The Spartan Race's Use of Social Media for Marketing

Social Media Monitoring 2: Under Armour - Rule Yourself

In Part 1 of my Social Media Marketing project, I introduced you to Under Armour and their Rule Yourself campaign. I got a good general sense of their social media presence and the effect "Rule Yourself" had on their popularity. In Part 2 I will dive deeper into their analytics, target demographics, competition and lastly, my recommendations on how Under Armour could improve.




Social Media - Hashtags

Under Armour's campaign not only highlights start athletes, but they are all about the hashtags! They are keeping up with the groundswell in knowing hashtags can generate discussions and a following.  In Chapter 10 of Groundswell, they discuss the importance and impact of Twitter. Twitter is where hashtags really originated and since then have become a useful part of Facebook and Instagram, as well. #RuleYourself has become a popular hashtag for the company, but #IWill remains the top mention for the company. "I Will" stems from their campaign "I will what I want" which is aimed for women (it speaks to women who do not wait for permission, advice or affirmation from others in order to go after what they want). 

Quickly, Rule Yourself and I Will What I Want merged into UA using both campaigns together. Where you see "Rule Yourself" you now tend to see "I will" which I believe strengthens their brand presence. 

UA launched Rule Yourself on August 24th of this year. By looking through their past posts on their Facebook page, the amount of likes ranged anywhere from 200-3,000. Here is their post on launch day:

That is 17,000 likes! 

This data below is from the "Likes" section of their facebook. As you can see, a lot more people are "liking" Under Armour (up .6% from last week). Don't let that steep slope scare you. They are comparing yesterday to today in that section and it is only 9:00am. 

And here is their fan growth (from Social Baker) over the past 3 months. 

OK. So we get that Under Armour is on a steady increase in fan and customer base (their revenues have grown at a rate higher than 20% for 16 straight fiscal quarters! - Forbes). Further down I discuss who these customers and fans are. 

Competition

Last week I was able to show you the strong difference between Nike and Under Armour on Google Trends. Now let's take a quick look at some other similar companies.

As you can see, both Nike and Adidas surpass Under Armour on Google Trends. However, UA quickly beat out Adidas to become the second (to Nike) largest sportswear manufacturer in the US. Reebok is in a similar spot (Google-wise) as UA, however their sales are much less. And just because you're being talked about more- doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing for your brand!

Nike has 23,236,468 people that have "liked" their facebook page. Under Armour pales in comparison with 3,927,732. I believe Nike has been a more established company (founded in 1964) with a longer list of celebrity endorsements, where UA (founded in 1996) is just beginning to get their celebrity backing. 

With 50+ years comparing to under 20 years, it's hard to say that UA may not be in the same place as Nike in the future!

Target Market

UA has always seemed to target 18 to 34-year-old athletes and, more specifically, men. But in July of 2014, they made a huge push for women. This article gave some useful information - "The women's apparel division is supplying 30 percent of the company's revenue, a sharp rise from just 18% three years ago, and is well on its way to surpassing the men's division." 

This is a great step for Under Armour, in my opinion, and it has obviously done well as far as fans and sales.

Here is data from Alexa showing their current audience demographics for UnderArmour.com Looks like college women are far surpassing men now!

Data from Alexa showing their current audience demographics for facebook.com/underarmour 

But who else can they target? Under Armour does have a youth section. It contributes to about $220 million to the company's revenue and they expect it to grow more than 100% by 2016. While I personally don't see much social media presence on the youth apparel, they obviously aren't doing too shabby. Perhaps they could do that much better if the youth apparel did have a stronger social media presence. Most parents are on social media. 

Now let's think of who they aren't targeting that maybe they should. 

Under Armour has always been after the athletes and the very active, exercising people. However, a whole other market they could be missing out on is right in front of our faces almost every day...

Those that work outdoors year-round!

It can get very hot in the summer and very cold and snowy in the winter. I'm sure there are those employees that wear Under Armour to work, but it's a market that UA is totally leaving out. 

They may not be the star athletes or even the ones that hit the gym everyday, but their jobs are hard and are in extreme temperatures at least 50% of the year. Why shouldn't they be a target demographic? I can already imagine the creative and motivating ads that Under Armour could come up with! 

