You already know that your customers may be your best promoters. Your super fans. Influencers of their own communities. Pay close attention to your customers and what they are posting, in order to boost the vitality of your brand. In marketing, when a customer posts about your business or product on social media, we call that User Generated Content. Here’s what you can do to boost that authentic customer experience. 

But first… a story about Nathan. 

You are probably wondering, “Who is Nathan Apodaca?” And, this is exactly what I wondered the first time I noticed his viral video on Twitter. He originally posted it on Tik Tok, a fast-growing video app that rose in popularity with young adults and teens, and achieved 70 million downloads this year. But, I’m older, so I didn’t see it until it went viral and someone posted it on Twitter. You can watch the video here. 

This video is arresting at first because of Fleetwood Mac’s song, “Dreams.” A #1 hit from 1977. Stevie Nick’s voice alone grabs your attention for a few seconds. Then you notice the movement of the street flying behind Nathan, who is longboarding (like skateboarding) to work and holding his phone up to record himself. He is dressed plainly in a sweatshirt and his hair is cut very short. 

Next, he demonstrates his confidence on the board by swigging his bottle of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice cocktail. Then he briefly turns away to check for oncoming traffic. Finally, he looks into the camera with an impish smile and lip-syncs the next line of Dreams, which is “It’s all right that you should play it the way you feel it.”

The video ends. Or as they say in Hollywood, “Scene.” 

This simple moment, expressing freedom and acceptance vibed with millions of people around the world. It also generated a huge spike in sales for Ocean Spray Cranberry juice cocktail. For real.

Not only that, but Fleetwood Mac’s song, which was originally released a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, re-entered the charts on Rolling Stones Hot 100 (at #29) and rode the smooth wave of viral success all the way to the Billboard Hot 100 #1 spot. Again. 

The band enjoyed weeks of streaming highs and tripled sales. It also sent Boomers and GenXers into giggles as they read Millennial and Gen Z tweets commenting about this “hot new band Fleetwood Mac.” 

“In the week following Apodaca’s video, the song was streamed 8.47 million times in the US alone, earning its highest-ever streaming numbers in the US. All thanks to a man sipping Ocean Spray on a skateboard. (The Drum, Oct 8, 2020)

There’s a lot more to this story. You can google Nathan Apodaca right now and read all about how Ocean Spray collaborated with a local truck dealer to get him a new cranberry colored truck, filled with his favorite drink. Nathan now has a manager and recently bought a 3 bedroom house. He is still making videos. 

Many TikTok creators and celebrities recreated Nathan’s video. Tom Hayes, the Chief of Ocean Spray released his own version of the video — as did Mick Fleetwood! You can search for more of these fun videos on YouTube.

Engaging with Customers on Social Media

We all can’t be viral stars like Nathan, but we can keep a close watch on the content our customers are posting. Together, we can create some goodwill among our customers by being engaged with them. 

Some of the things that we do for our social media clients include social listening, engagement and keyword searches. These tactics help us to see when customers post about our clients. We also react to posts about our clients, follow customers and repost their content on the company profile. 

• Social Listening, which is really just reading comments in your industry and staying aware of customer pains, concerns and joys. 
• Search for your own brand name and other keywords in a hashtag form, or follow appropriate hashtags
• Check your newsfeed and community posts every day
• Check your notifications to see if anyone has tagged your business in a post
• Thank customers for their reviews or positive comments
• Share customer posts on the company profile
• Follow highly engaged customers

It is social media after all, so there is no harm in being friendly! 

Tune-Up Your Social Media Presence!

We can look at your social media presence and give you a tune-up. What is a Tomo360 Marketing Tune-Up?  It’s a great way to assess your marketing efforts to see what’s working and what could be improved to help you reach your goals. We have several packages to choose from! Contact us today.