The Importance of Brand Online Presence

Over the course of this past week, I have conducted a lot of research on how companies can effectively utilize social media. Last week, I briefly discussed how important a social media presence is for brands in today’s digital era. With technology constantly developing and trends rapidly changing, it can be challenging for many of us to keep up. This is why not all professional social media accounts are successful. The key to succeeding in the digital media market is to truly resonate with a target audience and create content that they can engage with. 

Large corporate brands like Nike do not have as much to worry about when it comes to generating a following on social media. Nike is already a well-known company that has been around for many years. It has a giant fanbase that spans a variety of age groups, interests, etc. Nike already has longtime customers and their social media presence is not the focal point of marketing. Nonetheless, they do still have social media accounts across several platforms. 

Doing this is completely necessary in today’s world, especially for bigger corporate brands. Even if they do not need it for promotional and marketing purposes, having a presence online shows that they are in touch with the current digital world and the trends that come along with it. It is “another tool in the marketing toolbox,” says Barbara Rentschler, CMO and senior vice president of global marketing for K’NEX Brands. Rentschler is a firm believer in having a “social integration strategy” (Quesenberry 139) which I will go into more detail about later. I took a look at three of Nike’s social media profiles.

I created a social media audit for Nike’s Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok accounts. I did a brief analysis of the following count, content, posting schedule, and hashtags for each platform. The spreadsheet chart can be seen below.

I broke it down by platform and made a row for each. As you can see, Nike’s Instagram account has a much higher follower count than their Twitter and TikTok combined at a whopping 230 million. As I said, they have a large fanbase and really have nothing to be concerned about in terms of their marketing success. But Nike does a great job implementing omnichannel marketing on their social media, which “integrates multiple channels, exchanging information for a seamless and consistent customer experience” (Quesenberry 138). While they already have a solid audience, they try to maintain that audience and even grow it with interesting social media posts, keeping their content consistent across all platforms. Nike’s TikTok account, in particular, does a very nice job with its range of content. There is a variety of different kinds of videos that can appeal to many different audiences, particularly the demographic that uses TikTok the most.

Within the posts on Nike’s other platforms, there is quite a variety there as well. While TikTok only allows for videos, Instagram and Twitter posts can be a number of different content types, and Nike takes full advantage of that. Nike releases anything from product spotlights to captivating videos to breathtaking images, and they do so almost every day of the week for Instagram. You can even see the range and diversity in content just in this snapshot of their most recent posts. They also utilize the Polls feature on Twitter to encourage more user engagement. This tireless effort to produce a variety of exceptional content just proves that Nike is dedicated to upholding a strong brand image.

I think it is very important to strive for greatness on social media with the goal of creating a long-term audience that wants to engage with your content. That is why it is important to create content that is personal, even from a professional standpoint. Content that is genuine, authentic, and real is the key to grabbing user attention. ScrubDaddy is another perfect example of incorporating fresh and personal aspects of social media into a professional image. Their brand has always stood out to me not only because of its quality sponges and other products but because of its genius TikTok marketing. Instead of keeping things strictly professional on social media, they have fun with it by keeping up with the trends and posting hilarious comments not only on their own posts but even on other accounts. The ScrubDaddy marketing team does a very nice job with engagement and the brand brings a little spice to the table that Nike just doesn’t have. 

Nevertheless, Nike still does a very good job maintaining its already-gigantic fanbase, creating content that is memorable, and pushing for audience engagement across all profiles. Making a few minor adjustments to make their social media strategy more personal would certainly enhance the social experience. But Nike is just doing what all other corporate brands do on social media: maintaining its already strong brand image and continuing to build its already large consumer base. 

Quesenberry, Keith A., Social Media Strategy: Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations in the Consumer Revolution, Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.