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Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Guide

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Media monitoring helps organizations stay informed about what’s being said across online news, print, broadcast, podcasts, and other media channels. Whether you're tracking brand mentions, measuring PR performance, monitoring competitors, or identifying emerging trends, our expert guides, best practices, and industry insights will help you build a smarter media monitoring strategy and make more informed communications decisions.

Discover expert media monitoring guides, best practices, and industry insights to track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and stay ahead of the news.

Media Monitoring: Guides, Best Practices & Industry Insights

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.

Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?

The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

How do customers interact with my newly launched product?

How do I increase the productivity of my employees?

How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?

We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.

So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.

But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!

But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.

We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.

Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIn to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Public relations and media relations add significant impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.

But here's the deal: most PR doesn’t happen organically. It’s something that brands must proactively and intentionally pursue.

So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide tells you everything you need to know for building a strong public relations foundation.

Why should companies care about public relations?

Advantages and disadvantages of public relations

Best public relations tools to build your image

Let’s start with the very basics: a public relations definition.

Public relations is defined as the practice of increasing awareness around a company or brand. It relies on media relations to earn press coverage, as well as content and KPIs to measure your PR performance.

Another PR meaning can be this: The planning of activities designed to shape the public’s view of your brand or company.

However you define PR, it’s important to think of the reason behind your PR activities. With intention leading the way, you can start shaping your audience’s opinions for your desired outcomes.

What does PR stand for, and what is the meaning of PR, you ask? Spelled out, it’s public relations. Or in some cases, it can stand for press release.

Both of these are used in the world of PR. You can usually figure out which is which by looking at the context in which they’re used.

PR is an indirect type of promotion. You’re not trying to capitalize on sales with public relations. Instead, your goal is to build brand awareness and positive sentiment around your company.

In some cases, sales will become a natural byproduct. That’s because PR helps to drum up interest and put you in the spotlight. As more people start talking about you and checking you out, some people may give you their business.

Another benefit of PR is that it steals the spotlight away from your competitors. You write a press release or go viral on social media, and BAM! Suddenly, people forget your competitors exist because they’re too busy looking at you.

Further reading: The largest US newspapers, the most popular US magazines, and the state of print media in South Africa.

Brands use PR for various reasons. The three most common use cases include:

Of course, there is also always a different approach to both B2C and B2B PR.

Brands sometimes have to do damage control and crisis management to avoid the erosion of trust with their customers. PR activities and communications can put you back in the spotlight for the right reasons.

Tip: Download the Ultimate Guide to Crisis Communications and learn how to create a crisis communication plan.

Brands that want to grow their customer base can use PR to generate interest and reach a wider audience. It helps the public get to know your company beyond your marketing messages and products.

PR strategies can also cater to your internal audiences (think employees, shareholders, etc.). This is especially important for companies with multiple locations or remote employees.

Besides the typical use cases for PR mentioned above, there are several other buckets that one's PR expertise could fall into. These include:

Perhaps what springs to mind first when it comes to the definition of PR is the idea of media relations. This is a very important facet of traditional PR that involves building relationships with journalists and building a media coverage profile of mentions in top publications. 

A newer arm of PR in the digital age, social media PR expands upon traditional media relations to include shares by online influencers, blogs, and digital publications. 

PR that deals with strategic communications is typically zeroed in on sensitive topics such as new leadership hires, or highlighting key areas of disruption in comparison to competitors (such as a product update) and other important announcements. It relies on lock-step coordination with other departments and teams to ensure a united front is presented to the public.

Internal comms is another key area of PR that shares important news and announcements internally rather than externally. It's important for maintaining employee morale and loyalty, and it goes a long way toward establishing trust between leadership and the broader company by exhibiting transparency in key business areas.

Another more recent aspect of PR communications comes from the expectation of social responsibility on the part of businesses, by consumers. This type of PR typically involves building public trust in brand authenticity when it comes to various causes, such as LGBT+ rights, environmentalism, and DEI. It might tiptoe into crisis comms at times if a brand experiences backlash due to inaction or accusations of "green-washing" or "pink-washing".

Public relations and marketing (and advertising) share a lot of overlap — but PR and Marketing are different. The most important thing to remember is that PR is considered part of marketing communications. There are fields that are important for both PR and marketing divisions; social media, for example, has changed PR.

Unlike marketing, public relations activities focus solely on brand image. By comparison, marketers are more concerned about the total package: sentiments, reach, conversions, acquisition costs, etc. That is also why the skills needed to be successful in a PR career path differ from the marketing skillset.

