Many brands have achieved unexpected results through social media marketing. Naughty Monkey is one of the brands that has established itself in social media. Their strategy is to let users use photos to show where they are wearing Naughty Monkey products, and other users vote for their favorite photos. The winner can use Naughty Monkey products for free for one year. As a result, Naughty Monkey gained thousands of Facebook fans and tens of thousands of interactive users, becoming a famous social media image. Newcomers have followed suit.
There are many social media. Because of their media attributes, they can generally be used for brand marketing, and many evaluation indicators are similar, such as the reach of CPM ads, audience interaction rate (likes, comments, etc.), and forwarding rate (sharing rate). However, in terms of brand marketing, it is recommended to focus on the following two indicators.
(1) Forwarding volume. This is an intermediate indicator that mainly indicates the effectiveness of brand marketing and the number of loyal fans. This indicator is also the key to directly increasing the number of new fans. China Auto Rental used a two-way reward strategy to encourage forwarding, significantly increasing the forwarding volume and stimulating users to recharge their car rental accounts. However, the number of rides a user can take is limited after all, and the account storage amount is very high. In order to encourage users to take more rides and speed up the consumption of storage, China Auto Rental created a new type of fission: family accounts. As long as the main account is bound to the mobile phone numbers of family members and friends, the other party can use the main account to call a car and pay. At the same time, with personal permission, the main account can also grasp the travel safety information of family members and friends. Of course, family members and friends whose mobile phone numbers are bound need to download the car rental app to use the family account, which can also increase the number of app downloads. China Auto Rental only selected two communication channels, WeChat official account and internal notification of the app, and gained more than 1 million new users in 10 days.
If calculated based on the price of 80 yuan for one order, this marketing campaign saved the company at least 10 million yuan in communication costs. What’s more interesting is that since the travel information of family members and friends can be sent to the main account, this product makes the user’s entire family agree with China Auto Rental’s safety positioning.
Summary: Social media marketers all pursue the amount of content forwarding. Without forwarding, there is no fission or new additions, but we must not forget the true meaning of forwarding. While achieving brand reach, marketers should always reflect on what kind of brand we are reaching users with. Marketers should not only pursue the amount of forwarding, but also the quality of forwarding. Regardless of the brand positioning, the most basic requirement is positive energy and warm content, which must match the brand’s three views and have the same tone. Only such content forwarding is high-quality forwarding and can bring positive value increment to the brand.
(2) Fan loyalty/retention rate. This indicator is also an intermediate indicator, which can indicate whether the brand’s value proposition is implanted in the user’s mind. On July 21, 2021, Hongxing Erke, a domestic brand that has gradually faded out of the public’s view for many years, became the focus. Hongxing Erke resolutely donated 50 million supplies to the disaster-stricken areas in Henan Province despite its own difficult survival. This move triggered heated discussions among netizens. In order to support Hongxing Erke, netizens flocked to the live broadcast room for wild consumption. On the one hand, it was the anchor of Hongxing Erke who persuaded everyone to consume rationally in the live broadcast room; on the other hand, it was the support of netizens that “it is not over until Hongxing Erke is sold out”. The president of Hongxing Erke even went to the live broadcast room to persuade everyone to consume rationally; netizens said, “The boss should mind his own business. We love Hongxing Erke, so we will consume wildly.”
As a national brand enterprise, it has the courage to take responsibility when the country needs it, reflecting a full sense of social responsibility, surpassing all exquisite planning, precise delivery and exquisite advertising. Hongxing Erke not only supports Henan, but also has been engaged in public welfare, poverty alleviation, anti-epidemic, and support for Xinjiang cotton.
By practicing social responsibility, Hongxing Erke has successfully gained brand reputation and fan loyalty, implanted the brand’s value proposition into the user’s mind, and let users have a good impression and association with the brand based on consistent brand cognition. In this incident, the relationship between Hongxing Erke and its fans is no longer the relationship between supply and demand between ordinary commodities and consumers, but has entered a mutual choice and love at the emotional and emotional level that exceeds the value of the commodity itself.
To sum up, corporate social responsibility is no longer something that needs to be enforced by legislation, and it has actually created value for companies in terms of improving brand reputation.