Social Success Stories - Amazon Web Services

Social Success Stories 

Marketing Lessons from Industry Leaders 

JULY 2012 

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Introduction 

Best Social Engagement in Retail 

Leading Retail Facebook Brand: Converse 

Leading Retail Twitter Brand: Whole Foods 

Key Takeaways/Best Practices for Retail 

Best Social Engagement in Sports 

Leading Sports Facebook Brand: NBA 

Leading Sports Twitter Brand: ESPN 

Key Takeaways/Best Practices for Sports 

Best Social Engagement in Services 

Leading Services Facebook Brand: Farmers 

Leading Services Twitter Brand: American Express 

Key Takeaways/Best Practices for Services 

Conclusion 

Additional Resources 

About Awareness Inc. 23 

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INTRODUCTION 

When it comes to social marketing, some brands seem to have an innate knack for doing it right. 

Don’t be fooled; this success did not happen overnight. As the social landscape evolves, the best 

brands dedicate time and resources to their social presence. And we know there’s always something 

to learn from the best. 

To help you optimize your social experience, Awareness Inc. analyzed the top social brands in retail, 

services and sports to identify and share their best-in-class strategies for success. We reviewed 

their social presence and analyzed the content strategies used by social marketing leaders such as 

Converse, Whole Foods, NBA, ESPN, Farmers Insurance, and American Express, on the two most 

popular social networks, Facebook and Twitter. We left no strategy unturned – and we share the 

answers to the following questions: What do these successful brands post? How often? What kind of 

imagery supports their brand? What content makes their audience tune in and take action? 

Based on this analysis, we have distilled our findings into actionable best practices that every brand 

and marketer can follow to improve their company’s social efforts. After reading this paper, marketers 

will be equipped with a new arsenal of best practices to help them achieve and sustain meaningful 

relationships with their audience. 

BACKGROUND 

To crack the code to the leading brands’ social media success, Awareness consulted the rankings 

of the most popular brands on The Fan Page List, dubbed as the social media directory of official 

accounts of your favorite brands, celebrities, movies, TV shows and sports teams. We focused on 

three industry sectors - retail, services and sports - and reviewed the top ten brands in each of those 

categories on Facebook and Twitter, using the size of their fan base as a starting point. We then dove 

into some of top leaders’ engagement metrics and strategies. For the retail sector we focused on 

Converse and Whole Foods, for sports – NBA and ESPN, and for services – Farmers Insurance and 

American Express. 

When analyzing the engagement for each of the leaders in our three categories, we used two types of 

metrics: 

Facebook Engagement Ratio: 

This is a point in time metric, as the number of people talking about a brand frequently fluctuates. 

Twitter Engagement Ratio: 

# of people talking about a brand 

Total # fans of that brand 

Total # of Tweets 

Total # followers of that brand 

Our analysis for each industry sector starts with a top 10 chart of the most popular brands, with their 

total number of fans at the time of this report’s publication, and their engagement ratio for Facebook 

and Twitter. We then dig deeper into the marketing practices of specific market leaders by category to 

showcase how they use their social profiles, what content they post, and how well they integrate their 

social and digital presences. 

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Converse 

Victoria’s Secret 

Walmart 

Zara 

Target 

Burberry 

Levi’s 

H&M 

Lacoste 

Nike 

Best Social Engagement in Retail 

In this section, we examine the top 10 retail brands on Facebook and 

Twitter. The Facebook leaders in this category are Converse, the brand 

with the most Facebook followers in our set, and our choice for a deep 

engagement dive, followed by Victoria’s Secret, Walmart, Zara, Target, 

Burberry, Levi’s, H&M, Lacoste and Nike. The retail leaders on Twitter 

are Whole Foods, the brand with the most Twitter followers and our 

choice for a deep engagement dive, followed by Zappos, Etsy, Toms 

Shoes, Cake Wrecks, H&M, Burberry, Victoria’s Secret, Marc Jacobs and 

Forever 21. 

How do the winners achieve success? The best performing retail brands carefully balance 

promotional posts with more neutral content – whether that is video, pictures or contests. Successful 

brands also look for opportunities to include their communities – by showcasing user photos, running 

polls, and having fill-in-the-blank style submissions. 

