20 Social Media Holidays to Celebrate This May
By Yasmin PierreApr 10
[Webinar] Leveraging Social Media Trends for Brand Engagement
Unlock the secrets to staying ahead in the ever-evolving world of social media marketing.
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Unlock the secrets to staying ahead in the ever-evolving world of social media marketing.
Published March 30th 2022
You know that feeling when you’ve put so much effort into a social post and all you end up getting is three measly likes. And sure enough one of them is almost always Linda from Marketing.
Don’t get us wrong, we love Linda from Marketing.
But how come, some brands seem to create knock-out social media content every single time? What secret social sauce do they use? And how can your brand get in on it?
Questions like these are why we’ve created this list for you. Find out which famous brands you should follow, and what their social strategies are.
Everyone knows how great this fast-food chain is on Twitter. Burgers and fries are not all they serve. They roast their competitors—mainly McDonald’s—on a regular basis. Snark and sass are a big part of their social strategy and have contributed to their social success.
MoonPie’s dry humor-laced tweets are eaten up by the Twitterverse. For a brand that’s been around for more than 100 years, MoonPie’s social strategy sure is “woke”.
Denny’s is yet another fast-food chain that’s doing amazingly on social. Their voice on social works mainly because it’s unconventional and has a lot of humor and pop culture references.
Airbnb is just cool—they have their finger on the pulse of millennials. No other brand owns user-generated content and influencer marketing as much as Airbnb, and for that, their Instagram truly deserves every follower it gets.
Innocent is yet another millennial-cool brand. Their social team is hip, funny, and delightfully weird across all their social platforms. For that, Innocent Drinks is easily another must-follow brand on social.
D2C brand Glossier’s customer-first approach and social-based marketing have helped them build a cult following on Instagram. The fact that their products are extremely instagrammable also helps, especially in relation to user-generated content.
What is it with fast-food chains and being good at social? Arby’s is yet another fast-food chain that seems to win on social. Their social team has fostered a sense of nerd culture using pop culture references around their food and packaging to get high engagement levels.
Did we expect a dictionary to have a Twitter handle?
No. But did we expect said dictionary to have a strong Twitter game? Also, no.
But Merriam-Webster has been breaking everyone’s expectations with their funny and topical tweets. Every brand can learn about newsjacking from Merriam-Webster, and that’s why you should follow them.
2018 was a big year for IHOP, or should we say IHOB? It was their year of rebranding to remind their customers that the chain has more than just a breakfast menu. Their team went as far as to delete the old IHOP account and create a new IHOB account. Fast forward to present day, the brand is IHOP again, but their burgers are selling really fast.
This fashion brand is Instagram-famous, and they rely heavily on influencer marketing. They have an entire army of influencers—#NovaBabes, as they’re fondly called—and the brand attributes a large part of their success to them. Fashion Nova not only has inclusive clothing ranges, it uses influencers of different sizes, races, and ethnicities, making it all the more diverse.
Steak-umm is a fast-growing brand on Twitter. Almost all their tweets are about beef (talk about branding), and they end some of their tweets with “Steak-Umm bless”, making them delightfully weird.
Toaster pastries? More like roaster pastries, amirite?
Whoever is behind the Pop-Tarts handle loves to roast people, especially when users try to combine the pastry with something unusual like ranch or seafood seasoning. The Twitterverse loves a good roast session, and that’s definitely a contributor to Pop-Tarts’ success on social.
Target is great on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but it’s also quite popular on Pinterest. They use creative boards to categorize the wide variety of products they sell. Target also uses Pinterest to get visitors to their site—most of their pins contain linkbacks to the Target site.
Rihanna’s line of cruelty-free, vegan makeup products has been dominating the cosmetic industry social circles ever since it was launched. One of the key selling points is the fact that Fenty’s products cater to several races and ethnicities, unlike traditional brands in the beauty industry. Their social posts include testimonials from women of color and influencers of all races and ethnicities. It’s this emotional connection that makes Fenty Beauty win on social.
You don’t sell products; you sell the experiences. And that’s exactly what Converse does on social. Head over to the brand’s Instagram account, and you’ll find yourself immersed in a pool of images with captivating stories of how their famous chucks came to life.
Being an established fast-food chain, it’s no wonder that Burger King has the number of followers they do on social. Any brand that aspires for a bold and sassy social media presence can learn a thing or two from Burger King. You can tell right off the bat that Burger King has a distinct personality from the way it presents itself on social. There’s fearless humor, sarcasm, and a whole lot of sass entwined in its tone and message.
Domino’s is an example of how the underdog can win too. In recent years, the company has improved vastly from where it was several years ago. One of the main contributors to their success is all the new digital marketing initiatives—you can order pizza through both Twitter and Facebook Messenger, and any customer service question you have fetches an immediate response too.
Who would’ve thought a logistics company would be great on social? UPS is here to prove our notions wrong with their highly engaging behind-the-scenes looks at logistics and well-crafted campaigns. UPS repeatedly delivers—pun completely intended—on social, and their performance vouches for it.
Buffer is one of the best examples of how you can learn by experimenting on Instagram. Their posts include user-generated content, contests, giveaways, and IGTV series on Instagram marketing strategies, wherein users discuss their approach to Instagram.
This airline company follows a customer-centric approach to social media and have made it their mission to respond to customer queries quickly. What’s even cooler is that Etihad also uses influencers and their own cabin crew members on social to pique interest about the airline.
While there are plenty of desserts starring the Oreo cookie (we’d kill for an Oreo cheesecake right about now), the brand opts to use their cookie to represent as many real-time events and holiday-inspired creatives as possible. Head to their Facebook page, and you’ll be inspired by their use of the cookie to engage with their fans. Creativity is at the core of Oreo’s social media strategy, so it’s definitely on our list of brands to follow on social.
Who do you think is the hottest social media celebrity at this point? No, it’s not a Kardashian, it’s actually Fiona, the hippopotamus.
This hippo had a life-threatening premature birth which she miraculously survived and is now an Internet celebrity! Cincinnati Zoo shows how you can turn around from an internet crisis by powering through and posting the right kind of content.
Netflix is famous for witty comebacks on social, but if there is one place where we believe the brand shines best, it’s on Twitter. The brand uses its handle to not just address queries but also engage in conversations with fans talking about trending movies and TV shows.
Doggos and puppers. Need I say more?
BarkBox’s influencers are all the dogs you see in their posts. This subscription box follows different strategies across social networks, but the core of it all is dogs. Even if all their fans aren’t customers, their interaction with and sharing of posts helps bring BarkBox closer to prospective buyers.
Mailchimp’s social media channels bring you a world of insights and advice for your business. If you thought Instagram was no place for B2B companies, think again! For instance, Mailchimp’s Instagram channel has a lot of quirky and fun videos explaining the benefits of their product and service and how customers benefit from using Mailchimp.
There you go! These are 25 brands that any social media manager can draw inspiration from.
Having a well-crafted social media strategy helps you grow and stay relevant in today’s business landscape, and the brands mentioned above are a testimony to that fact.
If you are looking for insights on how to better your social media performance or to get a better handle on managing your social media efforts, get in touch to see how Brandwatch can help.
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