GoPro allows people to share the beauty of the world and the adventures they find along the way as if you, the watcher, were there yourself.
GoPro was founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. The idea was inspired by a surfing trip that he took to Australia where he was hoping to capture high quality action photos, but couldn't because photographers couldn't get close enough or buy appropriate quality cameras at reasonable prices. GoPro is a durable and portable waterproof action camera that can be mounted to your head, helmet, bike, or surfboard to name a few. GoPro is dedicated to helping people capture and share their lives in exciting ways. Throughout this page, I will be covering GoPro's social media strategies and the strengths and weaknesses of the various social media platforms that they use.
Let's take a look at how GoPro uses their social media platforms and to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. We will cover the following platforms:
- Youtube
Spredfast's Core Four
Building Brand Awareness
Even though social media has changed and will continue to change overtime, brand awareness is still the main priority for social media marketing. Many consumers will never even look on your website, so having a complete and up to date social media presence is really important. Social media is where people come in today's world to get the news they are interested in receiving quickly. With that in mind, it is important to remember the vast audience you may reach with your company and how people might portray what you choose to post. This social media objective is most easily achieved by posting on social network profiles regularly, use keywords in your post to reach the target audience, and respond as much as you can with those that choose to engage with your brand.
GoPro does a pretty good job with brand awareness on many of their platforms. All of their platforms share a lot of the same content, but differ in slight ways. The usual content is videos or pictures submitted by regular people or professional athletes that showcase what can be done with these cameras. This allows for a lot of engagement between the company and consumers and lets the users feel like they are really a part of the brand and even the family. We will get more into brand awareness later.
Driving Engagement and Participation
In order to build meaningful relationships with customers, it is vital that companies engage with consumers. The more a brand likes you, the more they will talk about it to their friends and family, which in turn leads to more business for you. In order to achieve this you must ask for feedback and success stories from real people using the product, include relevant hashtags in posts, and include engaging posts and stories like polls or photo contests to encourage participation.
GoPro does a great job of driving engagement and participation on all of their platforms, but mainly Instagram and Facebook. They do this by having GoPro users submit pictures and videos that they take to a website called gopro.com/rewards. If your picture/video is chosen, it is spotlighted on their platforms, you are recognized and tagged, and you receive a cash prize of $250. This makes customers feel recognized and appreciated and motivates them to continue making great content with the cameras.
Generating Social Conversions and Sales Lead
Within generating social conversions and sales leads, using social media in a smart way to promote your product is very effective because it is what connects attracting attention to your product and creating sales. To achieve this social media objective, you should utilize calls to action, provide links to company websites/apps, and utilize social listening to hear what others are saying about your brand first.
GoPro does a great job of providing links to their website on both Facebook and Youtube. Almost all posts made on these platforms have the direct link to their website in the caption, with most of these posts including the links to the exact product used to take the photo/video. Similarly, on Instagram, most of their posts have the products that are used tagged. When you click on these tagged products it will provide you with product details and a description of the product. It then allows you to click another link that reads "view on website" if you decide to buy the product.
Delivering Superior Customer Service
Delivering superior customer service is a must for any business. Word of mouth travels fast, especially in this digital age, and if a customer has a bad experience it could impact your company in a very negative way. The main ways to achieve this social media objective are establishing SLAs for employee responses times, sharing public announcements regarding any known problems associated with the business, and connecting with the audience through educational/learning resources.
GoPro does a very good job with delivering superior customer service on all of their platforms by taking the time to respond and interact with customers in the comment section. This simple act of just replying grows the connection between the customer and business and allows the customer to feel heard and appreciated. Specifically on Facebook , if a customer has a question regarding their device or want a quick tip on how to do something, they are quick to respond and ask questions regarding the issue to best determine the resolution.
Now, let's look at the platforms that GoPro uses.
GoPro's strongest social media platform is Instagram, both in terms of consumer engagement and their following. They also have a very consistent theme with an everyday post captioned "photo of the day". The following data was retrieved from a seven-day period between October 3-10, 2022.