For example, as PR increases awareness, marketing and advertising leverage that awareness to drive revenue. PR builds recognition through press relations and speaking events (like PR conferences), and marketing capitalizes on those leads to create paying customers.

It’s a common saying that people don’t buy products — they buy brands. Some people are even willing to pay more for a brand they like. When you build up the brand, marketing goals are easier to achieve.

Marketers wear a lot of hats, and public relations is just one of them. That’s why many teams prefer to hire a PR agency or specialist with dedicated resources.

<table class="table-primary">
<caption>PR vs Marketing vs Advertising</caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Aspect</th>
<th>PR</th>
<th>Marketing</th>
<th>Advertising</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Definitions</td>
<td><strong>Builds brand perception</strong> through relationships and earned media.</td>
<td><strong>Promotes products or services</strong> to attract and keep customers.</td>
<td><strong>Paid messaging</strong> that highlights an offer to drive action.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Goals</td>
<td>Strengthen reputation and trust with the public and media.</td>
<td>Generate demand, leads, and revenue for the business.</td>
<td>Capture attention and prompt responses or sales.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Formats</td>
<td>Press releases, events, thought leadership, influencers, community engagement.</td>
<td>Campaigns, content, SEO, social media, email.</td>
<td>Ads, sponsored posts, print, TV, radio, display banners.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>KPIs</td>
<td>Media mentions, sentiment, share of voice, reputation impact.</td>
<td>Conversions, engagement, lead quality, ROI.</td>
<td>Impressions, clicks, conversion rate, cost per acquisition.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

 "Advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for.” (Forbes, 2014)

Public relations is heavy on content — specifically written communications like press releases. However, when you build your PR strategy, your content usually falls into one of three buckets:

Tip: Read this blog to learn more about the PESO concept, learn about the top Asian news channels and websites to follow, and check out our free PR in the Age of Influence Report and our list of best PR campaigns

Earned media is the holy grail of public relations because it’s essentially free publicity. Rather than pitching reporters and news outlets, your audience is promoting you on your behalf. Word-of-mouth marketing is powerful because consumers trust it more than traditional marketing messages.

That said, earned media is also the hardest to come by. You can encourage your customers to leave reviews and share on social media, for example. But ultimately, it’s up to them how and when they choose to promote you.

Tip: Learn more about earned media value.

Paid media is one of the easiest types of media for PR agencies and specialists to control. Once you create a press release or other content, you can promote it just as you would your other marketing. Channels might include PPC ads, social media ads, or influencer marketing, for example.

Naturally, paid can also be the most expensive. In addition to paying for content creation, you’re also paying to publish it.

Your owned media is any content that your company controls. Blog posts, case studies, social media copy, original images, website copy, and email newsletters are all examples of owned media.

Your owned media serves as the foundation of your PR campaigns. You can control when, how, and where it’s published, make changes to the content, and track its performance.

Tip: For help creating a press release, read our blog post: 10 Examples of Effective Press Releases + Template. Make sure to also read our blog on the 10 of the Best PR Campaigns! 

It’s true that you don’t necessarily need PR to shape your audience’s perceptions. But companies invest in PR because it allows them to have a say in those perceptions.

Maintaining a strong public relations strategy can help you find opportunities to build and grow your brand. It allows you to create a relationship with media outlets, influencers, and other key people who can advocate for your company. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are also influencing how brand information is surfaced and interpreted, making AI in brand reputation management an essential part of a PR strategy. Consistency in your public relations campaigns can help to reduce the cost, time, and effort of your marketing team without sacrificing sales and revenue.

Plus, it gives you a chance to establish emotional connections with your target audience. One of the top digital marketing trends for 2026 is values-driven content. 46.8% of marketers are exploring how to apply brand values (Hubspot, 2026). Emotional connections can be powerful in terms of building brand loyalty. As mentioned previously, people buy from brands they like, even if those brands cost more!

Of course, we also have numbers for you to underline the importance of public relations for a company. Check out the most important PR statistics.

Get more insights, benchmarks, and practical takeaways to strengthen your strategy and secure your seat at the leadership table. Download the 2026 State of PR Report and learn more about PR automation to stay ahead of what’s next for PR. 

Effectively leveraging public relations provides a strategic advantage. But what exactly is PR and what does it entail? Read on for all the tools you need to execute a successful PR strategy. 

