social media
Talking
by:
MARTYN TIPPING
CEO, StoryScore
W
making
SOCIAL MEDIA matter
hen you have a name that promises to do two things, it’s important that your product delivers on both fronts. On a hot summer day, you have to be able to “slip” as well as “slide,” your oven has to “bake” and be “easy,” and your robots have to both “rock ’em” and “sock ’em.” But when it comes to social media, too many toy brands get stuck on the “social” side of the equation and they forget about the “media” side. In a recent study by the Association of National Advertisers, 80 percent of marketers said they rely on popularity-based measures such as likes, shares, etc. to measure the effectiveness of their social media sites. In other words, they’re measuring content by how social it is, and not by how well it works as a form of media. The problem with relying on vanity measures like popularity is that they’re not really indicators of the quality of social content, or how well the content is aligned with a brand’s core themes and goals. For example, posts such as “We’re heading into the #weekend! #TGIF” or “Use Code SAVE10 to #save $10 off orders of $60 or More” typically score highly in terms of likes and shares, but do very little to drive brand awareness. Many toy brands have become skilled at using other forms of media—digital, print, video, etc.—to tell powerful stories, but these same brands frequently overlook social media as a powerful storytelling channel. In the pursuit of popularity, they lose sight of creativity, strategy, and story, and the “media” becomes less important than the “social.” Companies that are serious about social media should supplement traditional metrics with an analysis of their social narrative, which is the story created by the cumulative impact of all social media posts over a period of time. When brands manage this effectively, social media can become a powerful tool to drive brand equity. Here are five ways that toy brands can create a more compelling social brand narrative:
96 • THE TOY BOOK
StoryScore conducted an analysis of toy brands’ social media effectiveness in the fourth quarter of last year, examining nearly 1,000 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest posts and crunching social media data to measure how well each brand’s social media narrative aligned with its broader brand strategy. See how some of the top toy companies scored.
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Creativity and education are the dominant themes for Lego, which has multiple dedicated social media accounts for its brands. Lego posted more videos to YouTube than any other brand in the StoryScore study.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE StoryScore’s analysis of social content in the fourth quarter of last year found that more than 50 percent of content from Mattel’s Hot Wheels social channels was targeted at collectors and attendees of an automotive specialty show. This adult-oriented content sat side-by-side with content targeted at moms and children, which creates a confusing impression. A brand like Hot Wheels would never run an automotive specialty ad in Parenting magazine, so why would they blur these audiences on social media? On the other hand, Lego (the top brand in StoryScore’s study) does an excellent job of segmenting audiences, with different Twitter accounts for academics (@LegoAcademics), educators (@Lego_Education), as well as individual properties within the Lego family.
STICK TO YOUR STORY Treat your brand themes as valuable assets and create fresh content to support those themes every month. When core themes are neglected in favor of one-off coupons and random questions like, “How is your family spending this Saturday?” the result is a less distinctive, weaker brand presence. Alex
CONTINUED ON 104 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015