Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America’s largest company, ranked by revenue. These companies have the budgets to do incredible and competitive marketing.
For this project, I am choosing Nike from the Fortune 500 list (http://fortune.com/fortune500/) and analyzing their social media presence.
………………………………………………………………………..………………………………..
Nike
* Introduction:
Nike Inc. is an
American based sportswear company, one the famous bands of sports equipment,
shoes and clothing. It was founded in 1964 with just $1,200 in the bank by Bill
Bowerman, a track and field coach and Phil Knight his former student. Nike was called
(Blue Ribbon Sport), and it is renamed Nike in 1971; Jeff Johnson, Nike’s first
employee, came up with the name which refers to the Greek goddess of victory. The
company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, and the first retail opened in
1966. Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design artist created the famous Nike ‘Swoosh’
logo which become one of the most recognizable brand logos in the world. Nike is famous for designing sports
products for all athlete’s needs, non-athletes, children and urban fashion
clothing which especially appeals to the youth. The world largest Nike store is
in London, Oxford street and it cost £10.5 million to build it. Nike has strong
presence in social media and it runs effective campaigns and creative content
which is the reason I chose this company.
...............................................................................................................................................................
* Social Media platforms :
Nike has identified its unique identity digitally and has
reached to tremendous number of customers by using social media tools. Nike is
using social media heavily, and it has established their own Apps. Nike can be
found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest and
YouTube.
Nike’s most activities are on the following platforms:
1- Facebook
Nike has over 30 million followers on its Facebook page,
and the page functions as a hub to link the followers to its online accounts
and social activities, including Nike’s website and Instagram account. Nike collaborates
with some of well-known athletes whom they can create content around them and
share it. Nike is constantly active on it Facebook page. The content is up-to-
date with sport events and news around the word. In general, it is motivational
content, and an example of that is the last post on Nike’s Facebook account which
was posted on January 28th ,2018 using hashtag (#Justdoit), Nike’s
famous slogan. The story of the post is about the Melbourne's defending
champion, Roger Federer who hold 19 major titles and just beat his own record,
by winning 20. It is a motivational post that encourage people to challenge
themselves. The post got great interaction, lots of comments, more than 500
shares and 10 thousand likes.
2- Instagram
There are 76 million followers on
Nike’s Instagram. The company is posting frequently on Instagram, and it is
very active and responding to their fans. The content on Instagram is
fitness-related posts, and most of them are videos. Delivering a message in a
form of video could evoke emotions much more effectively than a photo. The last
video post was on February 9th ,2018 about Nike air shoes using
hashtag (#airmovesyou), the video is an inspirational commercial that encourage
the audience to move and never give up. The video got more than 2 million views
and about 2000 comments.
3- Twitter
There
are over 7 million followers on Nike’s Twitter account. Nike shared multiple of
various content including photos, videos and GIFs. The followers are very engaging
with the tweets by commenting, retweeting and favoring them. In general, the
content is similar to the Instagram and Facebook which is motivational posts
and quotes, and often using sponsored professional athletes to grab the
audience attention.
4- LinkedIn
Nike’s number of followers on LinkedIn are over a
million. LinkedIn
is the preferred source for professionals and customers who are looking for
straightforward and succinct content. Nike is very active on this platform by sharing
valuable articles from well-known websites and magazines about latest Nike’s
news and statistics. For example, Businessoffashion.com post an article about
the top sustainable cotton report and Nike is one of the top brands that use
sustainable cotton in their products.
.............................................................................................................................................
* Examples of three common themes:
Nike
uses social media not only for promoting its products by showing what their
newest stuff are, but it focuses more on campaigning and getting their
followers interacting with the use of hashtags, for example:
1-
#Justdoit,
Nike’s most popular campaign which comes from the company’s famous slogan ‘Just
do it’. In 2013, Nike’s celebrated the 25th anniversary of this
iconic campaign. Hashtag just do it is nearly use in every post of Nike’s
social media accounts, and it has been supporting by great and creative
content. An example of this campaign is a video posted on Nike’s Instagram
account about Scout Bassett, an athlete woman with an artificial leg who is
sponsored by Nike; the story is very inspirational in how she is able to participate in competitions and accomplish her dream. Nike
has delivered an image of passion, strength and determination onto everyone who
engaged with the campaign.