Top Ten Retail Brands on Facebook and Twitter 

Brand Fans Fans 

Talking 

About 

Brand 

30,996,009 

18,741,656 

16,431,023 

13,562,553 

13,392,590 

12,914,216 

12,215,819 

11,208,321 

9,781,674 

9,322,892 

257,582 

178,777 

480,031 

110,092 

316,798 

60,220 

120,599 

109,820 

70,237 

93,563 

Engagement 

Ratio 

0.83% 

0.95% 

2.92% 

0.81% 

2.36% 

0.47% 

0.99% 

0.98% 

0.72% 

1.00% 

Brand Followers Total 

Posts 

Whole Foods 

Zappos 

Etsy 

Toms Shoes 

Cake Wrecks 

H&M 

Burberry 

Victoria’s Secret 

Marc Jacobs 

Forever 21 

Source: Data from The Fan Page List, as of June 19th, 2012. 

4 

2,675,347 

2,390,382 

1,640,477 

1,622,849 

1,233,044 

1,217,143 

1,040,725 

883,532 

638,632 

570,792 

32,838 

2,272 

15,868 

233,021 

4,577 

4,897 

1,980 

3,185 

8,878 

5,827 

Followers 

Per Post 

81.47 

1052.10 

103.38 

6.96 

269.40 

248.54 

525.61 

277.40 

71.93 

97.96

PROFILE ELEMENTS 

CONTENT 



Leading Retail Facebook Brand: Converse 

Profile/Cover Photo 

Converse uses their 

signature shoe as their 

profile picture. It stands 

out against a vibrant cover 

image showcasing artistic 

photos of Converse shoes 

in action. Page visitors 

can quickly determine 

Converse’s brand 

personality: fun, classic 

and well-loved. 

Converse is known as ‘the Biggest Little Sneaker Brand’ on 

Facebook. Despite not being the biggest shoe brand, they dominate 

the sneaker category. How do they do it? Glad you asked… 

Tabs: With the introduction of timeline, brands may now only show four tabs directly on their home 

page. For all others, visitors must click on a drop-down menu. Converse shows Photos, Likes, 

Events, and Videos on their homepage. Their extended tabs include a live video stream, Notes, and a 

Beirut Block Party. Converse’s Block Party hooks fans up with music downloads. 

Frequency: Post one to three times per day. 

Top Sites: Promoted Converse.com, YouTube, Promotional 

Partners when running co-branded campaigns. 

Social Content Approach Converse uses content wisely, with a 

special focus on photography. Converse has over 50 photo albums. 

They have an iconic and easily recognizable product. They use photos 

to showcase new and old styles, special collections, and to share 

sneak peeks of upcoming product lines. 

For example, this photo of the Converse Americana Collection has 

over 11,230 ‘Likes’ and comments. 

Sharing the brand’s history also increases fan engagement. A photo 

posted of the 1934 Chuck Taylor All Star generated over 35,000 

interactions. 

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Leading Retail Facebook Brand: Converse (cont.) 

Music is a natural complement to Converse. Converse has a lengthy history with independent 

musical artists. In fact, Converse opened a music studio in New York, which offers free studio time 

to musicians. So it’s no surprise then that they frequently offer exclusive downloads of songs, having 

previously supported bands like the Gorillaz and Beirut. 

Contes:ts: Converse uses contests to keep levels of fan engagement high. One campaign, “Show 

Me Yours: All Natural” generated over 20,000 social interactions with fans. Converse regularly posts 

short challenges, encouraging fans to snap and send a shot of their shoes. Converse has featured 

“Show Me Yours: Blue” in support of World Autism Day, “Show Me Yours in Your Neighborhood” and 

“Show Me Yours: Dirty”. Converse then posts the best user-submitted photos in an album. 

Webs:ite Integration While 

there is limited promotion of 

social channels on the Converse 

website, they do embed sharing 

on each individual product 

page. Converse connects with 

Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, 

Blogspot and Tumblr. 

How Social Leads: to Revenue Converse represents more than a product, rather a 

lifestyle, which includes supporting musical artists and activities such as skateboarding and creative 

design. Converse shoes and apparel are portraying themselves as the unofficial uniform of this 

lifestyle. 

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CONTENT 



Leading Retail Twitter Brand: Whole Foods 

Followers: 2,675,216 

Following 558,636 

– consisting of fans of 

Whole Foods, chefs, and 

likeminded companies. 

Background The Whole 

Food’s background is a 

soothing solid green, with a 

bit of information to help a 

user find their local Whole 

Foods store on Twitter. 