- Average posts per day: 2
- Average likes per post: 32,027
- Average comments per post: 132
- Following: 19.6 M follow the account
Lets look at a few of their strongest aspects.
1. GoPros naturally creates user- generated content.
One great thing about GoPro is their branding strategy. The GoPro branding strategy of user-generated content works like this, for example, a surfer goes out and buys a GoPro, takes a shot, and then GoPro does everything else. GoPro edits and uploads the shot to one of their platforms and within seconds that shot is viewed by a large audience who is then inspired to go out and buy a GoPro camera themselves. This strategy is transforming how brands are built and advertising as we once knew it. It is the ultimate user-generated content campaign. This in turn makes the marketing costs very low, while allowing customers to feel involved and connected to the brand. GoPro advertises their product with the consumer rather than for the consumers. This aspect sets them apart from not only any other camera brands, but almost any brand ever. GoPro wouldn't be nearly as successful without their help from consumers who share real customer experiences that display the quality of the product. User-generated content also brings in new customers because they have more trust that the product is legit if it is being promoted by real people.
To incentivize consumers to create extraordinary content they created something called "GoPro Awards". The awards program works simply by consumers going out and taking cool pictures/videos of them doing things that they love, submitting their favorite photos, raw clips, and edits to GoPro.com/awards, and if your work is selected you win cash, gear, and global exposure.
Content like this is posted frequently on social media platforms, recognizing the consumer and sharing success stories like this if there is one for example, or just simply recognizing them alongside a unique caption to go with the photo/video. (you can see an example of this down below) Underneath every GoPro awards post they also include the link to participate along with mentioning the incentive if you were to be chosen. This indicates a call to action by the consumers.
2. Drive Repeat Engagement
The key way to drive repeat engagement is with some kind of ongoing activity. GoPro does this by posting everyday to both their Instagram and Facebook platforms a picture captioned "photo of the day:", followed by a caption for the picture. This builds product value and customer trust because the consumer can see consistently that the photos people take are of very high quality.
The above example, aside from being chosen for photo of the day, also incorporates the promotion of the newest GoPro model. Since the picture was taken at night, GoPro used this fact to promote the new camera, telling customers that there are all new night effects included that make creativity after dark easier than ever. Then, it intices a call to action by customers to tap on the product tag to learn more about it. This in-turn will bring in more business from consumers who want to capture a photo similar to the one above, or capture adventures during both day and night.
3. Informs consumers through their pinned stories
Another great thing that GoPro does is having informative stories pinned in their Instagram bio for customers to quickly refer to to get a better idea of all the different products that they have to offer. Each story regards a different GoPro camera and includes all of the features that are associated with it. These features could be anywhere from an improvement of a feature from an older model GoPro, to a completely new feature. This is really helpful for consumers and allows them to compare all of the different models available and decide which one will work best for what they plan on doing with it. In every video there is also a short video clip so you can really see the features in play. For easy buying, a link is provided throughout the entirety of the story that brings customers right to the product on the GoPro website and increases the chances of a sale .
In addition to Instagram stories related to the cameras, there is also a pinned story regarding GoPro's editing app, Quik. The story tells about Quik and what it has to offer in the app. Like for example, the fact that all of your favorite shots are in one place and you can auto-sync edits to the beat. A link is provided all throughout the story that takes you directly to the app store where you can download it for free. This app makes editing so much easier and stress free so you can really get the most out of your GoPro product.
Another story that I found to be extremely helpful for consumers is labeled tips. It includes tips on how to get the best image or video. These tips for example might include if you need more stabilization, then turn the setting up to high and for the highest level of stabilization, turn the setting up to boost. These helps consumers learn how to best use the product. If they aren't getting the results that they had hoped for, maybe they don't have it on the right setting for the activity they are partaking in. Just like the previous stories, there is a sticker that reads "learn more" at the bottom throughout the story, and if you click on it it brings you directly to GoPro's website.
