Social Media Strategy Review: Nike Cricket

This review is a part of our ‘Social Media Strategy Review’ series where we do a 360 degree analysis of a brand’s entire social media activity. You can read the reviews of more brands here.

Introduction

I wanted to do a strategy review of the entire Nike brand but I discovered that they have created multiple social channels for their different products.

So you have a separate profile for Cricket, Football, Running etc.

I had to make a call whether to take up the entire brand or choose one product and I decided to go with the latter. Since we live in a country that is mad about Cricket, I decided to take Nike Cricket and review it. Read on to know more about how it is faring on social media.

Overall Review

The Nike Cricket brand caters primarily to the Indian audience and has a dedicated website of its own.

It is present only on Facebook & Twitter, which is somewhat of a let down because YouTube could have been a great platform considering how the cricket crazy Indians 'own' the comments section of any cricket video on YouTube.

Let's drill down deeply to see know more.

Platform-wise Strategy

Facebook

I was crestfallen going through their content for the last 1 month. The page has an impressive 2.7m likes but the content that has been going out there is simply disappointing.

First things first. Stop being self promotional on social media!!

Almost all the updates on the page for the last 30 days have been salesy in nature, trying to promote their new 'Lunar' range of shoes. I wonder what their social media team is doing to keep the engagement rates up. They should be knowing that a higher engagement rate ensures that your reach is good (good edgerank), thus even your 'salesy' updates will have better reach.

But they don't seem to be liking this idea.

Source: Simplify360 – A Social Media Analytics Tool

Fans can neither write on their wall (that is still okay) nor can they send them a private message. If brands don't converse with their fans at all, then why would any brand be present on Social Media?

Moreover, the updates are highly infrequent. There are days when there are no updates at all. These slots could have been filled with interesting content. But....

Source: Simplify360 – A Social Media Analytics Tool

I am not much impressed with the brand's custom tabs as well. With cricket as a theme, they could have done so so much with “gamification”.

Twitter

The account seems to have stopped updating for April. The content for March was decent. But again disappointment greets as I see no conversation happening there.

How can a brand afford to be in a 'broadcast mode' on a platform like Twitter?

I agree that the updates that went were of good quality but your strategy for Twitter should be much much more. But I see no effort from them on that front.

And since we are in the thick of IPL season, a silent cricket brand on Twitter should be deemed sinful.

Comparsion with Competitor

In comparison, Adidas Cricket is a doing a great job on Facebook. They have teamed up with Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians and are tapping big time into the IPL madness.

Also their Facebook content is leveraging their star ambassadors (Sachin & Raina) in a highly interesting manner. And their posting is consistent as well.

And I like the way they are promoting their new 'Climacool' jerseys. Nike should learn a few tricks as it is failing miserably trying to launch its 'Lunar' brand of shoes.

No wonder they're seeing good engagement rates on Facebook.

Source: Simplify360 – A Social Media Analytics Tool

Source: Simplify360 – A Social Media Analytics Tool

But on Twitter, the same issue that has plagued Nike Cricket has infected Adidas Cricket as well, broadcast mode syndrome!

Sigh.

Comments on Strategy

Nike Cricket needs a serious dose of good content. They need to get out of this self-promotional spree and quit this broadcast mode. They need to be more engaging and interesting with their strategy.

Feedback on Strategy

Nike needs to tap into the fanship of its ambassadors, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin. Both are hugely popular and great conversation topics can be created around them.

Whether Nike is an official partner of IPL or not, there are still countless other ways to reach T20 crazy mass. Also, it needs to work on the sentiments people have for it. May be its social media customer service channel needs a shot in the arm.

Source: Simplify360 – A Social Media Analytics Tool

Expert View

This is a classic case of Brand thinking now we have the base so lets focus on ROI and throw all the elements of engagement and social conversations out of the window. It looks like the Sales head is driving the social strategy and not the marketing head. This is not to say that ROI should not be an objective but sales can also be a pull strategy and not just a push strategy. Social media is not a ‘I will only blow my own trumpet’ media and no matter how big a brand you might be its still a media where users rule and engaging with them does not only drive brand buzz but in turn helps your sales messages reach many other users as well. Nike needs to get off its horse and be an enabler of cricket conversations thereby becoming a highly influential brand.

Expert View by Rajiv Dingra Founder & CEO of WATConsult – An Award Winning Social Media Agency.

Analytics support courtesy: Simplify360