Gaining a vibrant, diverse, and active social media audience is tough. And getting those elusive real likes, follows, retweets and interactions can become even more difficult when you’re a company — not a porn star.
To get a better handle on how companies can gain more social media attention, we focused on three mainstream brands. Each brand has a spectacular handle on how to “do” social media.
The following brands know how to engage and relate to their audience.
1. Netflix
Through the past few years, Netflix has earned a spot on a few “best brand social media accounts” lists — and for good reason. The original content creating and movie/television streaming rental service has a Twitter account that manages to stay trendy while maintaining a wry sense of humor.
Although the streaming service has crafted an affable online personality, it also shares its user data in an interesting, engaging way. According to Newswhip, Netflix expertly uses user data to craft original content… And track user behavior.
For example, in a December 2017 tweet, Netflix lightly jabbed 53 of their users for a strange binge-watching quirk.
To the 53 people who've watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?
— Netflix (@netflix) December 11, 2017
That tweet got a lot of engagement — including at least 450 thousand recorded likes and so much interactive commentary — and earned the company “free promotion” via short spots on various news networks and talk shows.
The takeaway: Don’t be afraid to use user data to engage users. If you know a portion of your audience likes X, share that in an engaging way. That tweet could help you reach people in your audience who don’t know there’s a product out there “specifically” for them.
2. Glossier
Glossier began as an online-only beauty startup. And since the brand’s beginning, it’s always maintained a relatable, down-to-Earth online voice.
In addition to maintaining a “real” online personality, the company also asks its very engaged client base about the products they like — and what new products the company should formulate. These interactions could be one of the reasons that Glossier maintains a very interactive, diverse Instagram account.
For example, the beauty brand shares everything from funny memes to engaging how-to beauty videos. And recently, the brand has received a lot of positive attention for featuring diverse people in its Instagram photos and videos.
The takeaway: Keep content diverse and representative of the population. You can get a lot of views with cute memes, but you can attract more longterm clients with representation.
People want to see “their self” when looking at photos and watching videos. Because by now, all brands should know that their audience isn’t made up exclusively of tall, thin, young white women or people who would like to look at tall, thin, young white women.
Keeping ad campaigns diverse will better reflect the people who buy or are thinking about buying your product.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi14jQGAtW7/?taken-by=glossier
3. National Geographic
National Geographic maintains an incredibly engaging Twitter and Instagram accounts. In addition to sharing beautiful photos and videos, the brand often tells its users stories.
For example, while writing this piece, National Geographic was in the middle of its #PlanetORPlastic campaign. Through the campaign, the brand used photos and videos paired with engaging captions. Each caption told a story about how plastic is affecting the Earth and its creatures. Other photo/story telling campaigns have garnered attention, too. The Instagram post below is part of the #BanDeathNets campaign.
The takeaway: Tell a story. The story doesn’t have to pull heartstrings or be political; it just has to engage followers. When powerful, engaging words are paired with beautiful content, people won’t look away, and will follow to make sure they never miss “the ending.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjiCy5uDPHp/?taken-by=natgeo
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YNOT’s special reports on social media will continue through the end of the month. Read more about this month’s theme here.
