How Netflix can use social media to achieve company goals
When Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph launched Netflix in 1997, the founders set out for the platform to be the media equivalent of Amazon (Lamare, 2018). Over the years, Netflix has evolved from the rent DVDs by mail concept to the streaming service with more than 200 million members that it is today (Netflix, n.d.). However, while Netflix continues to be a leader in the movie and television streaming industry, there is growing competition among other platforms, forcing the California-based company to continue to think of innovative ways and programs to maintain its existing subscriber base while attracting new viewers as well.
Company objectives
Netflix’s primary objective is simple — to entertain the world (Netflix, n.d.). Through its extensive offerings of TV shows, movies, and documentaries, Netflix members “control what they want to watch, when they want it, with no ads, in one simple subscription” (Netflix, n.d.). With viewers around the world, Netflix prioritizes accessibility, offering streaming in more than 30 languages and 190 countries (Netflix, n.d.). This demonstrates the company’s commitment to ensuring that the quality stories can be enjoyed by a vast audience while also helping to provide diverse content that can then be viewed by these audiences.
In addition to providing a wealth of entertainment options, Netflix also prioritizes involvement in other social issues including launching its first-ever film and series diversity study and planning to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2022 (Netflix, n.d.). And just this week, Netflix announced that it would pause future projects in Russia, citing the country’s invasion of Ukraine (Clayton & Dyer, 2022).
SMART goal
As COVID-19 pandemic restrictions continue to ease and society continues its return to resembling normalcy, people are spending less time cooped up at home binging shows and more time outside of the house. For streaming providers such as Netflix, this translates to fewer new subscriptions as individuals choose to spend their money on other entertainment options. The effect is already evident for Netflix as it added 8.3 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2021, which was less than the goal of 8.5 million (Lee, 2022). However, despite increasing competition from other streaming services, Netflix continues to invest in its foreign-language offerings and in 2021, more than 90% of the company’s membership growth came from outside the United States and Canada (Lee, 2022).
When looking to 2022, Netflix must set SMART goals — ones that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. So, while Netflix aims to do social good as well, it is important that the goals align with the company objectives and at the forefront are the number of subscribers. A SMART goal for Netflix is to increase the number of subscribers globally by 10 percent by the end of 2023. This goal is specific in the number of users it wishes to increase by and can easily be measured by tracking the monthly and yearly growth in the membership rate. It is also attainable as it is consistent with the growth patterns the company has experienced in the past while also taking into consideration that the subscriber growth is slowing down. In 2021, Netflix added 18 million subscribers, which was down from 37 million in 2020 (Lee, 2022). Finally, the goal is both relevant and timely as it connects to Netflix’s larger goals of providing quality entertainment to the global audience while also providing the timeframe for achieving the goal.
Social key performance indicators
Social media key performance indicators (KPIs) are measurable metrics that highlight social media performance and prove social media’s return on investment for a company (Olafson, 2021). Similarly to the goals, the SMART characteristics should be considered when developing the KPIs while also leaving room for both evaluation and reevaluation (Olafson, 2021). While the SMART goal specifically deals with subscriber growth, Netflix will use its existing social media channels as a way to engage with both current followers and potential new ones so measuring social KPIs will be important. Here are some of the social KPIs that will be tracked:
- Conversion rate, or the number of users who perform the action outlined in the post’s call to action. This conversion KPI will help Netflix measure how many social interactions turn into member signups.
- Customer testimonials. These reviews of the brand will be useful when generating additional social media posts or ads as it will highlight why subscribers enjoy the platform with the goal of attracting new users to subscribe.
- Audience growth rate. While the SMART goal has to do with subscriber growth, audience growth rate will provide valuable information about how the follower count on the social media platforms is changing over time, which can be useful when evaluating whether the brand message is effectively being shared.
- Engagement rate, which shows how engaging the content was with the social followers. This will demonstrate whether the audience is connecting with what Netflix is saying on social media and wanting to interact with the brand.
How social media can help achieve the goal
Social media will be a beneficial tactic for Netflix to employ when looking to increase the number of global subscribers by 10 percent by the end of 2023. By using the social media platforms, Netflix can highlight both new offerings and returning favorites to a global audience, which is in line with the goal. These messages can be tailored to each social media platform with the hope of reaching as many users as possible. Social media also makes it easy to share content with family and friends so while not one of the social media KPIs that will necessarily be measured, it may also be useful to look to the amplification rate to see how many Netflix followers are sharing the content with their followers as this may be indicative of potential new subscribers.
Since social media can be easily modified based on information the KPIs and other insights provide, it makes it an effective and efficient medium to attract new subscribers and hopefully ultimately achieve Netflix’s growth goal. Messages can be tweaked based on the ones with the highest engagement or conversion rates to help make the social media strategy be as effective as possible. This will also be beneficial when evaluating and reevaluating the KPIs, especially since the goal’s duration is over a longer period, as the social media can also provide valuable insights here.
Social media outcomes
Since social media will be one of the most efficient mediums to reach the widest audience for Netflix, the goal would be that the social media efforts will prove to be successful in helping to achieve the goal of increasing subscribers by the end of 2023. By sharing engaging content, it will hopefully not only attract new subscribers but also retain existing subscribers and grow the number of followers on each of the social media platforms. With follower growth, this will be useful for future campaigns as the social audience will have grown so future messages will reach a larger audience.
By closely examining the metrics and KPIs for this campaign, it will provide important information that can be used by the social media managers when creating content for future initiatives as the insight will be telling on what resonates well on each platform with the followers.
References
Clayton, J. & Dyer, J. (2022, March 2). Netflix pauses future projects in Russia. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60596699
Lamare, A. (2018, July 31). How streaming started: YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu’s quick ascent. https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-video-streaming-by-the-numbers/
Lee, W. (2022, January 20). Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as streaming rivals challenge its market share. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-20/netflix-fourth-quarter-earnings-subscriber-growth
Netflix. (n.d.). About. https://about.netflix.com/en
Olafson, K. (2021, May 17). 19 social media KPIs you should be tracking. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-kpis-key-performance-indicators/
#ufcjconline