Personally, however, I believe Under Armour should work on sustaining their current market rather than stretch to expand it. They have involved some very serious athletes in their campaigns that can target almost anyone that is a fan of some sort of sport. That is the best decision they could've made (in my opinion). If they continue to make their social media presence based around motivating customers rather than pushing their products, it could continue to show real value. I view Under Armour as a "tough" brand and I believe the sense of pride you get while wearing their clothing proves that. 

Please, Under Armour - never aim to be the fashionable/cute ones!

The impact of online employee communities!

Employee-to-employee relationships is becoming more and more recognized as having a positive impact on companies. And with the non-stop growth of the internet world, it's becoming easier, too. In chapter 12 of Groundswell, Li and Bernoff discuss the importance and the impact of the groundswell inside of a company.

Their case study is based on Best Buy and the "Blue Shirt Nation" community. Started in 2006, the online community has quickly become a popular place for Best Buy employees. By 2007 BSN had 14,000 employees logging in each month. 85% of them were sales associates in stores. The reason behind BSN was to create a place to listen to what employees were saying and for employees to communicate with each other. This creates a huge sense of support and community for these employees. There's no denying that it would create a sense of pride to be a part of it. 

Best Buy has become a model for large companies. As this article mentions, BSN started with hopes it would generate marketing ideas by connecting with store employees. Instead, they got high participation in Best Buy's 401k plan, lower employee turnover and photos of staffers' pets (who doesn't love that?!). And they have seen positive growth in the company due to this community. As Li and Bernoff discuss, employees are able to give their thoughts on new plans Best Buy has and the head honchos actually listen and take their advice. 

This chart (provided by B2C) shows the great value of employee communities. This is a low-cost way to solve some company questions and issues and to ENGAGE the employee.

It makes me wonder... what other companies are benefitting by creating an online employee community? I've been trying to search for another business who takes advantage of the low-cost, moral-boosting idea and I have to say.. I had a little trouble! 

The vicious circle of unengaged employees (also from B2C).

Low and behold, deep into the pages of Google that you never tend to go to, I found that Philips created an online community for employees in 2011. Through other articles I found that Jive, Salesforce, Adobe, Pernod Ricard, and more are now using online communities.

"The number one way that you can engage your employees - and by that I mean make them more informed, and productive, and involved in the business- is by opening up the channels of communication. No longer do we live in a world where you just communicate at your employees, you communicate with them."

It makes you wonder... with the great success of the Blue Shirt Nation (and others), why aren't even more major companies taking advantage of this great opportunity? What are your thoughts? Have you ever been a member of an employee-based community? How was your experience?

Social Media Monitoring Part 1: Under Armour

A Little Company Info

As stated in the "about us" section of their website, Under Armour was founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel - gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. 

The technology behind Under Armour's diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it's hot, ColdGear® when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes.

In August of this year, Under Armour launched their "Rule Yourself" campaign (created by the ad agency Droga5). The idea behind the campaign is that "you are the sum of all your training". The most notable thing about this campaign is that it features a list of high-profile athletes including NBA MVP Stephen Curry, American Ballet Theatre® Principal dancer Misty Copeland, two-time golf major champion Jordan Spieth and NFL MVP and Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady.

Here is the first video they released:

Below is Tom Brady's solo ad: 

Mission Statement

Under Armour’s mission is to make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation.

Social Media Tracking

After the announcement and release of the Rule Yourself campaign, people started to talk! But was it enough to keep their momentum going? 

In the chart from IceRocket below, you can see the major spike in blog posts on the day the campaign was released. However, it drops back down significantly in the weeks to follow.

In information from Social Mention, you can see that most people that talk about Under Armour (as a whole) speak positively of the brand.

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In this other data chart from Social Mention, you can see that the strength (likelihood that it is being discussed on Social Media) of Rule Yourself is less, but the passion and sentiment is higher.
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I believe these analytics show there is a positive reaction to Under Armour and the Rule Yourself campaign, specifically.

Under Armour's presence on Facebook seems to be an interactive one, though they could probably expand on that.
They seem very personable in their customer service responses:

They also have a very motivating presence. Just going through their social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) made me feel motivated to lace up the running shoes! And I really found fan comments and contributions to the conversation motivating. In my opinion, this shows they are hitting the right audience.

Despite the raise in talk around Under Armour on Social Media, the search interest of the brand actually seemed to decline after the campaign was initially announced. This Google Trends chart does show some potential for an increase in the future, though. 