The Basics of Public Relations (PR): Meaning & Examples

There is no shortage of brand content competing for attention on social media. So what is it that makes a social media campaign break through? Strategies that give audiences something more to do than simply watch tend to cut through the noise.

The top social media campaigns of 2026 show just how many forms that participation can take. Audiences are inspired to vote, build, remix, share, compare, or create — contributing to brand success and engagement on social.

We used Meltwater social listening data (2026 YTD) to look beyond the campaign concepts themselves and more deeply examine the conversations they encouraged.

What to look for in a social listening platform for campaign tracking

A social media campaign is a coordinated series of posts and activities on social platforms, usually run over a defined period to achieve a specific measurable outcome.

It often sits within a broader marketing campaign or social media marketing strategy, but the driving force behind it should account for how your audience actually behaves on social. A TikTok challenge, for example, asks something different of its audience than a LinkedIn thought-leadership campaign or an X conversation tied to a live sporting event.

Simply distributing the same creative across every platform is typically ineffective for getting meaningful results and participation in your campaign

All social media campaigns should start with a clear goal. A brand might want to build awareness, support a product launch, generate user-generated content, reach a new audience, or change how people think about an existing product.

That goal then shapes the creative idea and the action you want the audience to take. That could mean sharing their own version of a piece of content, using a campaign hashtag, demonstrating a product, entering a competition, or posting something personal that inspires other people to compare their own experience. From there, social marketers decide which platforms are best suited to the campaign, what formats to use, and where and when to post.

Measurement and KPIs should be part of this planning stage, not something added once the campaign ends. Social listening can show how conversation changes as a campaign unfolds, which content drives engagement, whether audiences are adopting the intended message, and where unexpected themes or trends are emerging. That context is often more useful than a final engagement total on its own.

What counts as a successful social campaign depends on the goal, so this list is intentionally varied. Some campaigns generated enormous conversation volumes. Others created disproportionate engagement or reach from relatively small communities. The common thread is a social call to action people actually want to participate in and engage with.

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Brand</th>
      <th>Platform</th>
      <th>Campaign hook</th>
      <th>Why it worked</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Pepsi</td>
      <td>X + cross-platform</td>
      <td>Turn a Super Bowl rivalry into a taste challenge</td>
      <td>Combined memorable creative with an immediate participation mechanic</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Cisco</td>
      <td>Cross-platform</td>
      <td>Turn Cisco Live into shareable event conversation</td>
      <td>Mixed product news with learning, creators, and community</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Spotify</td>
      <td>Cross-platform</td>
      <td>Make personal listening data shareable</td>
      <td>Turns data into identity and social comparison</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Figma</td>
      <td>X + Instagram</td>
      <td>Invite creators to build with Figma Make</td>
      <td>Made the product itself the creative medium</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Lay's</td>
      <td>X + TikTok</td>
      <td>Connect the brand to FIFA World Cup conversation</td>
      <td>Gave fans and creators a timely cultural hook</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Parker</td>
      <td>LinkedIn + Instagram</td>
      <td>Let an unsolicited anti-AI ad inspire the campaign</td>
      <td>Responded to organic creative momentum instead of manufacturing it</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Salesforce</td>
      <td>LinkedIn</td>
      <td>Ask users to demonstrate Agentforce solutions</td>
      <td>Turned customer builds into peer-led product proof</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Coca-Cola</td>
      <td>Cross-platform</td>
      <td>Personalize the product itself</td>
      <td>Creates an endlessly adaptable social artifact</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>CeraVe</td>
      <td>TikTok + Instagram</td>
      <td>Turn skincare education into a creator competition</td>
      <td>Left room for creators and markets to interpret the idea</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>TOEFL</td>
      <td>TikTok + Instagram</td>
      <td>Turn a global brand message into a dance challenge</td>
      <td>Made an abstract message participatory</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>46.5K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>198M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>125K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

 Pepsi took one of advertising's oldest rivalries back to the Super Bowl with “The Choice,” a Taika Waititi-directed spot in which a cola-loving polar bear chooses Pepsi Zero Sugar in a blind taste test. It then extended the idea onto social, including an X participation mechanic tied to cash prizes.

The interesting part is how differently the creative and promotional sides performed. Meltwater's analysis found that high-engagement posts revolved around jokes and meme-style reactions to the polar bear, while many lower-engagement posts were formulaic contest entries. Overall, #PepsiTasteWins generated 46,500 mentions, an estimated 198 million reach, and 125,000 engagements in the conversation period analyzed.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>11.5K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>962M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>281K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Cisco on Instagram: "WOW powered by the NOC at #CiscoLive 🤩"

 Cisco Live shows that B2B social campaigns do not need to abandon technical substance to generate participation. The 2026 event put major AI infrastructure, security, and AgenticOps announcements at the center of the conversation, while attendees and creators added training, meetups, booth experiences, career development, and behind-the-scenes event content.

