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
I really like this post. I think that the post is clearly structured, really easy to follow and after reading it I perfectly got to know what the company is about. I really like the part of "followers according to channel" where you can compare the popularity across various channels. However, I am missing the part of earned, owned and paid categories and examples of them :) But overall it's really good!
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteI made a seperate Post for those examples, I just uploaded it :)
I think that this was interesting as you gave some background information into the company!
ReplyDelete