Case Studies: Red Bull

The Red Bull social media program is among the most impressive in the world, and it has been responsible for much of the brand’s success both on and offline.

While there is much about the Red Bull social media program that can be dissected and observed, it makes sense to start with the most prominent network in their social media arsenal: Facebook.

39 million fans is nothing short of amazing. And while ‘Like’ counts may not mean much, the fact of the matter is that Red Bull has created a brand that resonates far beyond the ‘Gives You Wings’ persona it created at the beginning. Sports, physical triumph and even record-breaking feats are now associated, almost by instinct, with the brand, and much of that is to the credit of their Facebook presence.

There are few key components of the Red Bull Facebook strategy that marketers can learn from. While Red Bull might be a large, worldwide brand, these are lessons that can be applied to both the largest and smallest companies on Facebook.

Let Your Persona Do the Selling

Have a look at the Red Bull Facebook page and try to find a promotional post. In fact, you would even be hard-pressed to find a post that featured so much as a logo.

The persona created by the Red Bull social media team is one that associates greatness with the brand. Red Bull has found its voice and tone and the social network, and has run with it to become one of the most entertaining accounts out there.

Though they are not bombarding their fans with constant content, each piece maintains the brand’s Facebook personality traits and is treated fantastically well by their extremely loyal Facebook fan-base.

Create Clear Distinctions

Red Bull has become famous for some of their viral content. More than one record was broken when Felix Baumgartner jumped from the Stratos and back to Earth. The YouTube record for live-stream viewers was also shattered.

While the Red Bull Facebook page featured content from the jump, it was not the primary source for fans. Red Bull created a standalone page for this endeavour, and it garnered over 850K fans. The only focus of this campaign (page) was the event and all the circumstances that surrounded it.

In this way, fans could find all of the information they could ever want in one central place, and wouldn’t have to hope and rely on Red Bull to post content to their main Facebook fan page when something new popped up.

This is a tactic that should be applied whenever a brand develops a new campaign. Whether it is something as small as an event page on your Facebook brand page, or a whole new page for your major event, something branded and separate from your primary social channels should be created.

Engage!

Look through the posts on the Red Bull Facebook page. The brand engages with their fans virtually every time it is appropriate.

Conversations and engagement are the driving forces behind successful social media strategies, and Red Bull has proven that. By engaging in conversations, it keeps not only the fans engaged, but extended networks can see and even participate as well.

There is a lot marketers can learn from the Red Bull social media strategy; these are just a few takeaways from the Red Bull Facebook program.

Which one of these tips do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!