Netflix: Making SMART Decisions About Their Social Media Strategy
What is Netflix without its social media presence? The company itself is built on the idea of content dissemination, and now on the quality of the originals it delivers to its customers. Without its social media presence, Netflix wouldn’t be able to connect with loyal viewers, catch them up on the latest content, and they wouldn’t be able to offer the most exclusive behind-the-scenes extras. Boasting much of their content to be the most streamed in 2020, as this Nielsen article reports, this monthly subscription-based streaming platform has to keep its number one spot to fulfill and exceed its high set expectations.
The company’s objectives align themselves with its mission to create and provide the stories that people want to feel are made for them. In this emotional company video, first seen on the about page of the company, Netflix strives to make high-quality content that is diverse, inclusive, and impactful. But what we really want to look at is the type of objectives that’ll lead them to the end goal achieved through social media.
Let's be SMART
By setting SMART goals through social media, the platform will be perceived as the most reliable, content-driven, high-quality media hub for viewers to subscribe to. Here is a rundown of the goals Netflix should focus on to garner more subscribers.
The ultimate goal through social media, Netflix will strive to increase virality rate, brand awareness, and customer loyalty by:
· Driving up the TikTok virality rate 10% by generating more content using up-to-date Netflix original scene clips and consenting to user-generated content to promote relevancy of new content.
· Increasing brand awareness by tracking shares and retweets through Facebook and Twitter by posting the most relevant clips and scene stills of the most recent content from ‘Popular on Netflix,’ ‘Trending Now,’ and ‘Netflix Original’ categories.
· Resolving app issues through the Twitter @NetflixCS account within the hour to retain loyalty and customer satisfaction.
Virality
For this goal, we want to direct our attention to the Netflix TikTok account. The official account posts content from their most recent original shows and movies for promotion. In this example, the account uses this powerful clip from the Netflix Original Moxie, a High School coming-of-age film about female empowerment. This was set at a perfect time, as it falls in line with March Women’s History Month, the account is able to post scenes from this clip so as to keep the awareness of the month on-going.
This isn’t the only example, as the account has many TikTok videos they generate that gain a high amount of likes, shares, and comments.
Brand Awareness
According to SproutSocial:
“Shares are a sign that your customers are willing to recommend your brand to their friends. And in this age of social proof, that’s a pretty big deal (Carter 2018).”
Tracking KPIs through shares and retweets on Facebook and Twitter will keep the relevancy of the company alive. When users retweet or share, they are letting the company know that they like the content enough to recommend it to their followers. It gives users a sense of commonality when they share information; they want others they know they are into at-the-moment. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways of knowing instantly, what’s working and what isn’t.
Customer Loyalty
Another useful from SproutSocial statistic shows that:
“78% of people who complain to a brand through Twitter expect a response within one hour. If you can show your customers that you respect them by resolving their issues quickly and effectively, then you could differentiate your brand as one that knows the value of great customer service (Carter 2018).”
The Twitter @NetflixCS account already does a great job of reaching out to their customers when issues arise and responding to them in a timely manner. The account even adds an initial at the end of their posts as a personal touch, giving it a sense of human interaction.
By setting the goal to keep the response time within one hour, Netflix is extending high-quality service from content to customer satisfaction. Something people like about companies is when they feel that they care enough to attend to their needs. This will ultimately help retain that loyalty.
Ultimately…
Netflix needs to keep the objectives and reach for these goals to create a much larger impact than they already have. With this being a well-established company, the accounts already have the clout to reach out to so many through social media. But the competition is growing within the streaming world; they may be a household name but, companies like Hulu, Disney+, and, just recently, Paramount+ are garnering the attention and the subscribers that Netflix once had domination of. Keeping track through every single tweet, like, share and mention are just as important as ever.
