Social Strategies:
Key Takeaways From The Big Players In The Social Media Game
By
Daniel Ku
Social media is everywhere and, with 3.48 billion social media users across the world, it comes as no surprise that there are so many brands using it to their advantage.
Regardless of the size of your organization, social media should be an essential component of your business’ marketing strategy and, if not utilized, it could be a missed opportunity to reach your targeted audience – and at relatively little cost. Research has found, 64% of sales teams that have been using social media have reported it has helped to hit their sales quotas.
By taking a look at some of the biggest business players in the social media game, we reveal why their social strategy is going above and beyond.
Staying Loyal To The Company’s Identity
Alongside its ambition to educate businesses on the benefits of social presence, leading marketing software company, HubSpot has not shied away from the social media limelight.
The brand built itself on the notion that you didn’t need outbound salespeople to drive your brand awareness, instead encourage marketers to share relevant brand content that is useful and helpful to its readers. From this, HubSpot created the term ‘Inbound Marketing’ – a method that has revolutionized social marketing.
Noticeable on it’s on social platforms, HubSpot provides its followers with an array of top tips, how-to videos on relevant information for its followers, which is also shared among its employees – further driving engagement and amplifying each post’s reach.
Employee advocacy such as this is a strong way of expanding the reach of your content and reputation – by encouraging your staff to share brand content online you can generate positive brand exposure to a wider audience. In fact, research shows that 84% of consumers value recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising, making employee advocacy a vital component to include within your social media strategy.
Creating A Community Of Loyal Followers
Nike’s social strategy is a force to be reckoned with; their continuously evolving approach consists of a range of video content, charity collaborations, as well as diversity campaigns to raise awareness. Its presence is strong due to the hard work the brand does to create a two-way interaction between its customers.
With its recognizable hashtags, Nike has created a true community of followers, who loyally keep to its hashtags, such as #justdoit, a renowned tagline that has remained consistent throughout its marketing strategy. Building a community has strengthened the brands’ reputation, maintained customer loyalty as well as developing continuous engagement.
The sportswear giant even goes as far as creating separate pages on its social platforms so that each product’s social strategy can cater to its target audiences, such as Nike Skateboarding and Nike Golf.
Additionally, the effect Nike has had in raising awareness is credible and the brand continues to use it’s social fame for good, with campaigns to raise awareness for LGBTQ and equality. With a number of its memorable campaigns causing record engagement.
One of the biggest learnings we can take from Nike strategy is businesses can incorporate relevant and consistently used hashtags that are memorable to the brand.
Showing Off Your Workplace
Cloud-based software company, Salesforce stands out due to its use of social media posts to focus on boosting the morale of its staff. By appreciating its employees’ hard work and successes rather than focusing on sales, they are creating a warm and engaging environment for its followers, which is also a proven way to attract qualified candidates to your organization and shape the way your business is seen by potential customers. Evidence shows 90% of young adults age 18-29 use social media, and many call it their preferred form of contact with potential employers.
Building credibility across your brand is easily achievable through social media, but to do so, businesses need to ensure their content stays true to their brand. Authenticity online is important; stay honest about who you are and what you do and you’ll find targeting and creating content for the right audience for your business easy.
Customer Service Is Key
Arguably FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) company, Innocent Smoothies is one of the strongest brands out there for creating a unique and standout tone of voice. The drink company sets the benchmark for funny and informal posts that continues to drive its following.
Renowned for its out of the ordinary irrelevant tweets, its Twitter platform has grown in popularity, with users often checking in on the latest posts just for entertainment. One of the brands’ core aims is to respond to as many tweets from its ‘drinkers’ as possible and acknowledging the needs of its customers.
Twitter is one of the most responsive platforms for customer service, in fact, recent research found that an estimated 67% of consumers now use social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to seek resolution for issues.
Daniel Ku is Director of Marketing at PostBeyond