2-
#believeinmore,
‘Believe in More’ campaign is supported by photos and videos ads that promote
women in sport and displaying their full capabilities. One of the campaign
example is a video on Nike’s Facebook page about a little girl who sing about
‘What girls are made of?’ The song begins by saying that girls are made of
things like “flowers,” “gossip” and “marmalade”, but suddenly, a strong female
athlete enter the theater and dance and other women athletes box and show off
their strength while the little girl on stage changes her tune and include words
like “self-dedication,” “skill” and “perseverance,”. This campaign has
encouraged women around the world to exercise and participate in athletics to
be their best self.
3-
#Equality,
the campaign has been released during Black History Month. This powerful
campaign dedicated to deliver a message of equality. Nike has supported this
event by launching 2018 Equality collections including cloths, footwear and
accessories in black or white. On Twitter, Nike posted a video people from
different cultures to promotes diversity and equality and the caption reads,
“We step onto the court as equals. Judged only by our performance”.
.................................................................................................................................................
* Examples of three posts:
Nike
has been using Social media to create sense of community among its fans. The
company is focusing on building strong relationships with the audience on
social media. Nike formed communities on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Some
of the community building hashtag is #nikewomen, and #beliveinmore, both showed
how does Nike support female in any form. One the posts that I like the most is
65 seconds ad posted on Nike’s Facebook page, and the caption read “What will
they say about you?”, is about Arab women when they are trying to push
boundaries or to do something unexpected beyond social norms; that question is
what they challenged with at home. Nike addressed a very important issue in The
Middle East which encourage the audience to share their experience and
collaborate with the campaign. The main goals of social communities are to emphasize
individual to communicate, collaborate and engage with the context of the
community.
Nike
is producing content for distribution via social publishing sites. The company
uses YouTube to post sharable content. One of the amazing content is eight-episode scripted YouTube series. The series called “Margot
vs. Lily,” which is about adopted and interracial sisters, one an athletic
lover with few social skills and the other an outgoing woman who has little
interest in sporty pursuits. The main objective is to inspire the fans to work out, and it
would be swell if they buy Nike's swag.
Nike has tended to produce niche products which appeal specific
groups of people by releasing Nike Pro Hijab for female Muslim athletes. “an
ongoing cultural shift that has seen more women than ever embracing sport,”
Nike said in a statement. “This movement first permeated international
consciousness in 2012, when a hijabi runner took the global stage in London.” The runner was Sarah Attar from Saudi Arabia,
who along with Amna Al Haddad an Emirati weightlifting Olympian that helped
inspire the product. Nike Pro Hijab is perfect for workout and outdoor
activities. There were some struggles with finding headgear that will not
distract them or slow them down from hard physical exercise.
................................................................................................................................................
* Interacting with the audience:
Nike
is leveraging social media by creating two-way and multi-way communication,
collaboration, conversation, and sharing of experiences and resources with its
fans. The company interacts immediately with the customers, and responses to
people inquiries. For example, on Twitter, one had question about the time of
brining back specific model of Nike’s shoes, and Nike response by the link of
that shoes to clarify and confirm that the shoes are already in the store. Also
, when someone complaining through Twitter or any social media platforms about some
product they bought, Nike responds to that by posting their telephone number
and the available time to discuss the issue.
Nike
is one of the smartest brands that is aware of the importance of customer
service on social media. With huge numbers of followers on Twitter and lots of
questions and queries from fans, Nike decided to create a separate account for
customer services (@NikeSupport). The account is working for 7 days a week and
with seven different languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian &
Dutch. It is dedicated to respond to customers inquiries and issues which make
it easy for customers to reach out the company when they have questions or
problems.
................................................................................................................................................
* Influencers:
Most of the brands has turned to influencers
as a main marketing channel. Nike is one of those brands that is collaborating
with a lot of athletes’ influencers which help the company generate innovative
content and great stories around them.
