Defining Theories and Frameworks
Social Media Marketing Strategy generates marketing assets through customer engagement and social media interactions (Li, Larimo, and Leonidou 2020). It is the totality of marketing and social media and relies upon both to create and effective strategy. The purpose of marketing is to drive sales and social media is the lens through which that is done.
To effectively target audiences’ brands must understand consumption habits and the best way to reach the audience. Consumers want to connect to the brand and a successful social media strategy will integrate them. This is called narrative transportation. Narrative transportation is "when the consumer is absorbed into the narrative, becomes part of the story and lives the story from the inside" (Green & Brock, 2000). This creates an emotional connection and strengthens the brand consumer relationship (Heath, Brandt, and Nairn 2006). Throughout this case study we will take a look at how Nike approaches social media marketing and connects with consumers on different social platforms.
Setting the Stage for Nike
Emotional content drives consumer relationships (Heath, Brandt, and Nairn 2006). And no brand understands this more than Nike. Founded by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight in 1964, Nike is one of the most recognizable brands on earth. Nike is a master at connecting with its consumers through emotion. One of its most impactful ads, “Is It The Shoes”, leveraged Michael Jordan’s brand power to catapult his signature shoe line into success. Nike learned early on that connecting with a consumer’s feelings motivates consumers to buy (Elliot 2010).
As we stepped into the new era of social media many retails stores began to shutter. In 2018 e-commerce garnered one hundred and twenty three billion dollars in sales (Ritcher 2018) while many brick and mortar establishments closed operations. Video and music stores are now a relic of the past while ecommerce sites have proven to have longevity. With this in mind, how does a multi billion dollar corporation like Nike get ahead of the curve?
In 2017 Nike unveiled a radical new strategy. Out of thirty thousand of its wholesale partners Nike planned to prioritize just forty. Nike outlined a plan to double direct connections with consumers, double the speed of production, and double its in house innovation (Business of Fashion 2020). What this means is Nike would have to adopt new ways to reach its consumers to increase online profits.
Nikes, Direct to Consumer (DTC), and Social Media
Decades ago a direct to consumer strategy was not possible for a multinational corporation. With social media companies have a direct line to the customer to create meaningful relationships. Social media marketing is essentially relationship marketing. Trying to sell products is not an effective strategy if there is no connection with the consumer (Gordhammer 2009). In order for this DTC strategy to work Nike has had to go all in on social. In an interview with the Nike’s CEO Phil Knight for Harvard Business Review, he mentioned, “We used to think that everything started in the lab. Now we realize that everything spins off the customer”.
Virality and Conversation
The average person sees around ten thousand ads a day (Forbes, 2017). Our eyes are trained to ignore most of the advertisement we see (Pernice, 2018). On social media where the average person can run an advertisement from New York and have it reach a screen in London it is important to cut through the noise. Since introducing their DTC strategy Nike introduces products with a story. The story draws you in and gives you a reason to connect with the brand. They know creating a story will lead to a conversation which will lead to sales of the product. Nike also knows that conversation is more impactful than a traditional ad (Coon,2010). For example, when Nike wanted to introduce the Hijab in 2017 they created a story about inclusivity in sports. They told the story through the champion fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, and shared her struggles with wearing a traditional hijab while competing. This took social media by storm. On Instagram it spawned a hashtag, #nikeprohijab, with over six thousand user generated photos of women wearing their nike hijab. On the official Nike Women’s account post showing the Muslim Zeina Nassar has over two-hundred thousand likes. While those numbers may not seem impressive the conversation and change that came from these social media posts was what Nike wanted. Starting a timely conversation that goes viral about a Nike athlete all while capturing early adopters in a new market.
Since 2017 we have seen Nike implement story in their social strategy. These post are debuted on twitter and Instagram. From there Nike expects users to repost, comment, and discuss the products. Virality is not a strategy for most companies. But most companies are not Nike. From Colin Kapernick, to Serena Williams, to addressing covid-19. Nike has created stories that first demand a conversation, then they center those stories around the customers through the lens of a “hero”, which is almost always a Nike athlete.
Nike has almost two hundred million followers on its main and niche accounts with one-hundred and forty-three million followers on the main Nike account. The niche accounts include Nike skateboarding, Nike Football, Nike women, Nike court, and Nike basketball.
The main Nike account does not post frequently but each post is impactful. The post focus on its premier athletes and stories. With a little over seven hundred post the main Nike account has a .45% engagement rate which is great considering they have over one hundred million followers on that account. Nike is success at capturing the audience at the right place and the right time on this account. Nike is building relaitonships with the consumers through heartfelt and engaging post without bombarding them every week or even every month. They are building a relationship and valuing the viewers personal space without overloading them.(Heath, Brandt, and Nairn 2006).
