Social Listening

 

I chose to write about Nike because as I was watching the start to the NBA playoffs I couldn't help but notice how many shoes worn by players were Nikes, as well as the iconic swoosh on the jersey of every team. When I scroll through twitter or “x”, I still don’t know anyone who calls it x, I see a lot of people posting about Nike shoes. Whether it’s about Nike shoes they already own, shoes they want to get, or Nikes they’ve seen somewhere on tv and want to know what the name of the shoes are.

@8flavs tweeted “ Thoughts on Kyrie being left off the Olympics team, and also the politics of Nike and Team USA  basketball selections which is something Gilbert Arenas alluded to why Trae Young doesn’t get called up.

8/12 man selected are Nike/Jordan Brand athletes.”

He is one of many people recently on twitter implying that nike has somehow corrupted the US mens basketball roster committee and made it so Kyrie Irving didn’t make the roster. In this case Nike didn’t respond and I agree with this decision because there’s no actual evidence they had any say in the mens US national team roster and to even respond would just be giving value to an otherwise valueless comment attempting to slander the Nike brand.

@nikefreak23 tweeted at Nike “@nikestore when are the Force Zoom Trout Turf 9's releasing?” to which nike responded “ Hey Micah, no news to share on a release of a turf version at this time. Keep it locked to http://Nike.com for the latest. If it's of interest, meet us in DM with your size and location, and we'd be happy to recommend available cleats! ”

This was a great job of responding by Nike because while it may not have been the answer  that @nikefreak23 was looking for it was a clear answer that showed Nike was listening and that they’d be willing to further help him find cleats that would work for him.

@BoseApruva tweeted “Something I really enjoy about being a dad and husband is wearing matching shoes! “. Nike replied to this post with “Style is hereditary”.

 

I liked this reply because it was a humorous response and also showed engagement with everyday customers not just their professional athletes.

Nike's value proposition is Just Do It. More than one specific product, Nike is promoting their brand on social medias. They promote greatness and being the brand that provides the attire for greatness. Nike definitely uses lots of storytelling throughout their social media. One recent example was their Instagram post unveiling the new signature shoe for Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. It was a very cinematic video telling the story of Booker's life from a kid to now NBA stardom. Another video posted on their instagram page starts with an announcer listing every achievement Caitlin Clark has earned while calling her name as a starter, the video is captioned “ it takes a once-in-a-generation player to break a record that stood for generations.   Congratulations to @caitlinclark22 - the new owner of the all-time NCAA scoring record”. This goes along with their storytelling as they want to make you feel like you’re living in a time when history is being made.. When any Nike athlete achieves a feat in their sport Nike has a clever post usually containing a photo of the athlete with a quote followed by a swoosh on top. To me these are very smart because many times I see friends repost these photos to show what the athletes they’re fans of have accomplished and this is giving nike earned media.

If I were the brand manager for Nike I would try to engage more with social media users, not just only responding to  people when they reach out. I would try to create some sort of social media challenge or trend where people can and want to get involved, almost like the ALS ice bucket challenge. I’m not sure what I would name it but I would try to start a challenge or trend where people post their favorite Nike shoes and tag Nike, or post somewhere they’ve run while in their Nike running shoes. I would try to get people more involved by making posts and being a part the trend to create a sense of community for their customers while also getting free earned media. Overall from this assignment I learned how important storytelling is to Nike in its marketing on social media and that Nike is pretty dang good at social listening and responding to its customer base and people who ask questions on social media.