Whole Foods is known for being an early trailblazer on social media. 

Their goal is to interact with their customers on their customers’ turf. 

Frequency: Whole Foods posts between 10-20 original tweets per day, not including customer 

replies. 

Ratio of Pos:ts: to Replies: Whole Foods is incredibly active in conversations with fans and store 

visitors. For example, they frequently respond to customers who share their lunch orders. The daily 

ratio of replies to posts is roughly 50:15. 

Frequently: dis:cus:s:ed topics: include 

• Recipes. Whole Foods posts recipes and cooking ideas on their website and blog. 

• Current events. Whole Foods shares special events and informs their users when various 

organizations are being recognized (i.e. 3rd Annual Hemp History Week). 

Contes:ts: Whole Foods occasionally offers 

contests, like $250 gift certificates for the 

best berry recipe or a $50 gift card randomly 

awarded for a retweet. 

Dis:cus:s:ions: Whole Foods frequently 

comments on the purchases of Whole Foods 

visitors. Whole Foods always takes a friendly 

and helpful approach, creating genuine 

engagement with their users. 

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Leading Retail Twitter Brand: Whole Foods (cont.) 

Cus:tomer s:ervice Whole Foods practices excellent customer service on Twitter, always 

interacting with their customers – fixing compliants, chatting about food and just generally acting as a 

friend. 

Frequently: us:ed has:htags: Whole 

Foods commits to a hashtag for the 

duration of a contest or promotion. For 

most of June, they used #WFMfish 

nearly exclusively for their Fishmonger 

Face-Off competition, and #WFMdish 

for fish recipes. The Fishmonger Face- 

Off “will highlight its fishmongers who 

work daily to help educate shoppers 

about responsibly-caught seafood 

choices and cooking tips.” Before that, 

they used #Foodiechats. 

Webs:ite Integration The website includes social links, but does not integrate a social feed. They 

also include a page dedicated to helping hungry and interested fans find all official accounts. Whole 

Foods syncs with Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to allow users to share recipes with their social 

networks. 

How Social Leads: to Revenue Whole Foods has chosen to focus on the ingredients 

that make food great. By doing this, they are associating their brand with those ingredients, so the 

next time their customer is in the mood for an heirloom tomato and basil salad, they will think of Whole 

Foods. 

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Key Takeaways/Best Practices for Retail Brands 

1. Know Your Audience! – We cannot stress this enough. As 

Converse’s chief marketing officer, Geoff Cottrill, says their success can 

be attributed to letting the fans lead and “acting like a party guest.” Listen 

to your followers; let them post on your wall. Study how your competitors 

interact with them. Capitalize on opportunities that align your brand with 

your customer’s other interests – like Converse and music. Converse 

has seen success from being flexible and relevant and adding to the 

conversation where possible. 

2. Offer Exclus:ive Content – Your fans are important. Make that clear. Offer them 

exclusive content, sneak peaks at new products, or, as Converse did, a free download of a new song. 

Give your fans a reason to pay attention to your News Feed. What can you offer them? How can you 

be helpful? 

3. Tell a Story: with Photos: – Create albums and photo-sharing contests that motivate 

your users to showcase their usage of your product or service. 

4. Develop Continuity: – Although only one person posts for Whole Foods at a time, that 

person is not identified by name on the account. Rather, Whole Foods focuses on strengthening their 

brand, which keeps professionalism high and grants continuity in case a different person steps in. Any 

loyalty remains with Whole Foods and not the account’s author. 

5. It’s: not a 9-5 – The current author behind the Whole Foods voice, Michael Bepko, spends 

a third of his day on Twitter, but often checks it during off hours and weekends. Customers always 

have complaints or queries that need to be answered. Without a high level of commitment, the brand 

could face frustrated fans. 

6. Get Local – While the main Whole Foods Twitter account is ideal for answering general 

complaints, it may not help a local store visitor with a timely question. Many of the individual 

stores have their own Twitter accounts manned by store employees. This allows for more targeted 

interactions, as well as local promotions, and relationship-building with local stores. 

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Best Social Engagement in Sports 

In this section, we examine the top 10 sports brands on Facebook and 

Twitter. The Facebook leaders in this category are the NBA with the most 

Facebook followers in this set, and our choice for a deep engagement 

dive. Nike, WWE, UFC, ESPN, PUMA, NFL, Fox Racing, Foot Locker 

and The North Face round out the top 10. On Twitter, the sports leaders 

are the NBA, ESPN — our choice for a deep engagement dive — NFL, 

MLB, WWE, NHL, FIFA, UFC, Sports Illustrated, and FIFA World Cup 

2014. 

