Dive summary: 

• The top brands who experience great success with social marketing all focus on at least one of three things with their campaigns. [see full list at Mashable]
• Top brands are all employing at least one of the following tactics: passion, personality and transparency.
• Copying top brands tactics can help social marketing, but first every brand must identify what their strengths are and focus on those. 

From the article: 

"If you're a small business owner, you may want to consider which of the three strategies you're following. You might also mull following one of the strategies exclusively. However, it's fine to dabble in each. 'These approaches are interchangeable, and a brand can not only switch back and forth between them, but also use two or three at the same time,' says Caitlin Francke, SVP, and Director of Social Strategy at Publicis Kaplan Thaler. 'The most important thing is for a brand to stay true to their DNA, identify what they are best at, what they can offer the consumers the most of, and focus on that. That will be their strongest play.'"