Harley-Davidson: A Family of Rebels
Being someone who did not grow up around Milwaukee and who was not raised around bikes (my mom worked as an operation room nurse so motorcycle was not in my vocabulary.) I never really thought of Harley-Davidson as a family brand. Initially when I think of motorcycles I think of rebellion. I think of a lone wolf. Well, actually I think of Sons of Anarchy first, then of rebellion and a lone wolf.
Needless to say, living in Milwaukee has completely changed my view on motorcycles. Harley is ingrained in Milwaukee’s DNA. It is as much of a cultural icon around here as beer and brats. Being such a massive brand in the area, of course we have at least mentioned it in every single class I have taken at Marquette. As I have become more familiar with the brand, it has come to mean nothing to me other than family. Their presence on all social media channels confirms this in their extremely active community.
For my analysis I chose to look at the big three being Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Harley-Davidson on Facebook
Facebook is where most of the real conversation happens. Harley posts daily, often multiple times, and nearly every post results in conversation in the comment section. What really stood out to me was the overwhelmingly positive nature of all the comments. The internet is synonymous for anonymous hate, but the Harley page seems virtually devoid of any negativity. The community conversation basically consists largely of people discussing their own road-trips, the models they currently ride, and their next bike. They LOVE to share photos of their own bikes.
Harley on Instagram
Very few brands do Instagram as well as Harley. I personally follow them even though I have no real interest in buying a bike anytime soon simply because their photography and visual content is beautiful.They post daily, and they have in my humble opinion the perfect mix between self-made and user-generated content. I find it interesting as it seems that they do target a younger demographic on Instagram as opposed to on Facebook solely based of who they picture in their content. They encourage community content creation by sharing hashtags such as #rollyourown.
Harley on Twitter
Twitter is the least popular channel for Harley. While Facebook boasts over 7million followers, Instagram has around 1million, Twitter sits at around 300k.Though it is a significantly smaller audience, they seem to use the same strategies and styles of content present in the rest of their channels.
The Breakdown
Their Goal: Foster the Family.
They are not selling. As far as brands go on social media, they seem pure in their intention to serve their consumer, and give them a place to meet and communicate with each other.
Their Objective: We fulfill dreams of personal freedom.
They are not selling a motorcycle, they are selling the freedom and family it provides.
Their Strategy: Keep it Aesthetically Clean, Use your family, Keep it Gritty.
Their site is visually stunning. Every photo is well done and quite frankly something that could be hung on a wall.But remember, you are a motorcycle company built around the idea of freedom, adrenaline and rebellion. Share some of that tastefully.
Their Tactics: Provide a Platform, Inspire Conversation, Magnify the Consumer.
Allow a base for conversation by engaging the audience and encouraging them to share their own experience with your product. Your biggest asset has two legs, not two wheels. Shine the light on your best customers. Building their own custom bikes is a lot of hard work and by looking at what they create, they tell you a lot about who they are.