What would Red Bull do?

In our past few posts, we have been talking about marketing in general. What it is, what it isn’t, how to define it, how to refine it, how not to do it etc. This post will not be general, this post will be specific; specific to Facebook and specific to Red Bull (I promise no more specifics after this...).

We are a marketing agency in Kent, providing a variety of services; one that is particularly popular, is Social Media Marketing. That basically means we leverage content on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) and make your brand look good, engage with people, and overall help you sell yourselves and your product. Often times we get asked ‘What is it you do on Facebook to make me popular? How does this help?’ This is always a tricky question as making your content and brand popular on Facebook is a long-term strategy; therefore little increments are needed to build your strategy and make it take shape. The next question after this is ‘How?’ and my reply to that is simple; ‘What would Red Bull do?’

[caption id="attachment_2084" align="aligncenter" width="640"]Red Bull Logo[/caption]

Although arguable, many would agree that Red Bull is the pinnacle of Facebook Marketing (with 46.5million+ followers it is hard to argue that they are not doing most things right). Their content is completely fresh and original, they have perfectly explored their demographic and appeal to it on a daily basis. They post often enough to keep interest but not spam your timeline. Their messages are rarely over a sentence long and they use emojis to emphasise their point. They do all that and they have never mentioned the product they sell. They have (in my humble opinion) mastered Facebook.

This, of course, piques my interest, as it should yours, because of the simple fact you have the formula for success right in front of you. Red Bull proves that you can have a highly effective and beautiful social media and content strategy that never sells your product and yet still achieves results (can you tell I’m a fanboy yet?). So what does Red Bull do on FB that is so successful? Can we distill it down into core concepts and components?

Hyper Accurate Demographics and Appeal

When you think of Red Bull energy drinks, who do you imagine drinking it? The answer, most likely millennials. We (yes I am one) are the largest consumers of energy drinks and are the most prolifically active on Facebook. We spend on average over 33 minutes a day on this platform alone. Red Bull knows this, and they have based the entirety of its channel on appealing to this audience.

The target audience for Red Bull is male and female, 18-30 years old, into extreme sports or watching others try to seriously injure themselves, technologically savvy, and more. The crucial thing is that everything on their Facebook page is dedicated to this audience. The bright colour of their images and videos, the extreme sports on show, the voice of their copy, all of it has been designed with the above audience in mind.

The appeal of this page also goes beyond audience profiling and into customer engagement. I have mentioned before on our blogs - the whole point of social media is to be social. That means talking to and engaging with people. Red Bull does this very well as you will see from the many postings in the comments section of every post. Red Bull will chat with you, crack jokes with you, and send a funny/amusing Gif or two. In other words, they talk and are social with people. As a result, they have great customer satisfaction, their customer service is unparalleled and they connect with the consumer base on a personal level that makes each individual feel appreciated. That kind of feeling is earned and cannot be bought. You cannot be one sided on social media, and sadly, too often we see no replies in the comment section.

Content, content, content

If you visit Red Bull’s Facebook page you will see content; lots and lots of content. The page is regularly updated with fresh and appealing content in the form of videos, pictures, gifs and more. As Joe Pulizzi said at this year’s Content Marketing World, “Mediocre content will hurt your brand more than doing nothing at all.” Those are strong words, but Red Bull doesn’t need to worry about that. According to sources Red bull only spends 20% of its marketing budget on traditional advertising (print and TV ads) the rest goes on content creation and experiential marketing.

[caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="1679"] Red Bull Facebook Page[/caption]

This is a huge amount of effort spent on content marketing and frankly, it pays off. They have been at the front of every type of visual content since their Facebook pages inception. When they started the page, visual content was on the increase, therefore they included many fantastic visuals and photographs that helped keep people’s attention. As soon as video was introduced onto the Facebook platform Red Bull seized this technology and use it to this day to great effect. The videos rarely go beyond 2 minutes in length yet they capture your attention and keep you on the page, learning more about the brand. Currently, they have invested in 360-degree video a lot more as well as GoPro footage that helps provide an experiential element to their video and as a result keeps their audience coming back to the page.

They filled in their Facebook Page

Something that I see time and time again with many companies Facebook pages are that they are half filled. The Red Bull page itself is filled with information and content. Every tab on the sidebar serves a distinct purpose and is filled with content. They have even added Tabs using third-party apps to enhance the experience even further. Segmenting their content down into these designations helps people find what interests them quickly thus lessening the chances of the consumer getting bored and clicking off the page.

[caption id="attachment_2083" align="aligncenter" width="1072"] Red Bull About Page[/caption]

A pet peeve that I find is unfinished FB pages. There is nothing more unappealing to the audience than a page that does not only provide mediocre content but also doesn’t provide any information as to who you are, what your voice is, what you do, what you sell, what you’re interested in. Fill in everything you can and if there are parts that you don’t need or can’t fill in, then delete them. Red Bull may have a lot of tabs and info, but it is all filled in and it is all relevant.

Influencer Marketing... Who’s that?

Why do you think we still use celebrities for adverts and promotional products? Because there is a fan base and if a product or brand receives this influencer’s attention then other customers are likely to invest in the product. Celebrities are a rather large example of influencer marketing. Influencers vary from person to person. An influencer in the marketing world (say Joe Pulizzi or Jeff Bullas) will do nothing for selling watches. However Red Bull sponsor specific events and people to ensure that these influencers are attracting a wider audience base to their product.

Don’t underestimate influencer marketing. It is a powerful piece of marketing that can really launch a company into the ‘Viral Success’ bracket. Take a look at the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. As soon as celebrities caught wind of this and participated, the world went wild and now the money raised has actually helped change research and treatment for ALS. Micro-influencers help small businesses gain more customers and can help cement a business’s reputation in the area.

What can I do?

Simple; when in doubt ask ‘What would Red Bull do?’ I often ask this question so I can help develop a fully formed Facebook strategy for my clients. My top three recommendations are to:

1. Define your audience and appeal to them
2. Create stunning visual content and make sure it is in line with your audience demographic (For help on this, see our recent post)
3. Fill in as much of your FB page as you can.

These recommendations may seem obvious, however, the amount of times I have seen companies posting content for content’s sake on an unfinished FB page, it still needs saying. Perhaps the biggest takeaway that was not mentioned is this, the content you produce has to appeal to your market, not sell your product. The best content marketers and companies know this and so you are unlikely to find them showing off their latest product or service but are rather using their strategy to inform and delight their audience, building loyalty and brand awareness that will lead to conversions.