Even though the brand spent more than usual on advertising this quarter, its results were still better than expected.
Nike has reported that even though it spent more on advertising such as social media marketing as the FIFA World Cup got underway, it still managed to achieve results that were stronger than expected for its fiscal fourth quarter.
The company has stated that strong social media played an important role in this success.
The brand explained that the gains that it experienced were the result of a number of different efforts, which include strong social media marketing campaigns, new products, and a digital advertising strategy that was well received, including the “Risk Everything” campaign. As a result of this, the company not only saw its revenues rise, but they increased notably higher than they had anticipated.
This helps to illustrate the strength of a well implemented social media marketing campaign.
It reported that its revenues rose by 11 percent to reach $7.4 billion. The Nike brand product sales increased by 13 percent to break the $7 billion mark. Its Converse revenues also rose by 15 percent, to reach $410 million. The brand also pointed out that these revenue increases were experienced in every one of its regions and in its key categories, as well as in their children’s, men’s and women’s businesses. Their profits rose by 5 percent, to hit $698 million.
According to the president and CEO of Nike, Mark Parker, “An ongoing two-way dialogue with consumers is a critical element of our digital ecosystem.” He also went on to explain that this type of interactive experience offers the brand considerable innovation driving insights that boost the connection between the consumer and the company’s brands. Social media and mobile marketing also offer a platform over which consumers can interact with each other, not just the brands, themselves.
Parker added that “Through our social media platforms, we leverage the power and passion of sport to deepen our relationship with our consumers.”
As companies and brands continue to discover the ways in which they can properly implement social media marketing campaigns, it is clear that this type of success story will become increasingly common.
A recent survey has shown that less than half of marketers know how to handle unwanted attention.
According to the results of recent research conducted by eMarketer, over 88 percent of all businesses are using social media marketing as of this year, and yet the majority of them are still struggling to be able to properly use this channel and measure their campaign successes.
Moreover, almost half of those marketers don’t know how to handle negative posts.
According to Social Media Marketing University (SMMU) a training firm for the use of this channel, one in four marketers do not have a plan for handling negative posts against them, but they are trying to develop one. Nearly that many, again, have absolutely no plan for dealing with negative social media attention and have no intention of trying to create one.
That said, despite the lack of negative social media marketing plan, the majority will still respond.
SMMU’s stats showed that even though more than half of marketers don’t have a set strategy for dealing with negative posts in an effective way, the majority will respond to it. Moreover, many will create their response within an hour of the appearance of the negative post, in the first place. Another 52 percent said that they will respond within the first twenty four hours following the negative posting. Only five of all of the respondents to the survey said that they either hardly ever, or never, respond to negative attention over social media.
Among the respondents, Walmart was one that had previously taken a rather passive strategy when t comes to what its critics are posting over Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and so on. That said, it has since changed its tune. In the past, it simply used these channels as a fast, easy, and affordable way to help to create a push for its messages. However, this direction changed considerably last year as it began to provide rapid responses to negative posts, with a special effort to keep up positive posting and by providing information to correct misunderstandings.
This is a common evolution in social media marketing strategies as companies slowly begin to understand the way in which they can not only share their news but also interact and engage with consumers.
