5 Brands with Style, Substance and Strategies to Emulate on Social

Social is now a primary communication channel and brands that approach it smartly can reap serious rewards. Earlier this year I spoke at Marketing United — put on by the fantastic folks at Emma — and showcased nine brands with style, substance and strategies to emulate on social. From bold content to well-timed response strategies, the best practices embraced by these organizations teach us how to move beyond witty banter and treat social as a serious discipline. You can watch the full video or keep reading for actionable insights from five of my favorites.

Christian Louboutin: Owning Your Aesthetic

Saturated colors and opulent circumstances: when you take a look at Christian Louboutin’s social profiles, you immediately get a clear sense for the brand and their aesthetic. While not every brand has a visual identification as iconic as Louboutin’s red sole, every brand can and should create a unified aesthetic that informs content on all of its properties. From your website to email marketing to social, create a style guide and train involved team members to cultivate an on-brand appearance. In social specifically, that can be anything from a short-list of preferred emojis to agreed upon Instagram filters — the repetitive, consistent vibes will engender a stronger and more distinct point of view.

Mr. Porter: Mastering the Art of Education

Mr. Porter uses social to do way more than just sell. The men’s fashion and commerce site has created a full lifestyle community that informs their customers, supports their industry and educates enthusiasts to always be on trend. Better than most, they truly understand their audience’s wants and constantly deliver — whether they share a video on how to rock a pocket square or a clip on how to keep your white sneakers clean. The incorporation of well-produced multimedia and distinctive educational content about how to be a modern man adds vitality and value to social interactions.

So take a cue from your industry’s editorial publications and publish interesting, engaging content that adds value for your community. Positioning your brand as a source of expertise and entertainment rather than just a promotional machine will make the leap from information to sale much easier for current and future customers—and always keep them coming back for more.

GrubHub: Maintaining Superior Customer Service

In a world where brands ignore 89% of social messages and take an average of 10 hours to respond if they do at all, GrubHub stands out for its top notch social customer service. They know the danger of a hangry customer, and they make social responsiveness a priority. Not only do they resolve issues, they stay on-brand with a casual, funny and sometimes cheeky voice that’s reflected in everything from their Tweets to their ads to their website.

Your marketing team won’t always have the answers that customers are seeking, so training members of other teams on how to answer issues as well as how to embody the brand on social is key. An integrated social team should consist of employees from marketing, customer support, product and more, who together can practice three types of customer service — reactive, proactive and preemptive — to better address growing trends, answer customers and resolve service issues quickly and confidently.

Montage Hotels and Resorts: Inspiring Affinity Through UGC

Social is a powerful channel for reaching customers before, during and after their experiences with your brand, particularly for the travel and hospitality industry. Montage Hotels and Resorts embraces the idea of guest relations — ensuring a guest feel welcome and delivering a luxury experience — and extends it to social. Their profiles beautifully bring to life the experience of staying at one of their properties, from casual poolside cocktails to joyous wedding days.

Yet rather than purely branded and promotional content, a large percentage of their social imagery and messages, especially on Instagram, comes directly from their guests. Buttressed by the use of the #MontageMemory hashtag, they engage with guests on social and collect and curate enticing pictures for their brand handles. Incorporating UCG not only gives Montage an additional touchpoint with that guest, it brings them further into the fold. Now a part of their social community, they inspire future brand affinity and show authentic perspectives on the Montage experience — making sure that if a guest must leave, they certainly want to come back.

SoulCycle: Empowering Your Employee Advocates

Last but never least is an example from a personal favorite, SoulCycle. Their team has crafted an aspirational brand presence on its main handles, but just as importantly, they’ve built communities at the instructor level. Individual instructors across the country have the autonomy to build their own social followings, which not only builds the SoulCycle brand but also fosters stronger relationships with riders. My indispensable instructor in Chicago, Jaclyn, posts her weekly schedule on Instagram where followers can see what’s on tap for the week. While I could easily go to the SoulCycle website, she meets me where I and so many riders already are — on social. Her energizing and informational posts both remind and encourage me to get into the studio.

Whether you’re a B2C or B2B brand, your employees are often present on the same networks as your customers. Provide them with training and suggested content to share as well as education around the mutual benefits of establishing a personal brand on social. Using an advocacy platform can also streamline the sharing process for employees while allowing your brand to reach new audiences, build brand awareness and recruit new talent.

Connecting through Conversation

It’s imperative for marketers to remember that the value of social lies in the art of conversation. Social is a communications platform to be reckoned with, and it provides one of the easiest ways to listen to and engage with your communities. That means moving beyond promotional message strategies and adopting a personal, value-driven approach.

Use social to tell your story, build relationships and communicate with your customers using the same channels as they do. Not every brand needs to adopt every strategy I’ve outlined, but by fine-tuning the practices that best serve your customers, you’ll be better able to start a dialogues, anticipate and resolve issues and create moments and stories that resonate.