4 Key Social Media for Niche Snowboards

Instagram

Normal day at the #office. Working on the new Designs for the upcoming winter season 2016/2017 ! Be prepared for some awsm prints @anna_van_pelt #snowboarding #nichesnowboards #findyourniche #ridetheseason #newcollection #winterboardsaremadeinsummer #can'twait #excitement #workworkwork

LinkedIn

Want to have the same view out of your office window and have a passion for preservering this beautiful planet? Yes? Apply for our new Job openings in our office in Austria. Link

Facebook

JOB OPENING! Still searching your #Niche in life? Start working for us and find it! We're currently hiring people for our branch in Austria, so check out our LinkedIn (Link at the end) for requirements and more info. Stay updated ! #nichesnowboards #findyourniche

Twitter

Getting started with designing the prints for next years winter collection 2016/2017. Thanks Steve for your inspiration ;)

 

Blogpost from the view of Niche Snowboards + Explanation

The theme I chose for the blogpost of my company Niche Snowboards is the adventure/lifestyle theme. I'm going to write this post to put the focus on a video that has been published 2012 and created by the company but only reached 4.800 views. My goal is going to be publishing but also branding, since the content of the video is strongly suggesting a certain image that the company wants to be associated with and can therefore be categorized as a tool for branding.

Life is better when you shred

Just like every other Start-Up, our beautiful sprout Niche Snowboards has experienced ups and downs in its first years of existence. Constantly we were working on improving our boards to give you the best, and only the best. The first steps in our babyshoes as a company were a little unsteady, we first had to learn to walk and attention, wordgame: find our niche, ha! This was a process throughout which we experienced a lot of support from befriended snowboarders and first customers that helped us spread the word of this new high quality and damn good looking boards. Although it just seems like yesterday when the idea of Niche was born in a small round with beers, good friends and a campfire, we have made quite some progress and therefore we would like to thank you. Thank you all for the support and for believing in our passion and the vision we're pursuing to eventually make this world a better place.
Now, I'm going to stop bothering you with my emotional ramblings and tell you what I really want to share with you today. To celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Niche Snowboards our boys Casey, Ryan and Todd and of course all other members of the Niche Snowboards family worked together to entertain you with some awesome moves, all brought together in our first video.
Check it out on our Vimeo account and enjoy some sweet images that will definitely wake your cravings to go shredding as soon as the first snowflake hits the ground !

https://vimeo.com/35070670

 

Announcements: 

 

Facebook:

Our blog is online again! Check out our latest blog post for an emotional shout-out to you guys and enjoy a little extra candy at the end that will make you crave some of that sweet powder immediately. 

Instagram: 

Super stoked to announce the release of our first Video @Casey @Ryan @Todd 

Check it out under https://vimeo.com/35070670

#nichesnowboards #findyourniche #nichefamily #lifeisbetterwhenyoushred #snowboarding 

Like I already explained above, I chose the theme adventure/lifestyle and put the focus on a video that has been published 2012. The goal was to publish but also contribute to the brand image (branding). 

Techniques? 

I really liked creating the post for the company because I can relate to their core values and lifestlye on a personal level which makes it easier to connect with their target audience I think. Moreover, I like writing in the name of them because it's somehow easier to express yourself if you're speaking on behalf of a company that has a clear formulated strategy you can follow.

Instagram-Post with Influencer

Influencers

Nowadays almost every company works together with influencers. For the people who don't know that an influencer is, it is a person that gets the products of the company to post something about it on their social media accounts where they usually have a lot of followers. The main aim here is to increase exposure of the product to the target audience and, of course since the companies are convinced their products are good, they hope to get positive reviews on the products. For Niche Snowboards I found two influencers, of course there are more, yet, I think that those two are really important when it comes to their Instagram-presence which is clearly in line with the lifestyle that Niche Snowboards wants to convey.