The niche accounts have a different approach often focusing on user generated content (UGC). When developing a social media marketing strategy UGC is important as it absorbs the consumer into the narrative. This is called narrative transportation when the user is able to become a part of the story (Green and Brock 2000). This motivates consumers to produce content, which is free Nike advertising, for a chance to be reposted on a official Nike account.
While looking at the Nike Women’s account two things are noticeably different in this strategy compared to the main Nike account. The Nike Women (NW) account is predominantly UGC and each post tells a story. Nike uses story telling as a main component of its social strategy and the more niche social channels put customer at the core. These are everyday people who you are much more likely to interact with in real life at the center of a story (Green and Brock 2000). This is quite an effective strategy. Post feature models, mothers, community activist, musicians, artists, and everyday people all on one page. Each with their own story on their respective dedicated post. This creates a strong personal connection with Nike and stands out (Ardelet, Slavich, Kerviler 2015). As of February 2021, NW has over seven million followers with a .15% engagement rate. A look at the other niche Nike account will yield the same results.
SNKRS
In an unironic way Nike uses the fact that people can not buy shoes to generate hype on social media. Every Saturday morning Nike’s SNKRS app trends because thousands of people are not able to purchase shoes. SNKRS released in 2015 as a “one stop shop” to all Nike footwear. This app serves as a hub for every Nike shoe available to buy. The catch is that to buy limited you must enter an online raffle that thousands of other people enter every Saturday morning. It opens at 10am and by 10:01am it is closed. This scarcity marketing tactic influences consumers to believe each limited sneaker is more valuable and gives them a positive perception of the shoe (Aggarwal, Jun, & Huh, 2011). Customers usually flood Instagram and twitter with pictures of the app saying “sorry you were not selected” or “your entry was selected”. Nike lets users take a screenshot because they expect people to post on other social platforms thus increasing the hype around their products.
Nike incentivizes consumers to engage in the app through other methods as well. It gives consumers the chance to be featured on the front page of the SNKRS app if they go on Instagram and post “SNKRSkickcheck” in their best outfit. This hashtag has over two-hundred thousand post thus serving as free promotion for Nike. Nike gets free UGC, there is no marketing cost, and the poster gets posted on the SNKRS app which gives them a sense of status thus an “equal exchange” (Homans, 1958). In addition to this it also further builds a connection with consumers by taking them off Instagram into a Nike exclusive app (Green and Brock 2000).
In regards to posting Nike is not very active on twitter. This seems like a missed opportunity for the brand. Twitter is where communities are built and conversations are started. However, Nike is very active in replying to users. The project a caring and fun tone whether assisting customers with technical issues or complimenting users in their Nike apparel.
YouTube
Sitting at one and a half million subscribers Nike boast over four-hundred millions views on YouTube. The primary strategy on YouTube is giving the products the center stage. From videos detailing how to wear the products to the behind the scenes creation of the products this is a stark contrast compared to the rest of their social channels. But, it makes sense. YouTube is the second biggest search engine after google (Forbes 2017).
Nike has not posted on Facebook since January of 2018. Facebook has over two billion monthly users (Facebook 2020) so it can be assumed that Nike runs ads on Facebook but does not see a benefit in posting content.
Pinterest is the third biggest social media platform in the United States and has over three-hundred million monthly users world wide (Hootsuite 2020). Pinterest is essentially an online moodboard where users can upload, save, and “pin” content that they like on a digital moodboard. Where most companies ignore Pinterest Nike has taken a different approach. Nike uploads small campaigns to the site as they are relevant and removes them after they become obsolete. At this moment they only have three campaigns online. Unlike Instagram there is no user generated content because the strategy is to get Pinterest user to repost and save the content. Nike strictly uses promotional shots to give an aspirational feeling so users will want to pin content on their moodboard.
Collaborations With Influencers
Big campaigns while effective don’t have the reach of small campaigns (Gordhammer 2009). A number of small localized campaigns can have the same effect as a big campaign while creating real connections with a number of audiences instead of one big general campaign. We are well beyond the point of debating if influencers are necessary. Influencers can help brands reach untapped audiences and help capture market share. Nike has gone past strictly seeding influencers. They collaborate with them. Influencers with large audiences are masters at maximizing engagement, and have a great organic reach without any ad spend (Campbell and Farrell 2020).