Sports companies tend to focus on their users’ top interests – game stats, players and scores. With 

only two days a year without a sporting event, sports brands and organizations are generally flush 

with content. In this section, we’ll share how the NBA uses their Facebook presence and how ESPN 

approaches Twitter. 

Top Ten Sports Brands on Facebook and Twitter 


Talking 

About 

Brand 

NBA 

Nike 

WWE 

UFC 

ESPN 

PUMA 

NFL 

Fox Racing 

Foot Locker 

The North Face 

13,430,916 

9,322,892 

9,218,074 

8,738,461 

7,526,675 

7,441,829 

5,626,332 

3,428,525 

3,036,974 

2,470,290 

345,958 

93,563 

238,514 

121,367 

227,321 

32,426 

82,768 

26,251 

78,499 

46,009 

Engagement 

Ratio 

2.58% 

1.00% 

2.59% 

1.39% 

3.02% 

0.44% 

1.47% 

0.77% 

2.58% 

1.86% 


Posts Followers 

Per Post 

NBA 

ESPN 

NFL 

MLB 

WWE 

NHL 

FIFA 

UFC 

Sports Illustrated 

10 

5,294,694 

4,315,609 

3,448,186 

2,146,286 

1,251,727 

1,231,530 

820,510 

649,256 

370,212 

FIFA World Cup 2014 257,754 

29,708 

40,821 

14,933 

36,608 

22,026 

32,681 

9,530 

26,142 

35,976 

9,592 

178.22 

105.72 

230.91 

58.63 

56.83 

37.68 

86.10 

24.84 

10.29 

26.87 

Source: Data from The Fan Page List, as of June 19th, 2012.


CONTENT 



Leading Sports Facebook Brand: NBA 

Profile/Cover 

Photo The NBA puts 

a year-round focus on 

the NBA Finals. After 

Facebook introduced 

Timeline, the NBA 

featured a photo of the 

2011 NBA Finals Trophy, 

held up by the hands of 

the victors. When the 

2012 NBA Finals began, 

the cover was changed 

to a snapshot of Game 

One’s tip-off. 

The NBA, the organization with the most Facebook followers at the time 

of this paper’s publication, also has a highly engaged audience, not 

surprisingly, as our analysis coincided with the NBA Finals, one of the most 

active periods for the league. 

Tabs: Of the four visible tabs, the NBA chooses to show: photos (to the tune of 364 albums), a 

Virtual Stadium, Shaker NBA Finals – an app that keeps fans up-to-date with upcoming games 

and offers trivia, prizes and the chance to chat with other fans to get ready for the game, and their 

Social Media Awards – a never-been-held-before celebration honoring 12 players for their social 

media adoption. For instance, the Best in Game (BIG) Award was given to the player who best 

utilizes social media across all platforms including Facebook and Twitter. The Laugh Out Loud (LOL) 

Award was awarded to the team or player with the most shared and ‘Liked’ blooper from the regular 

season. Awards were announced on June 20th. The expanded tabs include the NBA shop, events, 

total ‘Likes’, FanCam, Twitter, and Spanish NBA. 

Frequency: 7-10 posts per day 

Top Sites: Promoted NBA.com, NBA Store, NBA.com News, YouTube, TwitVid, Partner sites 

(like Spalding), and charities with whom the NBA has a relationship, like the American Diabetes 

Association. 

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Leading Sports Facebook Brand: NBA (cont.) 

Social Content Approach 

• Updates: The NBA features a lot of game clips, stats 

and action shots – and rightfully so. Fans can relive 

favorite moments, discuss their favorite games and 

dispute the outcomes. The post (shown) that announced 

the Oklahoma City Thunder’s advancement to the NBA 

Finals had over 15,000 ‘Likes’ and comments. 

• Polls: The NBA frequently solicits the opinion of its 

viewers. This poll (shown) in anticipation of the Eastern 

Conference winner totaled over 30,000 votes. 

Giveaway:s:/Contes:ts: The NBA hosts regular contests in partnership with sponsors. A contest 

in early June awarded one fan a trip to the 2013 All-Star Game. In order to enter the contests, fans 

must share their contact information and opt-in to receive NBA-related emails. 