The first influencer is a guy named Johnny and his Instagram nickname is @winterislove which already speaks for itself. There are several videos and pictures of him in the account of Niche Snowboards whereas he almost always uses the Hashtag #nichesnowboards and also sometimes links them in his pictures.

Another influencer I found is a young man called Dustin Alves (@dalife32) who is introduced by Niche Snowboards as their new brand ambassador. When you scroll through his pictures you mainly see content relating to snowboarding or skating and also some injuries he had because of doing that sport.

 

Instagram-Post with Influencer 

nichesnowboards Our boy Dustin @dalife32 shreddin' with the Knew. The only way is up.
#nichesnowboards #findyourniche #snowboarding #getout #getbusylivin

Interactive Facebook-Post of the Company

Tag a friend who took a nose dive like that before.
#mondayblues #givemeaboard #i'maboarder #findyourniche

What drives Niche Snowboards ?

Our passion

The passion that drives Niche Snowboards is clearly conveyed and explained on their webpage. Nevertheless I'm going to sum up for you what the main forces behind this movement are.

The core passion that keeps coming back is the strong focus on environmental-friendly boards in combination with sustainability, which did not exist in that way in the market. This is the reason why they started producing their own boards. They want to provide the global snowboard-community with an alternative to normal boards without loosing the quality or design you have when buying a normal board.
The passion for making the world a better place through reusing, recycling and most and foremost through rethinking our behaviour on earth is also represented in the choice of materials they use for their boards. They're not only reusing plastic for example that comes from old flip flops, but also process innovative materials in their boards such as Basalt fiber instead of fiberglass.
Another way how this passion is conveyed is through the way the designs are brought on the boards. The designs are all held in natural colours (green, brown, white, etc.) and are digitally printed on the boards. With this system they use up to 90% less solvents and also give their boards its unique matte finish.

Themes

 

 

When looking through their social media pages and how the company presents itself, there are several themes that can be drawn out of that.

1. Sustainability
2. Environmental-friendliness
3. Design
4. Quality
5. Adventure/Lifestyle
6. Innovation 

 1. Sustainability

 

Like already mentioned above, sustainability is the most striking recurring theme that you can find when you look through their website and the reason why they even started with manufacturing their boards. Through the natural design and the focus on the recycled materials they use, this theme gets the biggest one around the company. 

2. Environmental-friendliness

The second theme that is closely linked to the aspect of sustainability is the focus on an environmental-friendly way of producing all products Niche Snowboards offers. This can be seen as mentioned above on their website where they state that all materials they use for example old flip-flops or recycled materials to reduce waste. 

3. Design

 

The unique design of the snowboards is another thing that has to be mentioned here as a theme. The different patterns that are printed on the boards also refer back to the first two themes by using natural colours and natural forms in the print. Moreover, the design of the shape of the boards is altered to make them lighter, more snappy and more durable than traditionally constructed boards. 

4. Quality 

Like mentioned in the point before, the shape of the boards is altered in a way that makes them lighter, more snappy and more durable than traditionallly produced boards. The company sets high standards to itself and has already won several awards for their boards. Their goal here is to provide the snowboard-community around the globe with high-quality products that can compete against big names like Burton or Salomon and that simultaneously offers products that are good for the environment. 

5. Adventure/Lifestyle

When scrolling through the social media platforms of the company and the brand ambassadors they have it clearly shows that this company does not only sell a product but a whole lifestyle that comes with it. It encourages you to make the best of yourself, to push your limit over and over again until you reach your ultimate limit. The company wants to give their customers the opportunity to live this adventure and wants to support it by providing a high-quality constructed board that makes all this possible in the first place. Moreover, the themes around environmental-friendliness and sustainability go hand in hand with this, as those topics also have become more of a lifestyle than an attitude. 

6. Innovation

 

The last theme the company is built upon is innovation. The whole concept of building only truly environmental-friendly products is unique in this branche. Also, using basalt fiber and hemp stringers for their boards to make them lighter, more flexible and more durable than other boards is new to this industry and therefore an innovative way of manufacturing snowboards. 


