@nike: How Nike uses Instagram to Empower its Customers

Theres no question: Nike is one of, if not the most successful apparel brand in the world.

With annual revenues of over 34 billion dollars, it is safe to say that the brand is in high-demand. Here's the big question: how has Nike become so successful worldwide?

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The answer is complicated, but a large part of their success can be attributed to their marketing. In particular, technology has allowed the company to expand greatly on a global scale. A particular technology that has helped them tremendously has been their social media presence.

This article will inspect Nike’s Instagram page, @nike, and how it helps customers relate to their brand by accomplish the four E’s: excitement, education, experience, and engagement.

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The first E, excitement, is an important one, as it is a large component of the consumer buying process. Without excitement, customers would not want to purchase products from Nike. In order to influence/convince customers to get excited about their product, Nike posts videos and photos to their Instagram which tease new, upcoming products that have not yet been released. This creates anticipation for their products, which in turn builds excitement for upcoming releases. Moreover, customers get excited for products when they are also being used by/endorsed by big time athletes. Nike creates videos of athletes competing in their products to create an excitement for ‘lay people’ to wear/work out in the same gear as those athletes they look up to.

The second E, education, is also important, as consumers want to know exactly what their products are and how they will benefit from purchasing them. Through their Instagram page, Nike uses unique images and video campaigns to show viewers what they feel they will gain from purchasing their product. Whether it be emphasizing a specific feature of a product, such as the light-weight feature of a style of their shoes, or a perceived moral/social benefit, such as Nike’s desire to create equality, education on Nike’s brand image and product offerings are displayed through their Instagram page.

The third E, experience, helps customers relate to the brand/products on a personal level. Nike helps customers experience their brand on a personal level by having many different ads/campaigns featuring people of various status/race/age, etc. This helps people to identify with one of many of the people featured in Nike’s ads and helps them to better visualize themselves using Nike’s products.

The fourth and final E, engagement, is huge, as it helps customers feel as though the company wants the customers to have a voice. Through social media, Nike creates customer engagement by featuring videos/images that in essence have nothing to do with their product, but rather with social issues. An example of this is Nike’s “Equality” campaign. This campaign allows ambassadors to use their slogan “Until We All Win” and “Equality” in their posts. Moreover, Nike has an “Equality” clothing line, where consumers can purchase clothing with these slogans on them, so that they too can be a part of the movement.

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All in all, Nike does a great job of using their Instagram to promote their brand and attract customers.

Above all, Nike’s social media presence influences customers to see their brand as one that cares. This is why I, along with billions of others, are proud to purchase from them.

Just Do It, Nike.

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sources:

@nike • Instagram photos and videos. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://www.instagram.com/nike/?hl=en

NIKE, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2017 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2018, from https://news.nike.com/news/nike-inc-reports-fiscal-2017-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-results

Promote Equality Through Sport Where You Live. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2018, from http://equality.nike.com/#manifesto