Social Media Takeover: Pros, Cons, and Examples

The first thing to know about social media takeovers is that they sound a lot more adventurous than they are in reality.

This tactic – where an individual assumes control of a brand’s social media accounts for a specified duration – can provide authenticity, novelty, and reach.

On the other hand, entrusting someone else with the keys to your social channels does entail some level of risk – may be a PR blunder, poor messaging, or lack of impact (which renders the effort a waste of resources).

However, it’s kinda rare to see this happening.

Having done a few social media takeovers ourselves, we’re here to share what we’ve learned about this topic with you.

Throughout this exploration, we’ll go over the pros and cons of social media takeovers, show you how to do one and provide you with real-life examples that we know of.

Social media takeovers pros and cons

What makes a takeover compelling is easy to spot:

• The takeover creator has a unique perspective and an interesting personality.
• The setting is exclusive and/or novel.
• The content is new, adding variety to what you already offer.
• There’s the chance to build new relationships with influencers and experts.

On the other hand, there are some potential disadvantages, including:

• Reputational damage, due to (uncontrolled) behavior from the person executing the takeover.
• Security risks from relaying control over the social media account – think account hacking or unauthorized access (worth noting, you can do social media takeovers without giving access to your SM).
• Disconnection from the audience is something that might happen if the takeover goes too far from the brand’s usual style or messaging.

Then again, social media takeovers tend to be sanitized, so it’s not like these risks aren’t heavily monitored at all times.

What kind of brand should do a social media takeover?

Technically, any brand can do a social media takeover, but that doesn’t mean any brand should go for it.

Based on our experience, the brands that see success with this tactic share a few common traits, including:

• An established follower base (usually, 10k+).
• High engagement rates with their Instagram and/or TikTok stories.
• A working relationship with influencers whose audiences are engaged (instrumental for cross-promoting and driving people to your brand).
• A “love-brand” type of bond with the audience.

If any of these conditions are present, the audience is more likely to pay attention to a fun social media takeover and tune in.

In addition, it’s important to note that (usually) it’s B2C companies the ones that do social media takeovers.

This happens because B2C is more eager to do Instagram Stories than B2B – as a result, a takeover is more of an experiment for a B2B company than it is for a B2C one.

Can a B2B company do a takeover though? Absolutely, there’s no rule against that.

Social media takeover examples

Alright, time for real-life examples of social media takeovers.

We’re including two examples we produced, plus two extra ones of brands that did cool little takeovers in the past couple of years.

1. Pearson – Campus Ambassadors

Pearson is an e-learning company that offers eTextbooks, videos, and study tools to college students.

In 2023, they launched an Instagram social media takeover campaign where they share videos and pics from their “Campus Ambassadors”.

In the videos, the ambassadors (college students) show how Pearson helps them accomplish their academic goals through snippets of their lives (that they film themselves).

Even though it’s an obvious promotional effort, these mini-takeovers do strike as original and authentic.

The students’ voices and perspectives are front and center, and the benefits and features they showcase do not sound exaggerated or artificially embellished.

2. University of Iowa – Ask a Hawkeye

If there’s an organization that shines on social media, that is the University of Iowa.

The institution has been leading social media engagement in higher education rankings for five consecutive years, according to the 2023 Higher Ed Social Media Engagement Report.

And yes, they regularly feature social media takeovers in their Instagram Stories, usually within their “Ask a Hawkeye” series.

In these takeovers, actual UI students answer important questions from soon-to-be students.

They do so in the most realistic way you can think of – by looking straight at their phone cameras and answering question stickers that come up.

Value, simplicity, and relatability are tightly packed for the win.

3. Sculpt – Staff takeovers on Instagram

Yes, we did takeovers ourselves in our Instagram account a few years ago!

In them, we let employees share their perspectives and introduce an element of their work to our audience.

As you can see from this example, this is probably the minimum expression of a takeover: An Instagram post with a single image, accompanied by a comment from the employee doing the takeover.

We think of this execution as a simple way to introduce our staff and let the world know what’s going on at the agency.

This format can also serve as a trial for brands starting to experiment with social media takeovers.

4. NASA Universe – Personal staff stories

NASA Universe is an official social media science divulgation channel run by the National Space Administration.

With a 1M follower base on X, they do a great job in sharing NASA’s work, discoveries, and backstage happenings.

In addition to this, they’ve done a few takeovers in the past couple of years.

Among these, there’s one that we really love: Deep-dives (in the form of threads) into the lives of NASA employees, who share their personal journeys with incredible depth and details like we rarely see out there.

Aside from “humanizing” the NASA brand and introducing the people working there, these takeovers are incredibly helpful, as the audience gets tons of insight on the topic of what it takes to become a NASA employee.

For those who aim for the stars, reading these posts is a treasure trove of value and motivation.

Social media takeover ideas

Examples aside, here are a few ideas to explore when considering a takeover:

• A day in life: Show what a day looks like for someone who’s related to the brand in some capacity (such as an employee, a senior executive, a partner, or a customer).
• Influencer collaboration: Hire an influencer in your industry to conduct a takeover. They can share their perspective and experiences related to your products or services from an authoritative perspective.
• Behind-the-scenes tour: Share your company’s operations, production processes, or workspace from a different perspective. This gives a glimpse into the inner workings of your business and fosters transparency.
• Product launch takeover: Share details on the development of a new product or feature. Include sneak peeks, demos, and Q&A sessions to engage and drive excitement.
• Theme day takeover: These are centered around topics relevant to your brand or audience interests. Experts, customers, and associates are usually the best-suited ones to participate in these takeovers.
• Exclusive event coverage: A takeover focused on providing live updates, interviews with speakers, and behind-the-scenes footage.

How to do a social media takeover

Now that you know more about this tactic, perhaps you’ll be interested in doing one for your brand.

If that’s the case, you’ll find the following tips useful, as they’ll help you create a simple roadmap for your next takeover.

• Define the takeover goal: Whether it’s about increasing brand visibility, driving sales, or introducing new features, state the goal, as it will guide all the subsequent decisions throughout the takeover.
• Choose the right host: Pretty obvious, but you want someone who aligns with your brand and has a genuine connection with your audience.
• Set guidelines for content: Balance creative freedom with brand consistency. Encourage creativity within clear limits, and find examples that inspire you before settling down for a concept.
• Engage with the audience: Yes, you’ll have to do some cheerleading as well. Share teaser clips, encourage your audience to share their questions, and provide behind-the-scenes content to create momentum.

Needless to say, you should always measure, analyze, and see how you can improve over time.

Now that we’ve reached the end of this article, it’s clear that social media takeovers aren’t that complicated, but there can be hiccups here and there.

If you’re looking for execution help or need assistance in creating one from scratch, you can always drop us a line and tell us about your ideas.