Here are Methods That are Helping Brands Impact Social Media Users

As my classmate Evan discovered, Adidas and Adidas Originals are not really that active on Instagram. They are more active on Instagram than Twitter and post more consistently on there. He found that Adidas is knowledgeable about their customer demographics. (Check out his post to learn more.)

In my last post, I discussed how Adidas and Adidas Originals use Twitter to engage their audience. In this post, I’m going to share what else Adidas and Adidas Originals is up to on other social media channels. I was a little surprised to discover that Adidas Originals is doing fairly well on their Instagram. They are getting higher engagement there. The Adidas YouTube channel has been relatively successful as well, but the channel is more focused on sports, athletes, and more personal topics. However, they are taking some of their bad Twitter habits and transferring them to Instagram and YouTube. Here are multiple ways this multinational shoes, clothing, and accessories company can drastically improve on Instagram and YouTube:

Adidas Originals Gets Confusing on Instagram

Even though Adidas Originals posts more often on Instagram than Twitter, they can improve on how and when they post on the platform. According to Hootsuite’s “14 Social Media Best Practices for 2019,” each company should follow the rule of thirds on their profile. This comprises 1/3 of their posts should promote their business, 1/3 of their posts should be ideas from influencers, and 1/3 of their posts should be posts about personal stories. Adidas Originals does a good practice of this as they advertise their products, share pictures and stories about some of the athletes that are sponsored by the company, and also tell heartwarming or motivating stories about different individuals who use their gear. In addition, Adidas Originals recognizes the fact that not everyone that uses Instagram is from a younger generation. Hubspot’s article “45 Essential Social Media Marketing Statistics for 2020” conducted a study and found that 50% of boomers are on some form of social media. To accommodate this, Adidas Originals posts pictures of models with their clothes who are much older than their 20s and 30s. They recognize that older generations want to see themselves represented in posts on social media as well. 

Implementing Instagram Stories

Adidas falls short on some best practices occasionally. According to Sprout Social’s “Instagram Stories: Best Practices for Your Brand,” over 400 million people use Instagram Stories daily and Stories allow users to create a feed of sequential content that disappears within 24 hours of being posted. Story content can either be static photos or video, including video created via Boomerang. Adidas Originals occasionally posts up pictures and videos on their Story, but not very often. With more frequent Story uploads, story content will be prioritized in the sense that Instagram highlights updated Stories upfront in the feed. The purple circle around the profile photo lets followers know that they’ve recently added to the Story. People will feel a sense of urgency and excitement about seeing a purple circle around a profile, especially with a major brand like Adidas Originals. They will gain more traction by implementing Stories more frequently.

Humanizing Interactions with Users

It is also important to establish communication guidelines for Instagram comment moderators, according to Social Media Examiner’s “5 Ways to Humanize Your Instagram Business Account.” Staying true to the brand personality is crucial in these interactions because they’re more memorable to the company’s followers. Whether it’s through reacting to a user’s comment or answering a question, there should be some set way of responding to them. Putting together an FAQ sheet is very useful to know what to expect and how to respond. But also making sure to understand what the user is really asking and adjust the message accordingly is important as well. No one wants to be accused of copying and pasting messages or come across as a heartless robot responding through automation.

Adidas Gets Somewhat Confusing on YouTube

Adidas focuses much more on the athletes, sports, and fitness than lifestyle on their YouTube channel. They feature their athletes and more personal topics about their lives on and off the court or field. According to Sprout Social’s “40 YouTube Stats and Facts to Power Your 2020 Marketing Strategy,” when creating YouTube marketing videos, the production quality is important. But, relatability is 1.6x more important. People want to watch videos that relate to their passions. I think Adidas does an amazing job at this by featuring their athletes in many different sports and showing what they do on a daily basis.

They also advertise their products subtly within the videos and the product placement isn’t the most blatant. They give a more personal connection and a more intimate feeling of knowing the athlete or person. Another good practice that Adidas uses is customized thumbnails. According to Sprout Social’s “How to Promote Your YouTube to Maximize Views,” every single video on a channel should have unique thumbnails and engaging video titles. Creating thumbnails personally not only makes the videos look more appealing at a glance but also signals a certain sense of professionalism. Certain videos get more views than others, for example, the Pat Mahomes videos received more views in a week than other videos have had in a month or a month and a half. The reason why these videos received more views in a shorter span of time is that Pat Mahomes’ team (Kansas City Chiefs) just won the Super Bowl and he is one of the biggest players on the team.

However, they do not reply to any comments made on their videos, which are possible missed opportunity costs. There is a question in the comments, even though it is negative, is it a valid question. Creating support networks on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube would overall help the brand out and gain trust and reassurance back from consumers. According to Buffer’s “How to Engage With Your Social Media Followers: Our 11 Best Tips,” using automation to assist in a support channel or Twitter hashtag can make quite a difference in organization. Having all questions and concerns in one place on each social media platform expedites the response time for support agents to answer and help.

Adidas Conclusion

What do you think of my comparison of the other social media platforms? Do you have a favorite brand you follow on Twitter? Leave a comment below. If you like this post, please feel free to share it!