During the second quarter of 2015, brands such as Macy?s and Frito-Lay?s Doritos leveraged a range of new social media approaches to connect more personally with mobile consumers and promote products in creative ways.

Amid increasing use of recent arrival Periscope, social continued to blossom into a force for driving both brand awareness and sales. From a Guess Snapchat push to a Reebok Instagram virtual run, a slew of brands stepped up to tap social in myriad ways to reach target audiences.

Users continued to search for morsels of interaction with marketers via live-streaming and shareable photos. And big brands turning to promoted hashtags once again saw success by grabbing on to other major viral moments.

Here are the top 10 mobile social engagements of the second quarter of 2015, in alphabetical order.

Doritos live-streams chance-based game on Periscope
Frito-Lay's Doritos raised the marketing stakes by hosting a chance-based game show on live-streaming service Periscope along with a team game on Twitter to promote its then-recently released Roulette chips and connect with a younger male demographic.

Frito-Lay's Doritos generated social chatter with Roulette campaign.

The campaign spanned multiple social media channels with the team game on Twitter, winner announcements on Vine, promo images on social accounts and video advertisements on YouTube. The challenge format of the campaign enticed the male demographic while younger consumers were reached through the social and mobile platforms.

The Roulette bags, first rolled out in Mexico, had a combination of traditional nacho cheese chips and one extremely hot chip per handful. The chips were colored the same, meaning biting into the spicy chip took consumers by surprise, making it the perfect product with which for Doritos to have fun via social and mobile.

The Twitter game played to the campaign?s Roulette aspect and used social?s sharing possibilities. The contest required the user to tag three friends with the hashtag #DoritosRoulette. Each player received a prize. For the live Periscope game show, users tuned in on an app. A host spun a Roulette wheel, allowing contestants to win prizes based on where the wheel landed. 

Dove's latest viral video success targets dads with emotional message
Unilever's Dove continued its streak of viral video successes with a new entry in advance of Father?s Day that depicted men first learning their partners were pregnant while simultaneously promoting the brand?s Men+Care line.

The compilation of Internet clips of men finding out for the first time that they would become fathers quickly took off through social media and offered the brand the ability to connect with consumers and secure its genuine brand image.

Social media users enjoy watching videos that feature real people in real situations and future dads finding out their significant others are pregnant is a popular topic in videos today. Dove did all the work for these viewers, by searching and combing through video content that fits this category and choosing the best clips.

Media publications even picked up the video, cementing the campaign?s popularity.

Fox terrifies social media users into seeing Poltergeist remake
20th Century Fox took a unique approach to marketing via mobile for the upcoming release of its remake of the classic film Poltergeist by terrifying unsuspecting social media users.

The studio implemented a social media event named Fear Factory that would frighten users who posted about their greatest fears. Users who included the hashtag #WhatAreYouAfraidOf on Twitter would unknowingly receive videos or GIFs designed specifically to scare the individual.

The social media event coincided with the release of the film?s trailer the same day. 

The target demographic was millennials ? the main users of social media and the main component of the horror film fan base.

The goal was to create conversation on social media about the remake. If consumers were terrified enough and posted about the scary content they received, the campaign could go viral.

Guess races into social media to target rally racing fans
Apparel brand and retailer Guess drove up its cool factor on social media with a sponsorship of a rally car team in the Gumball 3000, an international race from Stockholm, Sweden to Las Vegas, enabling the brand to advertise leading up to the event and also live-report from location via Snapchat.

The brand had been sharing fragments of photos correlated to the event through its Instagram page and various social media outlets, featuring models wearing apparel designed specifically for the event. Through Guess?s Snapchat, fans were able to see up close action of the race along with the Guess Girls who were located there as well, wearing their Guess Gumball attire.

The fragmented images that the brand posted showed little pieces of a bigger picture featuring one of its popular models in a puzzle-like format, revealing the announcement that it would be partnering in the race. Guess shared an image of the Snapchat symbol with a makeover to coincide with the race colors.

Guess designers also created jackets specific to the race for the models to wear, with the brand vigorously sharing images of the girls wearing the jackets through social media. Additionally, Guess created numerous hashtags to coincide with the event, included on every post.

Hilton unfurls Periscope for live stream concert featuring Nick Jonas
Hilton Worldwide promoted the Hilton@PLAY concert series, an extension of the Hilton HHonors loyalty platform, by enabling fans to virtually attend a Nick Jonas concert via Periscope, proving the live-streaming mobile application's potency with hotel marketers.

Periscope use increased during the latest quarter.

The concert, which took place on April 22, asked fans to tune in at 9:15 p.m. to watch Mr. Jonas perform some of his hit songs at the Hilton Anatole hotel. The event was the second concert rolled out by Hilton@PLAY, a global campaign with the mission to inspire consumers to get out and see the world and enable the brand to reach a wider audience by offering members of its Hilton HHonors rewards program access to exclusive digital media, hotel concerts and ticket booking links.

Fans of Mr. Jonas or his previous band, The Jonas Brothers, could receive a virtual front ticket to his performance by following the brand?s handle on Twitter, @HiltonHHonors, and downloading the Periscope app for their mobile or tablet devices.