That combination gave people more reasons to post than product news alone. Cisco Live conversation produced 11,500 mentions, an estimated 962 million reach, and 281,000 engagements.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>196K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>29.8B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>35M</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table> 

I’m scared of Spotify wrapped #gymmusic #fyp #funny #gymtok #gymplaylist 

Spotify Wrapped remains one of the best examples of what happens when a brand makes its own customer data inherently shareable. Spotify packages listening behavior into individualized stories designed to encourage participation, turning something as pedestrian as your most-listened-to artist into a statement about taste, identity, or mild embarrassment (don’t worry, though. Guaranteed others listen to them too. You’ll find your people). Spotify described its 2025 edition as a global campaign built around personalized, shareable experiences for more than 700 million fans.

And although the campaign is centered around the New Year period, the conversation doesn’t disappear after January. Meltwater social listening found Wrapped still appearing in jokes, fandom posts, song promotion, and social comparisons going further into the start of the year. The conversation analyzed generated 196,000 mentions, an estimated 29.8 billion reach, and 35 million engagements.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>4.3K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>45.1M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>70.8K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Figma's Makeathon invited its community to create with Figma Make, with winning categories spanning craft, new interactions, boundary-pushing ideas, and a fan favorite selected through social response. The resulting projects included a wide variety of playful, highly interactive experiences.

The creative freedom the campaign encouraged was its advantage: participants demonstrated what the product could do while simultaneously producing content people wanted to explore and share. Meltwater recorded 4,300 mentions, an estimated 45.1 million reach, and 70,800 engagements around the Makeathon.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>38.2K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>704M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>2.04M</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

We are World Cup Ready Lets go Mexico😁😁 @lays #LaysFWC26 #jennyv004 #momsoftiktok #momlifebelike 

Lay's used its FIFA World Cup sponsorship in 2026 to connect the brand with the rituals surrounding the tournament, from watching matches together to game-day snacking. Meltwater recorded 38,200 mentions, an estimated 704 million reach, and 2.04 million engagements around the #LaysFWC26 campaign.

The campaign benefited from joining a conversation audiences were already highly motivated to have rather than trying to create a cultural moment from scratch. 

6. Parker's crowdsourced anti-AI campaign

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>846</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>125M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>27.9K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Parker Brand Moment Sparks Global Creative Challenge | Newell Brands posted on the topic | LinkedIn

Parker's campaign is unusual because the brand did not originate the idea. Freelance copywriter Kushagra Oberoi posted an unsolicited ad reframing a Parker pen for the AI era, which helped inspire a public creative challenge that attracted more than 350 submissions. Parker's parent company, Newell Brands, ultimately backed the momentum and put shortlisted concepts on a Times Square billboard. The ensuing conversation generated only 846 mentions, but an estimated 125 million reach and 27,900 engagements.

The lesson is not simply “crowdsource your advertising.” It is that brands need enough cultural awareness and flexibility to recognize when organic attention is worth joining. 

Learn more about how social listening can help you spot trends

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>57.7K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>14.2B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>630K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

#agentforceinaction #agentforceinaction | Trailhead

 Salesforce's Agentforce In Action challenge asks builders to create or showcase an Agentforce agent, record a short demonstration of the problem it solves, and post the video publicly on LinkedIn with #AgentforceInAction.

It is a strong B2B campaign mechanic because participation doubles as product education: instead of Salesforce simply telling an audience what Agentforce can do, customers and builders provide concrete use cases. Conversation captured around Agentforce In Action and the wider Agentforce discussion generated 57,700 mentions, an estimated 14.2 billion reach, and 630,000 engagements.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>6.13K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>12B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>634K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Hanamade Cookies ~ Cookie Artist on Instagram: "Not the husband hitting us with the “would you rather” question🥤happy national share a coke day! 

#cookiedecorating #husbandvoiceover #sugarcookieart #satisfying #cookieideas"

“Share a Coke” is an excellent example of an evergreen social media campaign. Coca-Cola revived the popular tagline for a new generation in 2025, returning to the deceptively simple idea of replacing its logo with names and giving people a reason to find, personalize, photograph, and share the product.