Lastly, there is a history story pinned. In this GoPro talks about the history of the company and how they grew to be as big as they are today. They hit on all the major milestones of the company, and throughout the entire thing there are different links regarding whichever milestone it is talking about with more information on it. At the end of the Instagram story they share and celebrate a huge milestone of hitting 2B views on Youtube. There is a link for the last story post that takes you to a page on GoPros website. On the page there is a youtube video imbedded that was made to celebrate their 2B views on Youtube. Underneath the video, the company thanks it's customers and acknowledges that none of this would have been possible without the GoPro community. It reads, "This is the group that our CEO and founder Nick Woodman wants to recognize first and foremost as we raise a glass to this accomplishment." This alone really just goes to show how valued every customer is in the community and how they are all working together for one shared value: adventure.
Where Instagram Needs Improvement
Although GoPro's Instagram presence is very string, there are a few areas mentioned in the Social Media Pocket Guide's Best Practices that they don't quite master. They need to work on communicating with customers more frequently. They do respond to some comments, but they need to be interacting with consumers in a more beneficial way. To fix this problem, they could have polls on their story of what consumers use the different cameras for for example. Another thing that they could do is ask consumers on their story forums what kind of features they would like to see included on the next GoPro model. Lastly, they could ask questions like "what is your biggest tip for using the Hero11 camera" for example and post people's responses so consumers can learn from each other. This will allow GoPro to feel like more of a community and bring GoPro users closer together by being able to interact with one another. Finally, I think that GoPro should include the link to submit photos for GoPro Awards in their Instagram bio so that consumers have easy access to submit photos if they choose to do so.
GoPro regularly posts on their Facebook and keeps a very consistent theme in terms of their Instagram platform. The following data was retrieved from a seven-day period between October 3-10, 2022.
- Average posts per day: 13
- Average likes per post: 374
- Average comments per post: 9
- Average shares per post: 10
- Following: 10,959,683 follow the page
Let's take at a few of their strongest aspects.
1. Good customer service
Superior customer service is one of Spredfest's best business practices and it is a must when dealing with customers to protect and enable the image of your brand. One way that GoPro displays excellent customer service is through Facebook Messenger. Messenger is an app associated with Facebook where you can message your friends directly (think of a DM on Instagram). When you go onto GoPro's Facebook page, a box appears on the screen. Inside of the box it reads, "Welcome to the GoPro bot. Tap "Get Started"." If you wish to ask a question about GoPro or one of their products, this is the place to come. Above this, it states that the bot typically replies within minutes.
A big part of customer service etiquette within businesses is reply time. It is really important to be timely when customers reach out to your company so that they feel heard and if they have a problem it can be resolved quickly. The fact that it says that the bot typically replies within minutes is a good sign of customer service and people will be more likely to use this service when/if needed. Good customer service also means more social conversions and sales leads.
2. Helpful how-tos
Most people start out using GoPro and have no idea how to use it properly to get the best results. People usually buy a GoPro because they are inspired by all of the beautiful pictures and videos that they have seen on the brand's various social media platforms and want to try and recreate some of these pictures themselves. However, if a customer doesn't know how to properly work one of these cameras, how will they be able to achieve the best possible quality? GoPro knows that people become inspired by the posts of other people's creations on their platform and want to recreate them. That is why under almost all of GoPro's Facebook posts they include either tips to achieve the picture posted or a linked guide to master the modes.
Along with the tips, the posts also include links to each product that was used to take the photos. This ensures that the customer has everything they need to get started and to learn about the endless capabilities of a GoPro. It also creates less confusion for customers, and makes them feel like you care about their experience with your product. Also for the "photo of the day" pictures there is a direct link to the website where you submit your pictures.
3. Consistency among platforms
Brand consistency can sometimes be hard to achieve, so it is important that you focus on consistency from the start and get it right. Your brand defines you and your entire company, which is why it is so important in social marketing. Solid branding sets your company apart from your competition. On the other hand, changing colors, images, and fonts can make your brand unprofessional. A unique voice and tone is crucial to staying on brand. Consistency can help make your customers more loyal to you and your brand more recognizable through its brand. It also helps you identify your audience and what you can expect from them as well as what they can expect to see from you. GoPro holds a very consistent theme throughout all of their platforms. They are consistent within their message, content posted (theme), and what their brand represents.
