Brands that are killing it on social media
Your social media representation is important. That’s a fact we’ve all come to terms with. Whether you’re obsessed with everything social, or couldn’t care less about it — it’s something we all need to heavily consider when it comes to brand perception and awareness for our business. You need your brand to stand out and connect with consumers. Not only that, but the content you create needs to resonate with the RIGHT consumers. Social media is all about using the platforms to discover:
- Who those consumers are?
- What kind of content do they want to see?
- How do they perceive your brand?
- What are the opportunities to add value and form long-lasting connections with them?
Instead of breaking this down theoretically, we thought it would be beneficial to show you some examples of a few different kinds of organisations, using the platforms really well…
FIRST UP, LET’S LOOK AT OUR B2C EXAMPLES
GIRLS NIGHT IN CLUB — THE INTANGIBLE PRODUCT
This is a tricky one. @girlsnightinclub doesn’t necessarily sell anything tangible. What they do sell is purely brand-related service. They sell concepts and a community. In this way, they’re a great example of how influential social media can be to build a business and a network. Though they now do share some products on their site and Instagram, the brand began as a go-to hub of information about how to maximise your down time. They recommend the best in culture, lifestyle and self-care to their 134k followers, and the timing of this happened to coincide with the pandemic — which was a happy accident for them. Though they knew how to capitalise on it. They went from sharing broader ‘downtime’ tips and tricks, to SPECIFICALLY addressing the pandemic and what to do during lockdown to keep motivated, inspired and generally just healthy in body and mind. They also really honed in on their audience — of women. The content they share is VERY female-centric and you may think that’s limiting. But it’s actually genius. You don’t want to appeal to everyone, you want to appeal to a very specific niche who will not only appreciate your content but will be highly engaged with it. This way, the content is shared organically more often in the feed and it’s a positive mechanism to gain more reach and therefore more followers…
Now what Girls Night In Club did really cleverly came next. They didn’t rest on their laurels when it came to ownership of this newfound audience. As soon as their follower count surpassed an impressionable amount, they worked to move that audience into their OWNED network — their email database. The brand now boasts a 50% open rate for their emailed content (which we can all agree is BEYOND impressive), and their social media acts more as a net to bring in additional consumers. While their database is an entity all to itself, that they continue to nurture and grow.
AWAY — A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE
These guys make luggage. Simple. The clever part of their branding is in the way they share the product. While most competitor companies are focused on trying to convince consumers to buy their product based on quality, look and feel — Away have totally shifted the conversation. They sell their luggage by painting a desirable picture for consumers, using their Instagram to talk about the experiences their product can bring. The invaluable, irreplaceable, priceless experience of travel. Of creating memories. In this way, they demonstrate how deeply they GET their consumers. They know that, yes they care about the quality of the bag, but mostly they care about what thief luggage represents. They care about the special times they’re going to have with that neatly packed bag and it’s because of this deep understanding, that the brand stands out on social media.
Even during the 2020 lockdowns, when travel was but a distant memory and a dream of the future — the brand stayed true to this sentiment. They brought humour into the conversation by publishing dream itineraries, recommendations for travel themed movies and quirky alternative uses for travel luggage. Now who is a potential consumer going to connect with more? A brand like this, who gets the deeper representation of their product — or a brand that just wants to tell you they’re the best? We’ll leave you to figure that one out…
SPICING UP SERIOUS TOPICS
NSW POLICE FORCE
You’d never expect it from this particular government body, but @nswpoliceforce are funny on Instagram. Not always, but where appropriate.
Whoever runs their social media has managed to engage over 300k loyal followers and walks the line so gracefully between important announcements and a bit of fluff when necessary. Most people are terrified by a run in with the police. And to be fair, they are often unpleasant. A large portion of us have experienced a hostile roadside accusation of something or other. Been fined for a road rule we’ve broken without realising, or experienced an RBT. It always sends shivers down the spine and leaves you feeling a little shook.
So by using their Instagram page to remind us that they’re just human — they can have a laugh too, it does form a connection we wouldn’t otherwise find any place to establish. The humour used is never too outrageous (obviously, they are still the police). But the perfect little balance of a light-hearted sentiment to break down the barrier of regular citizens versus trained police force. So we know that at the end of the day, they are and should be approachable.
This is one of our favourite examples.
AND LET’S NOT FORGET B2B
Socials for B2B are possibly the most difficult to navigate. The platforms are designed for human connection, so business to business kind of goes against everything they’re built for. However Hubspot do a fabulous job. At the core of their content strategy, they’ve remembered that people make up businesses – that it’s not really B2B or B2C it’s B2H, business to human. So although they’re talking to businesses, they’re also talking to and connecting with the people behind them. They use Instagram as a platform really well, which is super impressive because Instagram of all the platforms is the one MOST designed for human-centric connection.
By engaging with all the available platform features (think reels, stories, carousels etc), they demonstrate to us that they know how to engage with people. They have a really even mix of content types too… all based around informational thought that they know their consumers will find valuable.
>On top of that, their branding is flawlessly consistent. Each piece of content that goes out is uniquely and obviously Hubspot branded. So when it’s shared among business owners — they never lose sight of the source. Clever.
TO SUM UP
Your social media game is VERY important. And these are great examples of how to think outside of the box in terms of what you want YOUR brand voice to be on these platforms. Be relatable, be memorable and be valuable.
Written by: Phoebe Carden
Published: June 4, 2021