 

Paid, Owned, Earned

Paid

Here you can see an example of paid marketing, it is an event where people can come and try out the boards to see if they like them. Since the boards are quite expensive it is a really good idea to make those real-life events to give the consumer the chance to try the product. This is especially important since the availability of the product is quite limited to a few stores throughout the US and Canada and two stores in Europe. One thing you could improve here would be the promotion of the event with reminders and big banners on the webpage and throughout the social media platforms.

Owned

This Instagram-Post is an example of owned marketing. It is a shot taken in Japan of a befriended snowboarder doing a trick in a winter landscape. I think the picture is really great, so do the followers, yet, I think that the text is way too much. While scrolling through the Instagram account of the company I realized that they always use a lot of text when posting pictures. I think by using less words and simply letting the pictures speak for themselves they would appear way stronger. 

I also really like the #findyourniche and I think it would be good if they could incorporate that throughout all their social media channels as their slogan since they don't have one yet. 

Earned

This picture is an example of earned marketing. It's a snowboarder named Dustin Alvey that uses the hashtag #nichesnowboards. You can see when you check his Instagram account that he recevied his board by Niche Snowboards and functions as a brand ambassador for the company. One thing you could improve here is sponsoring more key personas that are within the target audience to spread the knowledge of the brand. Furthermore, Dustin's reach is not that high with 648 followers so when giving away boards I would rather choose someone with a bigger audience. However, if you look at the company's size and their own followers it relativates itself.

Situation Analysis Niche Snowboards

Niche Snowboards is a company founded in 2009 with a focus on manufacturing high quality snowboards that are not only striking with their alternative and natural design but are produced in a environmental-friendly and sustainable manner.

Although their sustainable concept is well presented on their website Niche Snowboards are not that known throughout their target audience, which is young active people aged 18-30 who are interested in snowboarding as well as in a sustainable lifestyle.

The goal of the new online activity should be to use all available social media platforms to increase the knowledge of the brand in order to increase sales. Another part to focus on should be branding and especially with the sustainable concept there is the oportunity to approach it as a combination with lead the generation.

The activity on social media platforms differs strongly from the medium that is being used. The last post on Twitter was November 2014, on LinkedIn the last activity was six months ago and on Pinterest they only have 399 followers although their Facebook page has over five thousand. However on Facebook and Instagram the company presents itself in an almost daily frequency with mostly pictures and videos.

The competition for Niche Snowboards is the biggest snowboard manufacturer Burton as well as Arbor Snowboards who are also putting a strong focus on a sustainable and responsible production. Both post with a almost daily frequency, not only videos and pictures but also relevant articles about snowboarding and the lifestyle it brings.

You can find Niche Snowboards mentioned in several reviews from snowboarders who share their opinion on their blogs. Moreover, there are several snowboard magazines that introduce the company and its concept on their webpages. Niche Snowboards also won several awards such as the ISPO Award in eco responsibility and it was ranked under the Top 10 Snowboard Graphics of 2014.

I think a trend that is already influencing online relations is the trend to sponsor Instagram-Stars or Bloggers as brand ambassadors which is already a strategy Niche Snowboards employs. Here the company needs to be careful with who it chooses to represent the company and that it is in line with their vision and image in order to be authentic.

There is very little direct reaction of the costumers in form of comments, shares or likes when it comes to the content the company publishes. Furthermore there is no significant picture or post that has been retweeted or shared a lot. The likes on Facebook are mostly between 5-31, the pictures on Instagram have a higher peak at around 150 likes per picture.

Things that the company has to improve is a better interaction with their audience because although their Facebook page has the most follower as a company, the response to the content there is the smallest. Furthermore, they should start using all media channels available to convey their messages. One thing that is good is that they use different images in the different channels which makes it more interesting to follow.

Follower according to channel

Facebook: 5894
Twitter: 1120
LinkedIn: 365
Instagram: 3454
Pinterest: 399