Nike — Most successful Social Media Brand
Nike and Adidas — the sporting giants that have dominated modern-day commerce. Ever since I can remember, there have always been debates about which brand is better, consumers fiercely loyal to either side. I can even distinctly remember my childhood friends defending to the death the “coolness” of Nike over Adidas.
As the 5th most–used branded hashtag (#Nike) and the most followed brand in the world on Instagram with 122 million followers, Nike has dominated the social media world like no other. While researching how Nike has gained so many followers, I realized that they use an interesting strategy in managing their social platforms. Instead of focusing solely on increasing their exposure on the main account, Nike has diversified its following and has created multiple accounts for different purposes. Nike Women, Nike Running, Nike SB, Nike Football, Nike Basketball are many examples of sport-specific Instagram pages. They’ve also created separate Nike accounts for big cities, such as Nike Hong Kong, Nike Toronto, Nike New York City, etc. In splitting their social pages into different categories, Nike can better tailor their marketing efforts to suit different demographics and cultures, making their content feel more personalized and relevant to its followers.
Nike constantly posts mixed content ranging from celebrity postings, videographies of moments within sports, lifestyle posts, to still shots and more. They post around 2–3 times a week, keeping their content relevant with ongoing news or events from around the world, whilst keeping up with their stories, highlight reels and IGTV. I noticed that all their captions have motivational and emotive elements that give people positive reinforcement to brighten up their day. As a social media user, I really appreciate this, because I feel like many people constantly compare themselves to others, especially to others online. Having a reminder from a large brand like Nike that “everybody has to start somewhere”, or that “you just need to keep going” motivates the user to continue following them.
Other than the motivational speeches, the images that Nike post are essential to their page. The images showcase Nike’s products in different parts of the world and exhibit the “lifestyle” component of their products. Rather than using loudness and repetition to market their products, Nike promotes their products using creative storytelling — whether it be through an image or through personal stories visualised. The main message behind these stories always ties back to their slogan, “Just Do It”.
Although they promote their products through storytelling, I realized that Nike still creates many advertisements in order for brand loyalty to happen. Brands like Apple, Samsung, Google, and others, heavily invest in brand loyalty. By doing this, they can ensure that consumers keep purchasing the products, and is an effective long-term plan (an Apple user is unlikely to switch to an Android phone in part due to Apple’s marketing strategy). By advertising the lifestyle of Nike products through social media rather than the products themselves, Nike develops brand loyalty to ensure long term commercial success.
One thing I’d like to see Nike do is to tag their products in their content. I’ve noticed a lot of brands that have Instagram pages such as @Princesspolly tag their products within their posts, linking the product to their website so that people who see something they like, or something they want to buy, can simply click on it and be directed to their online shop with the product page without going through the trouble of searching up what the item is called. This makes it convenient for people who want to purchase products directly from the Instagram post. Nike could also repost content from other Instagram influencers or celebrities who have tagged Nike in their posts (if they were wearing Nike’s products). I think that this would be a relatively inexpensive way to boost content and product sales without much effort, as the media influencers have essentially already done the ‘photoshoot” portion for the company.
Overall, I think Nike can take and learn from other brands, but I mainly think that there's a lot that other brands can learn from how Nike markets their brand and what they stand for.
Citation:
Nike. “Kobe Taught Us to Be Better. A Better Scorer, Better Mentor, Better Father, Better Champion. Today, on His Birthday, We Continue His Endless Pursuit of Better. .” Instagram, 23 Aug. 2020, www.instagram.com/p/CEPAzIun67I/.