In 2026, Meltwater's analysis found the format still being repurposed across fandoms, jokes, friendships, celebrations, and even tribute posts. That adaptability helps explain its longevity: the packaging provides a template, while the audience supplies the meaning. Share a Coke conversation generated 6,130 mentions, an estimated 12 billion reach, and 634,000 engagements.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>3.61K</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>373M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>2.93M</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

CeraVe turned creator content into the centerpiece of the CerAwards, culminating in its first Global CerAwards event with 111 award-winning creators from 22 countries. Local executions gave creators room to interpret the campaign through formats including acting, humor, and culturally specific references.

That flexibility created more than contest entries; it gave the campaign several different avenues into broader social culture. CeraVe generated 3,610 mentions but 2.93 million engagements, alongside an estimated 373 million reach—a clear of why mention volume should never be evaluated in isolation.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Metric</th>
<th>Value</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Mentions</td>
<td>383</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reach</td>
<td>118M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Engagement</td>
<td>145K</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Weeks of focus lead to bigger possibilities. If studying in Dubai is on your mind, this is where confidence begins — with @TOEFL @toefl.middleeast  🎵 You Speak World #TOEFL, #YouSpeakWorld, #StudentLife, #Dubai Paid Partnership

TOEFL's You Speak World campaign started with a broader message: language skills can unlock education, work, confidence, and connection. It then made that positioning participatory through a global dance promotion asking users to create short-form videos with an official sound and using the #YouSpeakWorld hashtag on TikTok or Instagram Reels.

The campaign translated abstract brand positioning into something tangible audiences could actually join in on. Although Meltwater recorded just 383 mentions—the smallest conversation in this group—the campaign still generated an estimated 118 million reach and 145,000 engagements.

A social listening platform should help you answer more than “How many people mentioned us?” Because as we can see, that’s only part of the story. Campaign teams need enough coverage to see conversations across the channels where audiences actually participate, and then they need enough context to understand what’s driving the numbers.

Look for the ability to track conversation volume and engagement alongside sentiment, themes, and share of voice.

Speed matters too. Social campaigns can change direction within hours, particularly when creators or communities start interpreting the idea in unexpected ways. AI-powered analysis can surface changes in volume, sentiment, and themes quickly, while marketers provide the judgment needed to decide whether those changes are meaningful, and how to react.

Meltwater's social listening capabilities bring social, news, forums, and other signals into one unified intelligence platform, with AI-powered analysis for themes, sentiment, competitive intelligence, and reporting. 

The point is not simply to collect more campaign data. It is to understand which campaigns are gaining momentum, what audiences are responding to, and why. It's gaining intelligence your team can actually use while there is still time to act.

Book a demo to see how Meltwater can help you find emerging campaigns and measure the conversations around your own.

A social media campaign is a coordinated set of posts and activities created to achieve a specific goal on social platforms. Unlike an ongoing social media strategy, a campaign usually has a defined objective, creative concept, audience, measurement framework, and time period in which the activity takes place.

How do you measure the success of a social media campaign?

Measure success against the campaign's original goal. Useful metrics can include mentions, reach, engagement, conversions, sentiment, share of voice, audience growth, or traffic. Social listening adds context by showing what people are actually saying, which themes are gaining traction, and what is driving changes in performance.

What makes a social media campaign go viral?

Viral social media campaigns usually combine a timely or distinctive idea with content people have a reason to share or recreate. Participation hooks, platform-native formats, recognizable cultural references, and good timing can all help. Virality itself should not be the objective, though; attention only matters if it contributes to the campaign's goal.

How long should a social media campaign run?

There is no universal campaign length. A campaign tied to a live event may peak within hours, while a product launch, creator program, or challenge may run for weeks or months. Track conversation and engagement throughout the campaign and adjust the timeline when audience interest starts to decline or the original objective has been achieved.

What is the difference between a social media campaign and a social media strategy?

A social media strategy is the ongoing framework guiding how a brand uses social platforms, including its audiences, objectives, channels, content, and measurement approach. A social media campaign is a more focused initiative within that strategy, created around a particular goal, message, launch, event, or period of activity.

Do social media campaigns still work in 2026?

Yes, but audiences expect more than branded posts placed in their feeds. The strongest campaigns give people a reason to participate, personalize, create, or respond. Spotify Wrapped, for example, generated 35 million engagements in the conversation analyzed by Meltwater, showing the scale a genuinely shareable campaign idea can still achieve.

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