You Don’t Have to Be a Social Media Expert to Be Effective on Social Media

As my classmate Steve discovered, Nike is a lot more active on Twitter. He found that Nike is consistently posting/sharing content that is inspirational and very sentimental, which is a theme related to their mission statement. (Check out his post if you want to know more.) 

I found that Adidas and Adidas Originals are not using Twitter very consistently, and this should worry them because their competitor, Nike is doing a slightly better job on Twitter.  Here is why Adidas and Nike are very similar companies on Twitter:

Nike Tweets More Often Than Adidas, But Adidas Has Better Engagement on Their Tweets

Nike has tweeted more times this month than Adidas has. Nike has tweeted four times this month while Adidas has tweeted three times this month. Even though both numbers are very unimpressive, Adidas’ tweets have gotten significantly more likes, retweets, and comments than Nike’s tweets. One tweet on Adidas’ end that really helped featured Patrick Mahomes and his football team, the Kansas City Chiefs. Since they had just won the Super Bowl and he was one of the most popular players on the team, that tweet received over 25,000 likes and 2,900 retweets. According to Sprout Social’s “How to Get Traffic from Twitter that Converts,” tagging other users that relate to the tweet give more traffic to the user and more accessibility to what the tweet is showing. There was a video attached to the tweet of Patrick Mahomes and I knew that the video was about him before watching a second of it because of his username tagged in the tweet. 

In addition, according to Hubspot’s “The Ultimate Guide to Using Twitter for Business in 2020,” optimizing content with hashtags is an easy and common way to spread content, but one would want to be careful about how many you use. Too many hashtags and your business may come across as spammy or like one is trying to steal attention. Sticking with one or two relevant hashtags per tweet is the best way. One should also be doing hashtag research if one wants to get more eyes on your content. See which hashtags your audience is already using when talking about a brand, and then adopt them. For Adidas’ latest tweet, they used the hashtag “#ChangeIsATeamSport” to show how no matter how an athlete or superstar changes the game from traditional rules, there is an entire community supporting them and making it possible, to begin with.

For Nike, they also implement one to two hashtags per tweet and use them sparingly including “#Nike2020”. Like Adidas, they describe their athletes, their achievements, as well as their products. Even though Nike has 4.3 million more Twitter followers than Adidas, that number does not always mean everything, especially with the number of active Twitter users. The engagement rate for Nike’s tweets are a little bit lower than Adidas’ tweets, but both companies have seen a resurgence of engagement after the tragic passing of basketball legend and icon, Kobe Bryant. Kobe was a figure and sponsor for both companies and impacted millions of lives worldwide, so both companies paid tribute to him on Twitter and other social media platforms. Overall, Adidas wins this category.

Adidas and Nike are Not Humanizing Interactions with Users on Twitter

Both Adidas and Nike do not have customer support accounts and completely disregard any audience engagement. 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 an 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. Neither company wins in this category.

It is also important to establish communication guidelines for Twitter 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 are 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 and Nike Both Add Value with Content

According to Hubspot’s “The Ultimate Guide to Using Twitter for Business in 2020,” one of the Twitter best practices is to add value to your brand with content. I think Adidas does this incredibly well. Most of their content usually contains upcoming sneaker releases, collaborations with athletes and celebrities, and something inspirational with their athletes. For example, Adidas Originals is sharing content that they are debuting their collaboration with Beyoncé’s fashion brand “IVY PARK” and attached a few images with what some of the upcoming pieces will look like. This is an amazing tweet as it prompts a lot of discussion among users. Both companies retweet their older tweets, sponsored athletes, as well as other companies under them. According to Sprout Social’s “How to Get Traffic from Twitter that Converts,” it is okay to retweet old content. Tweeting often does not necessarily mean Tweeting new content or concepts every single time. Because it is important to tweet so often, and because not every tweet will be seen by all your followers, it is okay to recycle content.

Nike also adds value to the brand with content.  They post pictures and videos about their products. Nike is different than other apparel/footwear companies because of the fact that they use this abstract content as a way to build relationships with their audience. Right or wrong, when you see a Nike advertisement, it is going to make you reflect. That leaves a lasting impact in the minds of consumers and Nike has been doing it for years. That is another one of their best practices, sticking to their plan. Nike has been under fire these past few years, regarding their support of Colin Kaepernick’s protest, as well as their public use of Chinese labor. When you see Nike content, it sticks with you because of the thought-provoking aspect of the content. Both companies do well in this category.

Adidas vs. Nike: Who Wins on Twitter?

I still love Adidas as a brand, I just wish their Twitter was more engaging and active. Overall, I would say that Adidas gets a slight edge over Nike for following the best Twitter practices, but it is very close. What do you think of my comparison? Do you have a favorite brand you follow on Twitter? Leave me a comment below. If you like this post, please share it!