Webs:ite Integration The NBA is all about integrating social media activity in real time. Aside from 

the typical embedded Twitter feed, their website lists the Top Ten Trending Players with real-time 

analytics on total mentions across the social web per hour. LeBron James is number one with 2,015 

mentions per hour and 1,629,734 total mentions at the time of this paper’s publication. In addition, a 

dedicated section of the NBA website, the Social Spotlight, brings fans real time tweets from leading 

sports analysts, columnists and bloggers. Additionally, on each player page, a visitor has the option 

to ‘Like’ the page on Facebook. Their various blogs connect with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ 

with typical social sharing buttons. The NBA photo gallery connects with Twitter for social sharing. 

How Social Leads: to Revenue A more engaged social audience is more likely to 

watch NBA games. More viewers increase the NBA’s leverage and allow them to command more 

money for broadcasting rights. Additionally, the NBA does have a Shop NBA Facebook tab for direct 

sales through social. 

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CONTENT 



Leading Sports Twitter Brand: ESPN 

Followers: 4,352,450 

Following 335 — consisting 

of mainly ESPN employees, 

reporters and players. 

Background At publication, 

ESPN’s background is an 

image of a NBA court, in 

support of the NBA Finals with 

their logo as the profile image. 

ESPN’s Twitter and TV strategy aren’t terribly dissimilar. Their goal is 

to bring their followers all sports news all the time. As a sport-agnostic 

channel, users see updates on everything from pro-hockey games to the 

national spelling bee championship. 

Frequency: Between 5-15 original Tweets per day, not including retweets. 

Ratio of Pos:ts: to Replies: ESPN does not respond to anyone. They do, however, retweet their 

fans. ESPN posts roughly 10-15 retweets per day. 

Frequently: dis:cus:s:ed topics: include 

• Stats/Articles. ESPN posts news 

stories and game stats with regularity 

– that’s what their followers care most 

about. 

• Photos: ESPN brings their Twitter 

channel to life by adding pictures to 

relevant tweets. 

• Videos & Live Streams: ESPN shares 

videos of games and makes live 

streams available on their website. 

• Live Tweeting: For big games, like 

Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference 

finals, ESPN live tweets to keep the 

excitement level high. 

• Affiliated Content: ESPN regularly relies on affiliated ESPN-partners, be that ESPN reporters 

and niche ESPN-accounts to bolster their social stream. 

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Leading Sports Twitter Brand: ESPN (cont.) 

Cus:tomer s:ervice ESPN does not support customer service activities on Twitter. 

Frequently: us:ed has:htags: ESPN integrates hashtags regularly. They frequently reference a 

team, player, sport or series by hashtags (#Euro2012, #LSU, #PacBradley, #boxing), which helps 

keep track of sports conversations. They also use inspirational hashtags like #ChampionsRISE to 

keep fans hyped. 

Advertis:ing ESPN uses 

Promoted Tweets as part of 

their marketing mix. ESPN and 

Twitter recently announced a 

partnership to take advantage 

of the volume of sports-related 

tweets. #GameFace during the 

NBA Finals is the first example of 

this partnership, which features 

tight TV integration. Fans 

tweet their best #GameFace to 

ESPN and they’ll show of the 

best ones on TV (ESPN and 

partner channels like ABC). 

This partnership aims to make 

channel integration stronger and 

easier than ever before. 

Webs:ite Integration The homepage does not include Twitter integration; sub-properties like ESPN 

NFL and others do include on-page Twitter integration. ESPN, like many big brands, have several 

highly visible sub-properties, all with their own social accounts as well. On each article published, 

ESPN includes ‘share socially buttons’ for Twitter and Facebook. They also have Facebook Social 

Sharing, a service that automatically posts to Facebook when you read an article. 

How Social Leads: to Revenue Similar to the NBA, an engaged ESPN audience 

is likely to turn to them for their sports news needs. Just as important is the distribution of their web 

articles via Twitter. This increases traffic to their website, and more visitors creates more ad revenue 

for their site. 

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Key Takeaways/Best Practices for Sports Brands 

1. Stay: Relevant — Post timely updates to keep fans updated 

and give them a reason to check their news feed. 

2. Be Cons:is:tent — Fans in a crunch need to know whom 

they can depend on for up-to-date news, and other vital information. 

Offer them what they are looking for, and they’ll keep coming back. 

