Decoding: Miniso India Social Media Strategy

We take a look at the Miniso India Social Media Strategy that makes the most of the Japanese brand's scroll-stopping visual appeal & attempts to keep the conversation going, even when their retail outlets are shut amid the lockdown.

In August 2017, Miniso made its way into the Indian market by opening a store in the national capital. The Japanese retail brand has since been expanding its footprint in the country, opening up stores in major cities. Currently, these stand at over 100 stores, a major chunk of which are franchise stores. The brand fits well with two key aspects of retail in urban spaces: price sensitivity and social media-friendly visual appeal. They feature prominently in the Miniso India Social Media Strategy.

Overview

The social media presence of Miniso that targets the Indian market mostly concentrates on product images, product experiences and influencer marketing. The Miniso X Marvel merchandise products form a huge chunk of the brand's communication on social media. Other such merchandise collaborations include We Bare Bears and Pink Panther.

Given the visual appeal of Facebook and Instagram, the brand has disproportionately more followers on these platforms than on Twitter. Most of the content is duplicated across platforms, with the exception of re-posts, which mostly happen on Instagram.

Some of the prominently used hashtags are #LoveLifeLoveMiniso, #ShowMinisoColour, #MinisoLove, #MinisoLife and #MinisoIndia.

It is interesting to note that the brand almost never participates in topical of format trends. They do acknowledge festivals though, wishing consumers.

Social Media Footprint

Facebook: 131.8K Likes
Instagram: 85.7K Followers
Twitter: 1610 Followers

According to the data recorded for Miniso India by Talkwalker, the brand mostly posts pictures on both Facebook and Twitter. Also, they get the best engagement for picture posts, significantly more for videos or textual posts.

The ratio between likes and shares/retweets seem to be proportionate, with noticeable spikes when there is an increase in owner activity on the page.

Most of the people talking about the brand on Twitter seem to be using Android phones, followed by iPhone users, the Talkwalker data suggests.

Also Read: Decoding: OYO India Social Media Strategy

Colour compositions

The colour composition of Miniso India social media posts are driven by their products. Such imagery brings forth a feel-good vibe, something the brand is known for. Apart from Marvel-related posts, which are bright and vibrant, most of Miniso's product brand communication is predominantly pastels with a splash of bright thrown in the mix.

#ShowMinisoColour was a Holi campaign where consumers were encouraged to share their colourful Miniso purchases and talk about which colour represents them best in exchange for gifts. With this giveaway campaign, the brand was able to leverage a popular festival in sync with its product hues. The hashtag was used in over 100 posts on Instagram.

Discount announcements

Since Miniso is a retail brand operating in a price-sensitive market, discounts are key to their communication. On several occasions, the brand has put up discount posts. These are either announced for stores or certain premium categories like perfume. When it comes to pricing, it is mostly mentioned in the communication put forth by the influencers, almost never by the brand on its official pages.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing plays a key role in Miniso India's communication. Three key areas include giveaways, product trials/reviews and store visits. While the first two keep happening on a regular basis, there was a prominent hike in-store visits by influencers and thus the generation of content around it as Marvel products were launched by Miniso.

Leveraging conversations

Along with reposting influencer content, Miniso India often amplifies content by non-influencer consumers. These are people who share pictures of the products as they use them in daily life. Such content generation is propelled by the inherent visual worthy nature of these products. Miniso India amplifies them via posts or stories, wherever originally shared.

The store is the hero

A significant part of Miniso India's online communication is their offline presence in the country. Pictures of stores are often shared, giving netizens a feel of what a consumer can feel/expect at their store. This helps help establish a strong presence, gain credibility as well as make people await a store launch in their city. Among such pictures, most were posted in connection with the Marvel product range.

Marvel all the way

Perhaps one of the biggest deals for Miniso on a global level, the existence of Marvel X Miniso products make up for one of the biggest chunks of their online communication targeting India. This includes putting up a post in anticipation as the range was made available in every city, inviting influencers, extending store display space and documenting it all.

Battling COVID-19

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Miniso India has shut down all of its retail stores, an announcement which occupied a prominent place on their social media handles.

Further, the brand has been banking on cutesie creatives to lift the spirit of consumers under the hashtag, #WeWillGetThroughThisTogether. From its signature panda & bear reflecting the lockdown moods to giving basic cleanliness guidelines, the Miniso India Social Media Strategy has kept its COVID-19 communication simple and clean.

Miniso India is an interesting brand when it comes to social media communication because of the way they leverage products and offline presence to create online content and drive social media conversations. There is a certain collective theme to the posts, bunched together with the help of similar hues. The feel-good vibes are constant across the spectrum. Influencers form a significant chunk of their communication.