After looking up Under Armour vs. Nike on IceRocket and Google Trends, my heart broke a little. Nike is in red in both graphs, Under Armour in blue. While the charts may be small and a little tough to read the words- you can tell at a glance that Nike surpasses Under Armour by a longshot. 

Don't feel too bad for UA, though! They've had a fairly steady increase in interest over the years which I'm sure will continue. 

I also am a firm believer that Under Armour is a very different brand than Nike. In my opinion, Nike tends to sell more "fashionable" items where UA has always seemed a more "athlete-style" brand. I've been wearing Under Armour clothing since I was on the 8th grade cross-country team and I never ever thought to purchase Nike running shoes or clothes to keep your warm during winter runs. I believe their Rule Yourself campaign portrays this well. 

Under Armour's $3 billion in annual global sales pales in comparison with Nike's $28 billion, but Under Armour is increasingly growing its share of the sector, recently overtaking Adidas to become the second-largest athletics brand in the US. -Business Insider

Conclusion

While there is no disputing that Under Armour has plenty of room to grow, I believe they are heading in the right track. They have mostly positive feedback and loyal customers. One retail item I believe they can improve on is their running (or any workout) shoes. It's hard to say what they can improve on within Social Media. The way they currently post and communicate seems to sit right with the appropriate audience. The Rule Yourself campaign certainly sends their message out while appealing to large audiences. I appreciate the way they post on Social Media, but they could possibly have a more personable presence (besides the customer service comments).

UA's loyal customers will always be the athletic person. No one is going out to buy Under Armour because it's "cute" and has fun patterns (coughNIKEcough). Perhaps UA's goal should be to stay UA and not lose itself by trying to appeal to everyone. 

Airlines and Social Media Customer Service

Airlines and social media have been a common topic. With airlines being such huge companies that thrive off of positive customer feedback- a social media presence is important. However, it's more common for customers to post negative comments rather than positive ones. As stated in an article on fortune.com: "The research, which analyzed Twitter posts over three months, finds negative sentiment towards the airlines is significantly higher than positive sentiment, at least on social media. Of the five domestic airlines studied by Crimson Hexagon, average negative sentiment is 47%, while positive sentiment averages just over 20%. And we can’t stop talking about airlines. The firm also found a 209% increase in brand mentions since 2012, confirming that more and more consumers are turning to social media to discuss airlines" 209%! Crazy! I've got to say though... whenever I've had a complaint about an airline- twitter is the first place I go. They respond much quicker through social media than they would any other way (in my experience, anyways). Just like most other companies - no one wants to be bashed publicly. They want to show everyone that they listen and take your concerns seriously. 

Here's a pretty cool story of an experience I had on the other side of things... I was at the JetBlue gate waiting for a flight from Boston to Los Angeles when I had a concern about my ticket and seat. I went up to the desk and ask the questions I needed to (I can't even remember the specific concern... is that proof that the good experience I'm about to tell you about replaced any negative thoughts, or what??), the JetBlue attendant was so friendly and so helpful. I went back to my seat and tweeted "Love flying @JetBlue our of @BostonLogan! Best airline ever!". Literally 5 minutes later, the attendant at the gate desk went on to the speaker and said "We want to thank Paige Turcotte for the positive words on Twitter! Please make your way to the desk at your convenience". I walked up to the desk and they gave me a free upgrade to an "even more legroom" seat! I was so surprised and happy! They definitely made a satisfied customer out of me.  I even tweeted again and said "Andy, who works at the @JetBlue gate at @BostonLogan needs a raise!" JetBlue tweeted me back saying they would let management know. I don't know what ended up happening with Andy, re: his raise, but I sure hope he got one! 

I also believe JetBlue is great at the way they interact with customers via social media. It almost feels like it's your friend responding. They don't worry about posting perfectly structured sentences or speaking the way they would in a courtroom. Here's some examples:

(little note about the one below - my flight has free wifi on it, but I thought that was because our Direct TV didn't work. Another note - I wasn't even mad about the TVs not working, I love JetBlue that much!)

I really appreciate how they seem like normal people and like they actually care about your concerns and have FUN with it. 

The power of social media once again proves itself. Actually, as I write this, I am on a JetBlue flight :) 

Do you have any great or not-so-great airline experiences? Did you use social media to voice those opinions and how did it work out for you?

I'll leave you with this little video poking fun at airline social media fails!

Groundswell supporting the groundswell!