3. Relis:h Victories: — Post easy-to-read snapshots of key 

events – the NBA keeps their fans updated with final scores and 

highlights. 

4. Incorporate Channel Integration — ESPN promotes its many Twitter profiles well 

on their website, but what they do even better is the combination of social media with traditional 

media. While playing a highlight from a basketball game of a great dunk, they had reactions from 

other athletes on Twitter showing on TV. Rather than keep their online presence separate from their 

TV presence, ESPN understands the benefit in integrating them, such as when they use Twitter as a 

news source or to boost the views on their stories. 

5. Create a Cons:is:tent Brand Identity: — ESPN requires employees to use Twitter 

only in a business capacity for discussing sports. Curbing personal branding may seem counterintuitive 

for social media, but by branding all of writers as ESPN writers, they establish continuity, 

which is strengthened by fostering a professional social media approach. No bloopers here! 

6. Cons:ider Advertis:ing — Explore the advertising platforms on social channels to grow 

following, spread awareness and/or make a sale. 

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Top 10 Services Brands on Facebook and Twitter 

American Express 

Farmers Insurance 

DirecTV 

Live Nation 

Visa 

Ticketmaster 

UPS 

Ancestry.com 

24 Hour Fitness 

Accenture 

Best Social Engagement in Services 

2,464,693 

2,334,713 

1,279,217 

809,691 

875,106 

547,165 

368,804 

322,572 

227,982 

118,429 

In our last section, we’ll examine the top 10 services brands on 

Facebook and Twitter based on their following. In the services section, 

we chose the number two and number three brands for our deep 

analysis dive to spice it up a bit. The Facebook leaders in this category 

are American Express, Farmers Insurance – our choice for a deep dive, 

DirecTV, Live Nation, Visa, Ticketmaster, UPS, Ancestry.com, 24 Hour 

Fitness, and Accenture rounding out the top 10. On Twitter, the leaders 

are CME Group, CBOE, American Express – our deep dive choice, 

Tepco, Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Vanguard, Comcast Digital Care 

Center, DirecTV and Accenture. 

Brands in the services industry register much smaller followings than their counterparts in retail and 

sports. This is not a huge shock; there is less up-to-the-minute excitement occurring for some of the 

brands below. In this section, we’ll share how the Farmers Insurance connects with their audience on 

Facebook and how American Express builds strong connections on Twitter. 

The services brands with the largest followings may have fewer than our other categories, but that 

hasn’t impacted their engagement rates. By and large, they are consistent with the others. 


Talking 

About 

Brand 

5,694 

4,431 

26,430 

11,235 

118,330 

10,531 

7,120 

4,088 

1,760 

1,566 

Engagement 

Ratio 

0.23% 

0.19% 

2.07% 

1.39% 

13.52% 

1.92% 

1.93% 

1.27% 

0.77% 

1.32% 


Posts 

CME Group 

CBOE 

American Express 

TEPCO 

Live Nation 

Ticketmaster 

Vanguard 

Comcast Digital 

Source: Data from The Fan Page List, as of June 19th, 2012. 

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Care Team 

DirecTV 

Accenture 

754,740 

730,686 

470,930 

256,166 

185,785 

73,356 

61,768 

57,835 

55,162 

48,354 

19,396 

6,153 

13,809 

2,805 

8,949 

9,891 

4,808 

52,446 

21,636 

4,176 

Followers 

Per Post 

38.91 

118.75 

34.10 

91.32 

20.76 

7.41 

12.85 

1.10 

2.55 

11.58


CONTENT 



Leading Services Facebook Brand: Farmers 

Profile/Cover 

Photo At the time 

of this paper’s 

publication, Farmers 

used their cover 

photo to promote a 

marketing event, in 

which winners earn 

two free tickets to 

attend a Rascal Flatts 

concert and meet the band. However, the cover image does not clearly define how one enters the 

contests, the terms and conditions, or when winners will be announced. 

Tabs: Farmers displays their photos with 11 albums, the summer Rascal Flatts concert promotion, 

their products, and a weather alert on their main page. For the additional tabs, they have integrated 

YouTube and an insurance quote generator. Some older tabs, though visible, are no longer 

supported. 

Frequency: 1-3 posts per week. 

Top Sites: Promoted Farmers rarely promotes other sites. 

