Rebecca Gibson
At this point, being on social media as a brand isn’t just a passing fad. If your brand or company isn’t active on social media, you’re missing one of the most interactive and cost-effective ways to connect with your fans.
However, being a social media powerhouse goes beyond establishing a handle and a hashtag. To be truly compelling, this takes some planning and intention. Here are 5 great social savvy brands to emanate in both your next campaign, and overall social strategy.
Starbucks
It’s impossible to miss Starbucks anywhere you go, and their social media campaigns are just as prevalent. Grabbing coffee is a very social activity, making a great social media presence a no-brainer. Starbucks was one of the earliest adopters of using social media for marketing, and continues to stand out as a leader in the space.
Starbucks utilizes a mixture of beautiful brand and fan content on their social channels.
The coffee brand from Seattle goes beyond being active on many platforms and using them as a customer service tool to interact and respond to both positive and negative sentiment. Starbucks has created a online portal called my Starbucks Ideas where fans can honestly and imaginatively put forth ideas they have for the brand. They also produce numerous emotionally campaigns each year specifically for social media including their PSL Days video on YouTube and their #WhiteCupChallenge.
LA Kings
Looking at the social accounts of most sports teams you’ll find typical play-by-plays, celebrations for big wins, and event announcements. Check the @LAKings, and you’ll find tweets poking fun and smack talking the competition. While this route may not work for every brand, it is a great example of a brand taking on a specific voice that resonates with its fans. The LA Kings made a conscious decision to be a bit bold in their social strategy back in 2012 with a tongue in cheek tweet.
@LAKings with their tongue-in-cheek tweets create a characteristic voice for the brand.
Their tone has received a great response from an extremely active fanbase, and the conversation on social between the brand, the fans, and the competition is huge. The team is then able to call attention to this great fan content both online and in stadium by highlighting their posts both online with a website embed on the home page of the King’s site, and in stadium throughout the in game production.
Birchbox
This beauty company provides monthly boxes with 5 personalized beauty samples shipped to the door of consumers. Started in 2010, this brand is extremely active and imaginative on social media. The brand has always included social media as part of its strategy, and has expanded its team over the years. At the beginning of its creation, Birchbox engaged with beauty bloggers on YouTube to share their “unboxing” each month, and continues to interact with make-up and beauty bloggers on the platform.
Various beauty vloggers engage with Birchbox on YouTube by filming their monthly “unboxing.”
In addition to their video content, Birchbox treats their social media channels similar to a blog, always curating compelling content with great photography. Beyond the brand’s efforts on social media, they encourage their fans to share their excitement about each month’s box. This material is leveraged to highlight what potential customers are missing out on, inspiring them to join the beauty revolution.
Under Armour
As a leading global fitness brand, Under Armour is known for both its products and its top quality produced media. In addition to UA’s established status in the fitness world, its digital and social media efforts are extremely original and strategic. In the last year Under Armour has delved into the world of fitness apps, and has created their own in which fans can interact as a community.
Under Armour also produced the #IWILLWHATIWANT videos with various strong femals as the face of the campaign released on YouTube. The first in the series depicted Giselle Bundchen physically interacting with tweets that people had made about her. In addition to this great brand created content, UA utilizes all of the great user generated content from their fans, putting the spotlight on athletes who love their products on website social hubs for running and basketball.
Taco Bell
Having an established personality as a brand plays a huge part in content creation. Taco Bell has done an excellent job cultivating an authentic voice that connects with their target market. Their strategy is to be as accessible as possible, which helps build their credibility. The brand stopped using posed photos, and has been quick to hop on new platforms like Snapchat to stay relevant with their young fanbase.
Taco Bell aims to stay relevant and accessible by always engaging with fans on the latest platforms like Snapchat.
Taco Bell has been innovative with its use of social media to achieve these goals. For the launch of their Taco Bell ordering app, TBell went completely dark on social media to get fans curious about what was coming. When launching their Breakfast Defectors campaign, the brand enlisted the help of fans by sending out free kits to fans that they then excitedly shared on social media creating even more buzz.
Becoming a truly clever social media brand is important because it allows for direct connection with your communities on a more personal level. This gives your brand credibility, solidifies brand loyalty, and allows for extremely creative campaigns on new and emerging technologies.
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