How to be 'social' on social media with Oreo's campaigns and strategies.

Welcome to post #3! I have focused this week's post on Oreo, the famous cookie brand. Why? The first reason is because I'm a foodie...The second reason is because Oreo is a company that has, in recent years, been successful in developing and using social media strategies and campaigns. I'll give a brief introduction of the company before we look at how they've succeeded in using social media to acquire their target customers.

Oreo: The Social Media Powerhouse

Oreo is a popular brand of US chocolate and crème biscuits owned by Kraft in Australia and Nabisco in the US. They have been known for their Twist, Lick and Dunk tagline which has been used in many advertising campaigns throughout the years. In recent times, the company has  also been known for its successful use of social media. For a fast moving consumer good, they have acquired an extremely large fan base across their various social media accounts...

• On Facebook, they have 34 million fans.
• On Twitter, they have over 164,000 followers
• On Youtube, they have over 24,000 subscribers

So how has Oreo done this?

The simple answer is that Oreo is knowledgeable about being 'social' on social media.

How to be 'Social' on social media

According to Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein in their article, 'Users of the World, unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media,' there are some guidelines that individuals and companies need to consider when they create social media strategies or campaigns. Marketers must be: active, interesting and not overtly professional in their management of social media channels. This has been demonstrated by Oreo in their social media strategies and campaigns. We will now have a closer look at how they have done this...

Being Active

On Facebook and Twitter, Oreo makes a post every 1-4 days, which means that they frequently interact with their followers. In addition to this, they make timely posts relevant to current events that their audiences can relate to. For example, when the lights went out at the Superbowl (the largest sporting event in America), Oreo made a comical tweet about the blackout within 10-15 minutes of the event occurring. This not only surprised fans, but gave them something to laugh at and share while they waited for the lights to be fixed in the stadium. This sort of idea has been referred to by the Wall Street Journal as 'Newjacking' - taking an item of news and turning it into a marketing tool to gain attention from customers as well as the media.

I believe this has been a great move by Oreo because these events were going to create a media buzz anyway; Oreo just took the excitement and channeled it into their products through social media. By  creating a tweet about the event, they showed an understanding of their customers' experiences and moved past the rigid structure of planned advertising, to interact with individuals about an event.

Another timely post that Oreo made was in reply to Kitkat's Twitter challenge. Two days after viewing a fan's tweet that mentioned both Kitkat and Oreo, Kitkat challenged Oreo to a tic-tac-toe game for the twitter fans' affection. Unlike their competitor, Oreo only took a few hours to come up with a clever reply that beat Kitkat at their own game.

By being active and playful, Oreo was able to make their brand appear more personable. Through interacting with customers and competitors in a timely manner, they showed a genuine interest in their fans and the activities they engaged with. This has led to a more effective way of marketing to customers, who are moving further away from direct advertising.



Be Interesting

Aside from being active, Oreo has also developed interesting ways to interact with customers about their products. Rather than post status updates about their cookies being a fun treat, they have demonstrated what it means to be 'fun' through their social media channels. They have done this by paying close attention to their customers and making content relevant to them. For example, YOLO has been a slang term that has developed in recent years on social media channels. Used predominantly by the younger generation, it stands for the phrase 'You Only Live Once'...Oreo, however, used this to create a new phrase: 'You Obviously Love Oreos.' This Facebook post was popular because it was humourous, fun and showed relevance to their younger audiences.

Upon hearing about how some customers preferred cookie to crème, Oreo cleverly turned the conversation into a campaign called 'Cookies v. crème.' They created a mini 4 part Youtube series, showing interesting individuals (physicists, designers, inventors etc.)  using elaborate methods to get rid of the crème in their Oreo cookies. These videos showed creative ways to play with, and eat, Oreos, rather than deliver a direct advertisement for the biscuit. As a result, these videos became popular on Youtube.

In my opinion, this is another reason why Oreo has been successful on social media. They don't dictate the content on their social media pages and expect customers to like it; they create content that speaks to their customers' interests. By listening to their audiences, they have posted content that responds to those topics. Customers like the brand and follow them willingly because they are interested in Oreo's YouTube videos and Facebook graphics. By interacting with customers, rather than advertising directly to them, Oreo has succeeded to gain many followers, and consequently, customers.

Avoiding overt professionalism

Finally, Oreo allows for interaction and feedback from customers. While channels are monitored, memes and other comical (but non-offensive) comments are left up on their Facebook and Twitter pages. This creates a sense of authenticity on their profiles - Oreo doesn't seek total authority and professionalism on their social media channels; instead, they blend in with their users and encourage user-generated content...

This is seen particularly in their latest 'Wonderfilled' campaign, where they have not only recorded an Oreo anthem with various celebrities, they have also encouraged Youtube artists to record covers of the song and featured this on their Youtube channel and website.

By encouraging user-generated content on their social media sites, Oreo have involved their customers with their brand. This is more appealing to customers who desire a higher level of interactivity and personalization in their activities today. So this brings me to the end of my post on how to be 'social' on social media from a business perspective...please look to my key points below for a summary of this post...And please let me know, what else you think Oreo is doing right on social media. Have I missed anything? Leave a comment if you can, thanks!

Key points to take away from this post:

• Being successful on social media isn't just about selecting the right medium, it's also about knowing how to be 'social' on these channels.
• It's important to be active on social media - this means posting consistently and being timely and topical when new events occur. Companies that respond to the environment around them and to their customers are able to appear more spontaneous and personable. This gives them greater potential to attract customers who are moving further away from direct advertising towards interactive co-created content.
• Companies also need to be interesting. It's not enough to just post messages about the brand and their products. They must use social media to show their brand personality. Furthermore, companies must also listen to what their target audiences want and use this to create content. This means companies need to conduct research and a gain a strong understanding of their audiences and how they use social media.
• Finally, companies should avoid being overly professional or controlling. Social media marketing is about connecting with customers, so companies should encourage positive user-generated activities. While they must screen out any potentially offensive materials, they don't need to rectify every unpopular comment they make or every meme that appears on their page...companies should aim for a balance between being professional and interacting with customers on their level.