Social Content Approach Farmers connects with its audience through small gestures and big 

campaigns. Besides the Rascal Flatts summer concert giveaway, they previously ran a campaign in 

conjunction with the release of summer blockbuster The Avengers, in which users were encouraged 

to make their own Farmers Agent superhero costumes. 

One post that struck a chord with Farmers fans was spontaneous. The author of the account posted 

a photo from a community baseball field that speaks to parents. It starts “He’s just a little boy” and 

reminds parents to keep perspective. It spread like wildfire on Facebook, generating nearly 15,000 

interactions, almost half of which were shares (and shares increase EdgeRank). Farmers seized 

the opportunity to capitalize on its popularity and created follow-up posts offering to buy up to 1,500 

posters for interested fans. The four total posts amounted to 27,663 social interactions. 

17



Leading Services Facebook Brand: Farmers (cont.) 

Farmers also hosts “Like” Donations for charities. For instance, they gave $1,000 for every 100,000 

views their mockumentary “The Lost Love”. By offering to donate $10 per fan to the March of Dimes, 

they increased their fan base by 2,500. 

One of Farmers most enduring qualities is their positivity and sense of humor. They are always 

driving ‘Likes’ by poking fun at themselves through jingle remixes, photos, and comments. 

Giveaway:s:/Contes:ts: Farmers also uses campaigns to grow engagement. They recently held 

their Star for a Day giveaway, where fans enter to win two tickets to any Rascal Flatts concert and go 

backstage to meet the band. To enter the competition, one must like the page and provide contact 

information. 

Webs:ite Integration Currently, Farmers isn’t integrating social channels on their website. They 

simply have a link to their social properties on the homepage. They could add their Facebook posts 

and Twitter stream to keep the home page vibrant and updated. 

In the near future, expect to see Farmers Insurance catch up to other leading brands – they are 

actively searching for a social media agency to help them grow their presence and engagement. 

How Social Leads: to Revenue Insurance isn’t the sexiest – Farmers is using 

Facebook to portray the brand as humorous, trustworthy, and ‘human.’ Ideally, this trust will translate 

into sales when their fans search for insurance. In fact, the page does have an “Our Products” tab 

that allows for direct conversions. 

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CONTENT 

Leading Services Twitter Brand: American Express 

Followers: 470,426 

Following 18,143, with 

no apparent specific follow 

strategy. 

Background AmEx has 

a simple, on-brand, solid 

blue background. 

Frequency: Between 5-20 original Tweets per day, not including retweets and mentions. The record 

high was 35 tweets, occurring during an AmEx-sponsored Usher concert. 

Ratio of Pos:ts: to Replies: For a highly regulated industry, AmEx replies to fans often. Often, 

they send as many replies as tweets in a day. 

Social Content Approach 

AmEx is on the cutting edge of social media. They recently announced 

a partnership with Twitter that allows card members to sync their cards 

with the social media channel to redeem couponless offers. 

Member Benefits: AmEx frequently offers their card-holders additional rewards, designated by a 

#MembershipRewards hashtag. 

Contes:ts:/Giveaway:s: AmEx leverages their sizeable network and premium partnerships to bring 

members excellent contests and giveaways, like a chance to win a cruise. 

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Leading Services Twitter Brand: American Express (cont.) 

Spons:ored Events: American Express puts on concerts and other high-profile events. 

#AmExUNSTAGED are AmEx-sponsored concerts. 

Cus:tomer Service AmEx congratulates members on purchases and solves customer 

complaints. In fact, fans regularly state they receive faster support on Twitter than by more traditional 

routes. 

Frequently: Us:ed Has:htags: 

AmEx generously uses hashtags, 

generally divided into two camps. 

The first is specific to events 

they are sponsoring or hosting, 

such as #InsideTheDream 

and #AmExUNSTAGED. They 

also regularly use hashtags to 

boost fan engagement such 

as #MembershipRewards, and 

#MembershipEffect. 

One particularly fun hashtag 

is #AmExmademytrip where 

cardholders share stories of their 

travels made easier with an AmEx 

card. 

Webs:ite Integration AmEx 

has low website integration. The 

homepage includes links to their 

main social channels. On all 

product offers, American Express 

offers social sharing on Twitter and 

Facebook. 

How Social Leads: to Revenue AmEx does a masterful job of highlighting (but not 

over-promoting) the many benefits that are exclusively for cardholders, such as advance tickets. 