My reading reflection this week will focus mainly on what was posted in Chapter 8 in Groundswell - "helping the groundswell support itself". This chapter stuck with me because I could completely relate. In Groundswell, Li and Bernoff talk about the way in which people use social forums to help each other. "People are far more willing to trust each other than a company" 

Customers helping each other and answering each other's questions actually benefits both the consumer and the company. The company saves a lot of money by this. Table 8-1 in Groundswell explains the economics of support forums. As you can see - it is highly valuable to have a community support forum around your company. 

An article on ScienceNordic.com titled "Customers and companies benefit from online support communities" also brings up how support forums increase customer loyalty. 

You see, people like helping others when they know what they are talking about. It makes them feel helpful and like some sort of expert. In Science Nordic's article they say "These are dedicated users, who are self-taught experts on products. Some of them are regulars who put in hours each week to guide customers on a product's technical features". These people tend to just love the products they use so much, that they enjoy helping others learn to love the same products. 

In my own personal experience, I type questions into Google almost daily. They range from insanely simple to more complex and detailed. Most of these searches land me on a Yahoo! answers forum. Actually almost all of them. And for some reason, I trust these anonymous strangers. I certainly trust them more than I would trust the company website. 

Li and Bernoff give great case studies regarding this topic in Chapter 8 including using Wikis, Dell's support forum, and Linksys - to name a few. One case study that I enjoyed was on CBS and, specifically, the show Jericho. Viewers loved commenting on the discussion boards on the website discussing the happenings and theories. This, as mentioned in Groundswell, energizes viewers. It makes their passion for the show even stronger. Once Jericho was cancelled, the groundswell used that passion to create such a force that CBS announced they ordered more episodes of the show. 

The video below pokes fun at Tech Support - which amusingly shows why it's more effective for consumers to use web-based support than a tech call center!

Groundswell takes down Shkreli!

In the past week or so media has been having a field day with Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. It all started when Shkreli decided to raise the price of Daraprim from $13 per pill to $750 per pill (that's 5,455%). Daraprim is a medication used for protozoal infections, commonly used for treatment and prevention of malaria and to treat HIV-positive individuals, as well as cancer sufferers. It has been an affordable drug on the market for 62 years. He claims they would use the profits to further research drugs that would perform "better" than Daraprim. However, HIV doctors state there is no need for a "better" drug...

As you can probably imagine (and most likely saw for yourself), this upset LOTS of people. The cost of pharmaceuticals in general is a topic that many are passionate about. This story is a perfect example of the power of the groundswell working in the most effective way. 

You see, Mr. Shkreli thought he could just hike up the price, sit back, and just enjoy his profits... because a hedge fund manager is usually strapped for cash right?

Oh Martin, Martin, Martin... welcome to the real world. 

Shkreli was quickly ripped to shreds by social media. Oh my gosh, did people love it. He became the "most hated man in America"... and this is where the humorous part comes in. 

Thanks to the genius of the internet and of internet hackers, every bit of Shkreli's embarrassing choices were made very public. This included his OKCupid profile, a reminder that he was sued for $65 million in 2014 for misusing company money, and that he tried to bribe his ex-girlfriend with $10,000 in exchange for sexual favors (you can read the NSFW details here). Heavy.com highlights some of these moments (and more!) in this article. 

Let's not forget to mention that his phone number and home address were released online! I can only imagine the calls he received! 

Shkreli's first reaction to all of this was to post Eminem lyrics to his Twitter page (which is now private) and to argue with people, call them names, and continuously defend himself. Maybe he should've taken this class, then he would know that's a big "no-no" for companies to do.

In an awesome turn of events, Shkreli later announced that he would lower the price of Daraprim, but that he would announce the new price in a few weeks (can't wait to hear that "compromise"...). As truthdig.com states, he confirmed that this decision was a result of the reaction to the price hike,  saying "there were mistakes made with respect to helping people understand why we took this action. I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people." 

In The Washington Post, reporter Caitlin Dewey reported on what the article headline called “The successful Internet shaming of ‘pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli.” She wrote that although online shaming is typically socially destructive, in this instance “the online mob did all the worst, most destructive things that we tell people to never do—and it worked, spectacularly, for the greater good.” 

What are your thoughts on Martin Shkreli? Did the groundswell help shape your opinion of him? Or perhaps you agree with him? I would love to hear other sides of this story!