What you can learn from the top brands on social media

By Felicia Guthrie

Creating a winning social media strategy doesn’t always come naturally and it can take some time to streamline and perfect it. Aside from looking at your competitors to see what they’re doing successfully (or unsuccessfully), you can also take a look at some of the top brands on social media to inspire you.We’ve done some of the legwork for you! Read on to discover some key lessons that you can learn from the top brands on social media.

Show your personality

Many top brands and companies succeed by showcasing their personality. Being a little less serious and showing some personality shows users that you can be relatable which helps connect you with your target audience. Think of what your brand personality is and think of how you want your social media voice to sound and build that into your strategy.

Netflix, for example, shows their personality through a bit of humour and a bit of what’s trending in pop culture in terms of language while also using their featured shows and movies as the visuals.

Below is a recent example of Netflix using current language/terms (“LOL omg I’m screaming”), their own series content (Erica, Stranger Things), and humour in their tweets. The tweet received over 100 replies, nearly 1000 retweets and over 8000 likes!

Use humor

With the popularity of memes it’s no wonder some brands are building humour into their strategy. If you’re wondering what a meme is, memes are often funny images or videos that are copied, often with slight variations, and spread rapidly by Internet users. Being humorous goes hand in hand with showing your personality, but not all brands are using a personality that is humorous. However, humour helps connect people and when you can make your audience laugh, they’ll be entertained by you, they’ll remember you, AND they’ll associate you with happiness and being fun.

Brands like Wendy’s and PopTarts do a great job of using humour on their social media accounts, particularly on Twitter. Both are sarcastic, funny, and interact with their audience.

In 2017, Wendy’s went viral when they began roasting (poking fun at) their competitors. Wendy’s fans and Twitter users were sharing, retweeting and creating videos reacting to some of Wendy’s tweets. It didn’t stop there. Twitter users began asking to be roasted by Wendy’s. This strategy helped boost engagement for the brand and it served as a way to connect with consumers in a unique, memorable, and fun way.

The strategy was so successful that in the years after, Wendy’s began celebrating “National Roast Day,” which is of course, a day when they would roast Twitter users.

Below are some of our favourite tweets from Wendy’s:

USE USER GENERATED CONTENT

Adobe, GoPro, Airbnb and many cosmetics and fashion brands often use User Generated Content (UGC) on their social media accounts and in their marketing materials.

Using UGC has multiple benefits. For one, it allows a brand/company to have content without having to make it themselves, instead they take a peek through content made by everyday users and influencers and curate the content. UGC also serves as social proof and word of mouth because the content is coming straight from everyday people and influencers.

SO, WHY IS SOCIAL PROOF AND WORD OF MOUTH IMPORTANT?

Eighty-four percent of consumers trust online peer reviews as much as recommendations from friends. Consumers find peers and influencers much more relatable, they can see themselves in them and feel less like they’re being sold something (but that last point isn’t true for all brands, we’re looking at you diet teas!). UGC shows everyday consumers that if others like us are using the products successfully, so can we. It turns the everyday user into an ambassador for the brand.

HOW CAN YOU GET USER GENERATED CONTENT?

Come up with a branded hashtag and share it in your posts, captions, and social media bios.

Here are some examples:

• GoPro - “Share with #GoPro.”

• Adobe - “Share your work with #Adobe_CelebratetheWorld.”

• Apple - Everyone has a story to tell. Tag #ShotoniPhone to take part.”

Want to see some examples?

GoPro users capture exciting videos and incredible shots, just take a look at these stunning shots captured by two GoPro users. Not only are these images fantastic shots that look good on Instagram, but they also show consumers what can be done with a GoPro.

GoPro UGC

GoPro UGC

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a small biz, so here’s an example of a smaller brand using UGC and personality as a way to showcase the products they offer and connect with consumers.

M Boutique’s bio:

🇨🇦 Toronto-based boutique spreading kindness + pink everywhere 💕Tag your pics with #MsGotIt for a chance to be featured 💋

M Boutique encourages consumers to use the #MsGotIt hashtag, which by the way has over 20k uses. From the tagged content they select images to post on their social media (particularly Instagram) and on their Instagram Stories and they share daily.

They also use their staff as models which can be seen in look books, on their website and on social media. Using their staff as models works because it shows the products, inspires styling, and it’s relatable because the women aren’t necessarily airbrushed models, they’re everyday women, just like M Boutique’s target customer.

There personality is feminine and fashionable, which can be seen in every post from the stylish imagery to the language used in captions (I.e. “babe,” “obsessed,” “vibes”).

M Boutique Instagram

Want to create a winning social media strategy and boost engagement? Remember to take notes from the top brands. You can use some of the tips we’ve highlighted above and/or do a bit of your own research as well. Don’t feel boxed in by social media either, if you try something and it doesn’t work, switch it up to optimize your strategy.

Want a bit more help? Contact us at hello@songbirdmarketing.com. You can also view our Social Media Kit here:  https://songbirdmarketing.ca/social-media-starter-kit/