Early in 2020 before the pandemic fully arrived a picture from a secret Nike dinner was posted. At this dinner was Drake (a musician), Yoon Ahn (Tokyo based designer), Virgil Abloh (American designer), G-Dragon (K-pop star and designer), and Tom Sachs (Contemporary artist). This seemed insignificant from the outside looking in. But what is emerging from this picture is a series of collaborations around the globe for niche audiences. Each collaboration has its own marketing campaign and each designer is able to authentically connect their individual audience with Nike. The campaign created for Drake’s collaboration touched on UK culture and resonated with that audience. The campaign for Yoon Ahn touched more specifically on high end streetwear and has produced a cult classic sneaker. All under the Nike umbrella, these campaigns were able to reach different audiences because of the specific following each individual has. When a consumer follows an influencer it is because they align with the preferences of that influencer. The influencer knows how to produce content that appeals to their audience (Zhu & Chen, 2015), and brands are able to leverage that into sales (Campbell and Farrell 2020).
Evaluation
Nike has a well-integrated social strategy. Overall, they are consistent in tone and messaging. It is clear that Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are the main platforms they are most active. On any of the Instagram pages you will see the brand use an aspirational and inspiring tone. Content and communication is diverse which promotes viewer stimulation and brand connection (Lim and Childs 2020). Nike is not overly active on any social platform. The brand really values the viewers time and that reflects in post frequency and quality. Frequent meaningless post would weaken brand strength (Heath, Brandt, and Nairn 2006). Nike talks when it has a purpose on socials.
In 2020 despite the ongoing pandemic Nike saw an eighty three percent jump in online sales. Ecommerce sales rose up eighty percent from 2019 (Business of Fashion 2020) became responsible for 30% of Nike’s total sales (Fortune 2020). The social strategy Nike has adopted since 2017 should be considered a success. From guaranteed virality with their emotional advertisements, conversations they start on social media by taking stances on social issues (ie Colin Kapernick and the Nike pro hijab), and from user generated content. Nike has a fantastic social media strategy that is proven to increase sales. Nike is giving consumers different experiences, visuals, and building communities throughout social media. And Nike will strategically analyze those communities to develop in person experiences. Nike has plans to open a Nike Women’s store as it plans to accelerate digital growth and have e-commerce total fifty percent of all sales (Business of Fashion 2020).
Your analysis will end with recommendations for the company or organization as to what they can do differently or improve in their social media strategy
Nike needs to capture the Chinese market. China was among the first regions to have 4g and 5g capabilities on their cell phones. The digital native youth of China are social media obsessed. Studies in China have shown that sixty-four percent of mobile phone owners use their phones to do online shopping (Hootsuite 2020). The same study showed that seventy-eight percent of mobile phone owners use WeChat (Hootsuite 2020). WeChat, Chinas premiere social media app, has over one billion monthly users (Business of Apps 2020). Brands like Dior have seen success from developing a China specific social media strategy and using celebrities to endorse their products (Business of Fashion 2019). It only makes sense to attempt to capture audiences in one of the most populated countries on earth. A strong social media presence in China will help Nike reach their fifty percent e-commerce goals ahead of projection.
Nike is one of the most innovative and forward thinking companies on earth. Yet, it has completely abandoned Tik Tok. The last post on the official Nike Tik Tok page was in March of 2020. The start of the pandemic. It seems like an obvious missed opportunity for Nike to build brand equity on Tik Tok during the beginning of the pandemic. Taking a look at the post from the past. They have all performed well. The post were fun, light hearted, not product centric, and easily digestible content. Nike needs to develop a Tik Tok strategy. Tik Tok is the sixth largest social media platform and has over four-hundred daily users in China alone (Hootsuite 2020).
Nike needs to develop a China centric social media strategy. Celebrity endorsements, especially in regards to fashion, are extremely successful and go viral on local Chinese social media apps (Wu 2020). Celebrity endorsements and collaborations exclusive to China would help capture the market. And those same endorsers would be able to create marketing assets that abide by local laws, cater to Chinese audiences (Zhu & Chen, 2015), and it would be at zero cost to Nike (Campbell and Farrell 2020).
Conclusion
The social media landscape continues to evolve and as it does brands will continue to search for how to cut through the noise. The average person saw ten thousand advertisement per day (Forbes, 2017) before the pandemic. Naturally with increased screen times that number has had to rise drastically. Nike’s strategy is authentically connecting with the consumer to sell products (Gordhammer 2009), and meeting them where they are. Nike strategically creates human centric stories to get customers emotionally invested and create a conversation (Coon,2010) that will take place on social media. Through Instagram they are able to repurpose user generated content and create meaningful relationships with consumers (Li, Larimo, and Leonidou 2020). On the SNKRS app Nike repost actual customers onto their third party app further immersing consumers into the Nike world (Green and Brock 2000).
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