Social Media Strategy: What We Can Learn From Big Brands

8 TRAFFIC
GENERATION
SECRETS
FROM THE WORLD’S TOP
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Adam Connell

Just how do they do it?
Hundreds of comments,
thousands of likes, millions of
followers – the world’s top social
media accounts seem to do it all so
effortlessly.
Is there a secret to their success?
Or is it just a case of being in the
right place at the right time?
The truth is that it’s a bit of both.

In this presentation, I’m going to
show you exactly what the
world’s biggest social media
accounts do right, and what
you can learn from them.

CONTENTS
Instagram Marketing
Twitter Marketing
Pinterest Marketing
Facebook Marketing
1
2
3
4

INSTAGRAM
MARKETING
With over 800 million users, Instagram is
one of the largest social networks in terms
of overall reach. And since it’s highly
visual, it is the perfect platform for building
a brand.
1

9Gag focuses on curating visuals
that aligns with its target audience:
regular folks who want a quick
laugh.
9Gag avoids obscure references
and niche jokes. All the content
they curate is designed to appeal
to as many people as possible,
without antagonizing anyone.
9GAG

Here are some examples:
A malfunctioning printer is something most
people can relate to. Can you? I sure can!
Especially wireless printers.
More than 54% of all Americans above the
age of 18 drink coffee every day.
This image has substantial appeal and it’s
highly relatable.

Key takeaways:
● Take the time to truly
understand your target
audience and the kind of
content they like.
● Curate only content that
directly appeals to this
target audience and is
easily shareable.

NatGeo’s updates follow a specific
pattern:
● Stunning image that immediately
captures attention.
● A sentence-long description of
the image.
● A paragraph-long description of
the image’s subject, its history
and
geographic/historical/environment
al significance.
NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC

The length of these updates goes against
the conventional advice of keeping updates
short on social media.
However it works for National Geographic
since they know their users are curious
about the world.

Key takeaways:
● Long content can work,
provided you complement
it with stunning imagery.
● Source content from
multiple authors/sources
to develop a sense of
authenticity of your
updates (get permission
and give credit, of course).

TWITTER
MARKETING
Twitter continues to be one of the world’s
most popular social networks with over
330 million monthly users.
You’ll need to create valuable content, post
consistently, and engage with your
followers to build relationships on Twitter.
2

All its tweets follow the same
pattern:
● A fact posted as an image or an
infographic.
● The UberFacts logo on the
image.
● A plain text tweet making a
statement about the fact.
UBERFACTS

What stands out is the sheer
volume of UberFacts’ updates.
Since images are 34% more likely to get
retweeted than tweets with no image at
all, most of UberFacts’ updates now have
an image attached.

Key takeaways:
● Image updates stand out
in the Twitter feed – use
them generously.
● Tweet multiple times
each day to capture as
much attention as
possible.

Coca-Cola takes advantage of
Twitter’s positioning as a source
for exploring current event and
trending topics by tailoring its
content to match these events.
Coca-cola finds it easy to jump into
a trending event and offer relevant
content, usually with the clever use
of hashtags.
COCA-COLA

Here’s the company’s tweet during
Valentine’s Day using a popular
hashtag and showing people together.
Here’s a retweet from Coca-Cola
Music on International Music Day.

Key takeaways:
● Associate your brand with
trending topics and events that
have emotional significance to
your audience (such as
Valentine’s Day or Mother’s
Day).
● Change your Twitter account
design to fully match your
brand guidelines.
● Show that you are friendly and
approachable by responding to
queries and questions.

PINTEREST
MARKETING
Pinterest has proved itself to be a popular
platform to showcase and share content.
Though initially viewed solely as a visual
discovery platform, brands and businesses
have quickly discovered its incredible
potential.
3

L.L. Bean meshes its own product-
focused imagery with customer-
focused images.
They has saved images from their
own site as well as blogs across
the internet.
They weave in internet obsession
such as puppies and cats into their
pin collection.
L.L. BEAN

L.L. Bean has saved images from its own
site as well as blogs across the internet.
This picture of a puppy resting on
an L.L. Bean boot is a perfect
example of tapping into a trend the
internet cares about.

Key takeaways:
● Curate content that is
relevant to your niche.
● Align your products with
internet trends.
● On each board, maintain
a healthy balance of pins
from others and your own
website(s).

Petplan differentiates themselves
by being informative and
entertaining with beautiful
imagery.
They encourage engagement with
contests and share images of their
team with pets.
PETPLAN

To encourage engagement Petplan runs
contests such as ‘Tournament of Tails’ where
followers vote for pets so that a rescue
agency can receive a donation.
To counter the negative connotations
associated with insurance firms, Petplan
shares colorful images of its tean with pets.

Key takeaways:
● Humanize your business by sharing
pictures of you and your team – this
should go beyond social media and be
baked into other aspects of your digital
marketing strategy.
● Focus on educating readers by
curating tips and useful pictures
directly onto Pinterest.
● Create topic specific boards (such as
“Pet Health” or “Dog Breeds”) to
educate readers but ensure there is a
tie-in to your business.

FACEBOOK
MARKETING
Despite being over a decade old, Facebook
still has the largest reach of all social
networks. If you want to make an impact
and drive large amounts of traffic to your
website, you’ll definitely want to be on this
platform.
4

Red Bull’s Facebook page almost
exclusively features images and
videos with very short captions.
They frequently promote other
posts of theirs in the comments
section and engage with their
audience via links, comments and
funny GIFs.
RED BULL

Captions are very short so the fans
can focus on the videos.
Red Bull engages with fans by replying in
the comments section with links,
comments or funny GIFs.

Key takeaways:
● Video rules on Facebook. Instead of
linking out to YouTube, upload your
videos directly to Facebook to
leverage autoplay.
● Never miss a branding opportunity.
Something as small as a caption should
tie into your brand’s tagline.
● Engage with people in the comments
as much as possible. Leverage the use
of GIFs and images in the comments –
providing they fit with the tone of your
brand.

Oreo, the biscuit company, is a
social media powerhouse with
over 42 million likes on Facebook
alone.
Part of this is down to Oreo’s use
of contests and unique
partnerships.
OREO

To keep fans engaged, Oreo
runs contests in a quirky and
fun style.
An odd and unique partnership
announced on their Facebook in
a fun way.

Key takeaways:
● Run contests that align with
your target audience and
introduce them in an engaging
way, such as through the use of
video.
● Partner with influencers to
expand the reach of your
campaigns & gain social proof.
● Be on the lookout for non-
competing brands that you
could partner with.

Whether you want to grow your
following so you can promote
your blog, or you’re marketing a
startup – we’ve discussed plenty
of ideas you can use.

Sharing content regularly, using
innovative content formats,
partnering with influencers and
establishing your brand are all big-
brand tactics you can get started
with right away.

So use these ideas to put
together a solid strategy
and show the world what
you can do!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam used to manage the
content marketing efforts for
brands earning well over 8
figures in annual revenue.
Now he teaches bloggers how
to create a blog that thrives in
a noisy online world.
Click here to get exclusive
content you won't find on the
blog.
VISIT BLOGGING WIZARD

Social Media Strategy: What We Can Learn From Big Brands

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Social Media Strategy: What We Can Learn From Big Brands

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