The event was billed as marking the first time that a live concert would be broadcast via the live-streaming app and Twitter in its entirety, a tactic that would ramp up buzz among music fans on social media.

Macy?s ramps up charity-themed social campaign ahead of Mother?s Day
In anticipation of Mother's Day, Macy?s asked consumers to upload their favorite motherly moments onto Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, with the brand donating money to a charity for each post, showing how social continued to gain steam for promoting cause-marketing efforts.

Macy?s donated $3 per each mom-themed memory or picture uploaded onto social media accounts using the #MacysLovesMoms hashtag to one of five pre-approved charities. The brand hoped the campaign would remind consumers of its many gift-appropriate products ahead of the national holiday, a strategy that could offer that extra push for individuals who waited until the last minute to purchase presents for their mothers.

By asking consumers to place a spotlight on their mothers, Macy?s ensured all individuals would remember to purchase a gift before Mother?s Day. This strategy served as an excellent branding opportunity, as well as one to remind consumers of the brand?s commitment to upholding corporate social responsibility.

The Thank-A-Mom campaign encouraged social media users to post their favorite motherly memories or throwback photos on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook via the designated #MacysLovesMoms hashtag.

Nissan builds on scavenger hunt strategy with platform-specific clues, video
Nissan Motor showcased the 2015 Altima sedan by posting clues on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram that asked guests to find a hidden vehicle and offered the chance to win the new car.

The brand?s success last year with its ?Ride of Your Life? campaign prompted it to roll out another interactive hunt, where fans could receive clues from social media to find a 2015 Altima that was hidden by a fictitious character, called the Mastermind. The contest spoke to Nissan?s growing focus on mobile and its attempt to reach more on-the-go consumers who frequently used their smartphones or tablets to peruse social media applications such as Twitter and Facebook.

The campaign kicked off with a video from the Mastermind taunting social media users to track down the vehicle by following clues posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

A video snippet could be viewed on the car manufacturer?s Facebook and Instagram pages, with the full video available on altimachase.choosenissan.com. Users were asked to comment on the video for a chance to win the grand prize, or other cash prizes and Altima-inspired gear. Over three weeks, consumers could follow the social media clues to receive hints regarding where the car was hidden.

Ray-Ban?s interactive Tumblr reimagines street posters for mobile era
Sunglasses brand Ray-Ban had a new Tumblr page where users virtually tore away layers of posters to create new messages that were shareable on social media and supported the brand's connection to fans.

Ray-Ban's interactive Tumblr experience.

The brand developed the interactive page as part of its Campaign for Change, in which users ripped off pieces of recent posters to create and share new posters. Ray-Ban, which cultivates a trendy image, shared the Tumblr page via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, encouraging users to engage with the responsive social media page.

Users could also share their results on their own social media pages to further the effort?s reach. Consumers were far more likely to get involved after being persuaded by friends rather than the brand.

Ray-Ban is known for its popular Aviator designs and is sharing pictures of images that take on the aviator shape in unexpected places. For instance the brand shared a picture of eggs, in which the yolk imitated the image of the iconic aviator glass shape with the hashtag #AviatorSightings.

Reebok races into social gaming with Instagram virtual run and contest
Fitness footwear brand Reebok took Instagram users on a virtual run through San Francisco as they hunted for a brand icon hidden within various images for a chance to win a pair of the new ZPump Fusion sneakers.

The innovative social game ? it was billed as the first-ever Instagram-based virtual run ? asked players to search a grid of photographs on a special branded account as they hunted for a series of Pump ball icons hidden in the images. Once users found and clicked on all of the Pump balls, like each photo and reach the finish line, they would have a chance to enter the draw to win a pair of the new Reebok ZPump Fusion sneakers.

Reebok, Canton, MA, worked with Venables Bell & Partners to develop the Instagram strategy.

The first person urban run around the streets of San Francisco ? which Reebok claimed was one of the greatest running cities in the world ? directed players to various landmarks. Once all of the Pump icons had been found and the finish line reached, players could enter to win a pair of ZPump Fusion shoes.

USA shows fans know best with Chrisley promotion through Dubsmash
USA?s reality series Chrisley Knows Best proved that fan-generated content was key with its Dubsmash partnership to promote its season.

Content available for user play on Chrisley Knows Best Dubsmash channel

The reality show connected fans in a unique and playful way by offering use of sound bites from the show on Dubsmash, a lip-dubbing application. Chrisley Knows Best shared 30 of its most popular sound clips from the show with Dubsmash, created its own cast-made videos and launched a contest for users to see their content featured on the casts? social media pages.

To create a Chrisley Knows Best video, users launched the Dubsmash app and searched for the show or accessed the devoted channel. A list of content from the show could be favorited within the user?s Dubsmash account.

The user clicked on the clip he or she was interested in recording. From there, the user recorded the lip-synced phrase from the show. Dubsmash compiled a video of the sound bite and user-generated video together, which could be shared on any of the social media accounts from the user.

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York