform.

So there are plenty of ways to build engagement purely based on weather based content, despite how mundane it may seem.

When building your campaign, don’t just think about your product or brand, think around it. Off topic, on brand content is some of the most important pieces of social you will send… and ultimately will be more impressive for potential customers than your latest range to flog!