#MakeItCount Counts: 3 Things Big Brands and Startups Can Learn from @Nike
Nike didn’t join Twitter or Instagram until December 30, 2011. As of this post, the Nike Twitter account has 392,746 followers, while its Instagram account clocks in at 107,900 followers. While at first these numbers may seem small in comparison to celebrities on Twitter with millions of followers, big brands have yet to find a true home on either social media channel. (In comparison, @adidas has a mere 15,109 followers Twitter followers, with @Reebok doing slightly better at 59,396 followers.)
While Nike sure took its sweet time to embrace social media, with the three word hashtag “#MakeItCount” (and the amended version, “#counts”), it has managed to create a compelling campaign that beautifully promotes what I call the “technological athlete” (anyone who adopts technology and social media as part of his everyday fitness routine). Nike has embraced both brand loyalists and the technologically-savvy to create a new wave of social advertising anchored around new products such as the Nike+ FuelBand, which tracks and measures one’s every movement and converts it into NikeFuel.
Nike has always had powerful advertising campaigns. From Michael Jordan to LeBron James, on the whole, such campaigns have been centered around the world’s greatest athletes, guiding viewers to identify with and emulate such heroes, and in return, buy Nike products to be closer to these “role models”. The Nike #MakeItCount social media campaign is a great departure from such advertising, calling on everyday people such as you and me to make every move count. Through the power of a hashtag, we become the stars in Nike’s giant advertisement - and that is the true genius behind Nike’s marketing efforts.
While many brands continue to struggle with social media, the Nike #MakeItCount campaign provides lessons for not only other big brands, but any startup looking to leverage social media campaigns to increase brand awareness and user adoption:
- People on Twitter and Instagram love to talk about themselves - let them do so while promoting your brand. Nike recognized that by embedding the #MakeItCount hashtag into both social media launches and new product launches, they could create deeper individual brand engagement that would by nature of the mediums used, go viral instantly. Each person using the #MakeItCount hashtag becomes a talking billboard for Nike, and because of the cause and community attached to it, probably does not mind it one bit.
- Create a personal, emotional connection with your audience that in turn, will allow them to sure community stories with the world. Each person could have a different reason why whatever activity they do #counts. In Nike’s case, some may be using their FuelBand and Twitter to tell the world about new records on their daily runs. Others may be running to support a family member who was recently lost to a terminal disease and posting a picture of themselves at the finish line on Instagram. Whatever the reason is, everyone has a story to tell, and through the hashtag of #MakeItCount, one can connect their atheltic activity to very personal moments in one’s daily life. Whether is is through clothing, physical products, etc., Nike helps the user capture and share these moments.
- Embrace current social media with simple tactics that have powerful results. Nike has millions and millions of dollars in advertising budget to help promote the #MakeItCount campaign. However, their budget would mean nothing if they (and the agencies they worked with to create #MakeItCount) had not recognized that a powerful Twitter and Instagram hashtag could create more brand connection/affinity and viral growth than any current LeBron James TV commercial. Celebrity athletes are always going to be admired (particularly by kids), but seeing your peers around you tweet #MakeItCount has a powerful buy-in effect that makes any individual want to #MakeItCount as well. Additionally, the tools are already in place (Twitter and Instagram are thriving social networks) for Nike to to use at its own disposal, and there is little to no technical heavy lifting required on Nike’s part to engage users on these well-established networks.