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Key Takeaways/Best Practices for Services Brands 

1. Strengthen Brand Pres:ence through 

Promotions: — American Express has done a great job at using 

Twitter to drive conversations (and benefitting while doing so). AmEx 

launched their Sync service, in partnership with Twitter, earlier in the 

year to allow cardholders to save money at shops and restaurants by 

tweeting a hashtag, and found the service used by millions. Because 

of this innovative program, AMEX was one of the most talked about 

companies at SXSW Interactive. 

2. Excel at Cus:tomer Service — Many large companies struggle with customer 

service. Complaints may be frequent, complicated, and pressing at all hours of the day. American 

Express has done a great job at using Twitter to alleviate those complaints. If a customer is having 

trouble getting a response or reaching a representative, @AskAmEx is readily available to help. A 

negative customer situation can easily be turned into a positive one with a quick Twitter reply. 

3. Lis:ten to Your Fans: — Pay attention to what your audience likes and which posts 

receive attention. These can lead to great opportunities to keep the social momentum going. If a 

posts receives a lot of likes, what else can you do to add to the conversation? 

4. Share Your Story: — In the service industry you need to make a strong connection 

with your customers. Farmers Director of Social Media, Ryon Harms, shares that he wasn’t using 

Facebook to tell people what they sell, but rather who they are. 

5. Stay: Light — Post positive content, and be able to laugh at yourself. 

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Conclusion 

All of the best practice examples we have highlighted above adhere to several basic tenets: 1) 

Know your customers, 2) Engage them in new and creative ways, and 3) Listen and monitor postengagement. 

Social media allows companies to understand their customers deeply and then 

effectively engage them. And by listening and monitoring responses, you come to know your 

customers even better, and drive even more effective engagement. And so the cycle continues. 

One of the most beautiful things about social media is the speed at which this feedback loop of 

customer insight and action can take place. It can now happen faster than ever before. We hope 

these best practices enable you to better prosper from the new social landscape. 

Additional Resources 

The Fan Page List 

Check out more brands and their social statistics on the Fan Page List site. 

Five Killer Strategies to Dominate Social Media’s Big 3: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube 

Even with the increasing number of social networks, most experts still recognize that successful social 

marketing revolves around the Big 3: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. 

How to Audit Your Social Marketing Efforts 

Learn how to evaluate the effectiveness of your current social marketing strategy. Identify new ways to 

improve the return on your social marketing investment. 

Social Engagement: How to Crack the Code of Social Interaction 

Engagement is the enduring effect of content to motivate an audience to do something; motivate your 

audience with data proven best practices. 

Social Commerce Lessons: The 6 Social Principles that Increase Sales 

Learn more about content strategies and driving sales. 

Actionable Social Analytics 

A detailed guide on how to approach your social analytics process. 

2102 Social Media and New Media Predictions 

This free e-book is full of insights on big data and other trending topics in social media. Hear from 32 

social media experts, including David Meerman Scott, Brian Solis, and Erik Qualman. 

The Social Funnel: Driving Business Value with Social Marketing 

For a detailed discussion on how to effectively measure your social marketing initiatives, download our 

free e-book. 

The State of Social Media Marketing: Top Areas For Social Marketing Investment and Biggest 

Social Marketing Challenges in 2012 

Learn how leaders allocate resources, discover the top social platforms and social media management 

tools they use, social marketing investment priorities, and the practices companies will adopt in 2012. 

22



About Awareness 

Awareness Inc. is the leading provider of enterprise-class, on-demand social marketing management 

software (SMMS) for marketers to publish and manage social content, engage with their audience 

and measure the effectiveness of their social media activities across multiple social media channels. 

The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is built upon Awareness’ expertise with some of the world’s 

leading brands and marketing agencies including MLB, Sony Pictures, Comcast, Likeable Media, 

Associated Press, Cox Communications, Mindjumpers and American Cancer Society. 

The Awareness Social Marketing Hub is built to address the challenges marketers face managing 

multiple social channels. The Social Marketing Hub is the first enterprise-class application for serious 

marketers who want to plan, implement and measure meaningful social media strategies across the 

organization. 

Get Connected: 

Follow us on Twitter 

@awarenessinc 

Join us on Facebook 

• Social Media Marketing Best Practices 

• Social Media Marketing Mavens 

Join our LinkedIn Group 

Social Media Marketing Mavens Group 

Check out our Blog 

Follow us on Pinterest 

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