Nike professionalized the use of celebrity
endorsements when it signed with Michael Jordan, basketball rookie and now
superstar. With this successful collaboration, Nike launched the Air Jordan
brand which is releasing new shoes models every year, even though Jordan has
been retired since 2003 from the NBA. Other athletes endorsed by Nike
including, Cristiano Ronaldo, a football player who plays for Spanish club Real
Madrid and the Portugal national team, he is running a long partnership with
Nike. LeBron James is an American basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers
of the NBA. Nike signed a lifetime endorsement deal at the end of 2015 with
him. Tiger Woods, an American professional and successful golfer, he has been
with Nike since 1996. Roger Federer is a Swiss tennis player and one of the
most recognizable and popular sportsmen in the world. Federer has been with
Nike since 2002. There are a lot of other well-known athletes around the world
that Nike has been signed with.
..............................................................................................................................................
* Ways to get more engagement from the audience:
The
main goal of engaging the audience with the brand is to develop brand loyalty
and eventually become brand ambassadors to their peer networks. Nike is
mastering that during all its social media platforms. Almost every campaign
that Nike runs has received huge interaction from the audience including retweets,
responses and also using hashtags associated with campaigns.
Some ideas to get more engagement includes, trendy
hashtags like #selfie and adding brand name #selfiewithNike. Also, #tbt , a
very popular hashtag on Instagram and Twitter, which means through back
Thursday, people use it with their old pictures that have taken in the past
years, months or even days. Customers can take selfies with their recent or old
Nike products and post it on their social media accounts by using the hashtags
and mention the company. Nike might also conduct a competition by selecting the
most creative and funniest picture and give them a prize. Stream
live
video, Nike can stream a live video on Instagram story , Facebook or
Snapchat inside one of its factories and talking about the basic process of manufacturing
the products. Videos are always the most successful method of getting audience engagement.
...............................................................................................................................................
* Recommendations:
Nike
is a 500 fortune with about $37 billion annually by 2017, but it could be some
room for improvement.
- Nike
faces tough competitors like Adidas and Puma and the competitive pressure could
increase due to the rapid of technological innovation, so Nike should innovate
rapidly in this field among its competitors.
- Also, the price range is high when it comes to
Nikes' sneakers like Shox comparing to its competitors, so the company should
consider offering lower prices on some of the shoes collections.
- When
it comes to comfort, Nikes' biggest competitor is Asics - a Japanese multinational corporation
which produces footwear and sport gear, so Nike should consider paying
attention to improve its shoes comfort to outperform the competitor.
- Nike
should add Arabic language on its Twitter customer services account. There are seven
languages, Arabic is not one of them ; there are 22 Arab countries around the
world, which is not a small number of countries to not including their language
in the customer support.
In conclusion, Nike’s stated company mission is to “Bring
inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world”, and with social
media they are able to inspire and bring their customers closer to their
products than ever before.
................................................................................................................................................
* References:
· Arshad, S. (2014) Nike’s Top 10
Highest Paid Endorsement Deals to Sports Players from http://www.tsmplug.com/richlist/nike-highest-paid-endorsement-deals/
· Kell, J. (2016) This Is The New
Way Nike Is Going After Women from http://fortune.com/2016/01/28/nike-youtube-margot-lily/
·
Khan,
A. (2017) Nike to launch ‘Pro Hijab’ for Muslim women athletes from
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2017/03/07/nike-pro-hijab-muslim-women-athletes/98874526/
· Madalena, J. (2017) Just Do It- The
Nike Way from https://medium.com/rta902/just-do-it-the-nike-way-cf3f969dddd5
· O’Reilly, L. (2014) 11 Things
Hardly Anyone Knows About Nike from http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-nike-facts-about-its-50th-anniversary-2014-11
· Pride, A. (2017) What You Can Learn from Nike Branding Strategy
from https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/nike-branding-strategy/
· Smith, J. (2014) Social Media & Digital: Nike Doesn't Just Do
It. They Get It from
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140721193207-42400039-social-digital-nike-doesn-t-just-do-it-they-get-it/