When customers go on GoPro's different social media platforms the message, theme, and what the brand represents are all very obvious and consistent. That is, that GoPro is dedicated to helping people capture and share their adventures in exciting ways. All of the content posted share a lot of the same information, but are all tailored to that specific app. For example, a lot of the pictures shared on Instagram and Facebook are the same. However, on Facebook it is more accepted to have long captions, but on Instagram people like to scroll and mainly just pay attention to the picture. For this reason Facebook is slightly more informative regarding how to recreate the posted pictures because it is more acceptable on that given platform. That doesn't mean that you can't find out the same information on Instagram that is on Facebook, it just looks different. Overall, the two platforms share the same theme and message of a call to adventure . This is just one example of many on how the different platforms differ slightly, but are consistent throughout. An example of how Facebook and Instagram posts made by GoPro hold the same voice or tone is the use of hashtags and emojis. These hashtags help reach the target audience.
Where Facebook Needs improvement
GoPro's overall Facebook presence is very strong with a lot of information regarding the different things that GoPro is involved in. It also does a really good job portraying the company's mission and theme. However, I do have a few suggestions for where I think GoPro's presence on Facebook could improve. The first being, that GoPro should incorporate more hashtags within their posts. This allows for the target audience to be reached which will in-turn equal more sales. The second thing that I think GoPro should emphasize more on their Facebook page is the GoPro for a cause campaign. I think it would be very beneficial to include a tab on their Facebook page primarily for this. This way more people can hear about what exactly they are doing and more donations will be made. The more places it is accessible, the better.
Youtube
GoPro regularly posts videos to their Youtube channels with a majority of their videos being informative demos on how to use their products, user generated content by consumers, user generated content by professionals, or content emphasizing their mission.
- Average posts per day: 2
- Average likes per video: 1.2K
- Average comments per video: 51
- Average views per video: 51K
- Following: 10.6 M subscribers
Let's take at a few of their strongest aspects.
1. The Use of Professionals for Promotion
Promotors for your brand are always a good, easy way to build product trust among consumers. If consumers see trusted athletes or celebrities who they look up to for example promoting your brand, then they will want to be like said person and buy the same product. GoPro uses GoPro Professionals (sport professionals) to promote their products. They do this by having professionals create more extreme user generated content than regular consumers could probably make. On Youtube, under the "channels" tab, they have listed all of the GoPro athletes that they sponsor.
Something cool that they have these athletes do besides just filming cool content is a series called "what in my____". For example, a surfer made a "what's in my garage" video and a snowboarder made a "what's in my backpack" video. In both they show what they have related to their regarded sport, but also share what their favorite kinds of GoPro cameras and accessories are to use when doing their sports. They share a lot of in depth information regarding each product used and what they are mainly used for. This would be really helpful for someone who is interested in the same sport as them and wondering what products work best for what they are trying to get on film.
2. Nonprofit Partnerships
Consumers love to know that they are supporting brands who care about important worldwide causes. Similarly, companies want their brands to be understood as contributing to the greater social good- in an authentic way. That is why in 2015, GoPro launched GoPro for a cause. GoPro for a cause is a platform to generate awareness for causes that align with their core values. Their mission is to inspire social engagement by leveraging their products and global reach to help nonprofit causes tell their stories. The program has evolved and changed over the years, including how they support, recognize, and celebrate these causes, but their commitment to leveraging their expertise to tell uplifting stories that help all people live happier, healthier, more fulfilling lives has always been their main priority. GoPro recognizes that there are endless ways to help make a positive impact around the World, but their priority is providing support to organizations with the following missions: supporting active youths to maximize their passions and potential, building resilience and empowering underserved communities, and celebrating those who are championing environmental protection and protection. Nonprofits can apply for a grant from GoPro for a cause by submitting an application explaining how their mission of the nonprofit organization aligns with GoPros priorities.
