In a blog post for class the prompt was “Analyze brands successfully using Facebook and Instagram to meet business objectives. Choose one brand on FB and another on IG.” In this post I chose both Disney and Adidas, two massive companies who use social media quite well. However, this post must have stuck with me as I was using my own social media and realized a significantly smaller brand that I believe is using social media in a successful way.
Meet Dollar Shave Club: “Dollar Shave Club is an American company based in Venice, California, that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products for home delivery” (Wikipedia). Dollar Shave Club uses both Instagram and Facebook strategically and has caught my attention with many of their posts. Initially, Dollar Shave Club had a hilarious video go viral which set them on a path for success since its launch. They capitalized on the fact that 92% of mobile users share videos, and “enjoyment of video advertising increases purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%” (QuickSprout). Since the launch of this video, Dollar Shave Club has grown to over 3.2 million subscribers, and achieved a “$1 billion all-cash acquisition by Unilever” (Sukhraj, R.). DSC knows their market and provides their subscribes with quality razors and other products, with unique packaging and a welcoming community all while being flexible with various subscription options. I can go on forever about the high value and low price of Dollar Shave Club, however, this post is not to speak on how great of a value DSC can provide to its customers, it is to show how well they are using their social channels.
When DSC members share a post of their monthly box on Instagram or Facebook the brand selects some of those posts to share, and comment on, while also giving that member a free t-shirt. This encourages consumers to constantly post about the brand, increasing awareness and promoting customer loyalty. Additionally, this brand greatly benefits from word-of-mouth, calculating that 50,000 people per month refer a friend to the club.
“If you can put your advertising budget into building unique [brand] experiences, through your products, your events, your retail space,” Johnny Cupcakes explained, “people will do the advertising for you” (Sukhraj, R.).
Dollar Shave Club knows exactly what content to share to their channels to engage with their audience. They are great at storytelling, which engages social media users, they heavily utilize videos, they know their target audience very well, and remain focused on their value proposition. Lastly, much of their content is based on being funny, something that is relatable, lighthearted, but gets their message across.
DSC strategic use of social media is something brands should play close attention to, because they are absolutely nailing it. In fact, after writing this post I am considering subscribing to their monthly box!
References:
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_Shave_Club
-https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/how-dollar-shave-club-grew-from-just-a-viral-video-to-a-615m-valuation-brand
-https://www.quicksprout.com/content-marketing-tricks-that-helped-dollar-shave-club-go-viral/
-https://socialblade.com/youtube/user/dollarshaveclub/monthly
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI&t=1s
-https://www.facebook.com/DollarShaveClub/
The blades keep falling off handle when im shaving. I’ve cut myself at times, can u do something?