If accepted, the nonprofit cause will receive GoPro products, production assistance and the powerful reach of GoPro's global platform to get the word out about their mission and to assist in their fundraising efforts. These videos are put on the GoPro Youtube account where a large audience will watch and be informed on an issue they might not have known about prior to watching. While watching, if consumers are moved by the cause and want to donate, there is a direct link to donate in the video description. The video description also tells viewers about what the nonprofit has done thus far as well as what each donation will do. For example, you can see in the picture below that a $50 donation adopts a sea turtle hatching. It is really beneficial that they have these facts in the description, because people are more likely to donate if they can hear about what exactly their donation will be doing.
In this partnership both the nonprofit and GoPro are benefitted. This is because the nonprofit will get more awareness, better video production than probably ever before (that they can continue to use to market themselves on their own platforms), and more donations to help this cause. GoPro will benefit by being able to not only tell, but show what their values and mission are. They will also get more potential customers that are in support of the nonprofit.
3. The use of hashtags
Hashtags are a very important way to reach your target audience. The use of hashtags for Youtube specifically allows for creators to easily connect their content with other videos that share the same hashtag. They also allow viewers to find similar content that shares content. I think that GoPro does a very good job with this, and is able to reach people with shared values, like adventure, easier.
The picture above is a really good example of GoPro effectively using hashtags. GoPro for a cause partnered with WILDCOAST and KindHumans on a project for Earth Day that works to protect sea turtles. By using the hashtag, "EarthDay", that video probably reached so many people who watched conservation videos in honor of Earth Day. While not only allowing for the video to reach a bigger audience, the donations for the campaign definitely wouldn't have been as high if the hashtag wasn't included. In addition, GoPro received a lot more exposure from people who share common values with them.
Where Youtube Needs Improvement
GoPro's presence on Youtube is very strong already with their organization of different categories of videos all in one place for easy access. They also achieve a strong presence by their ability to create such captivating videos that embody the GoPro mission statement. However, I do think there are some areas that need improvement. I think that the GoPro for a cause campaign should get its own channel completely. There is a playlist that separates these videos into a category separate from the others, but there are so many different playlists that they can easily get lost in all the other kinds. The GoPro brand name would still be associated with the separate channel, as well as videos being posted on both channels so the large audience associated with the main account could still be reached. The only difference would be having a spot on Youtube solely for these projects, because they deserve to be seen and heard and should be, in my opinion, a bigger part of their social media platforms . I mentioned earlier the use of hashtags and how they do a good job of implementing those into video descriptions, but I think in some cases there needs to be a bigger emphasis on adventure or thrill if deemed appropriate. Some of the videos only have hashtags regarding GoPro, but I think they should also include hashtags regarding what activity the person is performing in the video. For example, a skiing video should have "#GoPro, #skiing, etc.". They shouldn't overdo it and add too many hashtags because then they will drift away from their target audience, but they should include some descriptor hashtags. Overall, I think being more consistent with the kinds of descriptor hashtags they use will drastically improve the size of their target audience. They need to do the same in all, not just some. Finally, I also think that GoPro needs to post more frequently on Youtube. There is an average of 2 posts per week, which is not consistent with Instagram and Facebook who post way more frequently. The more they post across all platforms, the bigger of an audience they will reach.
In Summary
GoPro has a very consistent voice and message that it is portraying across all of their social media platforms. They do this by the marketing technique of user generated content that they use on all platforms, which makes marketing costs very inexpensive. The user generated content allows for more trust within the brand, because people like seeing real people's experience with the product. GoPro does a great job of including tips and tricks to get the picture/video that you hope to get across all platforms. They also do a great job of reaching their target audience through the use of hashtags and consistent, thrilling content. Because of these efforts, GoPro has gained a great foundation and following and will continue to grow if they stay on this same path. They can improve their current following by interacting with followers more on a consistent basis, asking for customer feedback, emphasizing their GoPro for a cause projects, and using more descriptor hashtags to reach more of your target audience.
Sources
Spredfast Social Media Pocket Guide & GoPro.com