20 top brands taking advantage of Social Media

In today’s highly competitive online market, most big brands are turning to social media to help boost not just their image, but ultimately their profits. Over the past couple of years, social media has become one of the most important places for consumers making purchasing decisions to turn to. With so many individuals using social media on a daily basis, businesses are learning that by supplementing their search engine optimization (SEO) strategy with this avenue for their marketing approach, they are reaching far more individuals.

SEO vs. Social Media 

With 2014 nearly upon us, businesses need to turn more to social media when marketing their brands. While SEO is still an important part of online marketing, social media is slowly catching it up in its usefulness. The popularity of social media can even be seen with search engines such as Bing, who take an individuals search and not only gives them the best search results but also compares their results with those of their Facebook friends. With Bing becoming nearly as popular as Google, it is obvious that the influence social media has on people’s everyday habits is substantial. It’s simply not possible to think as the two wings of the marketing machine as completely separate and distinct.

Businesses using Social Media


Many businesses have already realized this. In fact, in 2013 alone Facebook saw more businesses turn to the social media giant to advertise their Black Friday sales then any year before. As an example of just how important social media has become, here are ten big brands that have already supplemented their SEO with social media outreach, and have learned that it pays off in big numbers.

 1.   Argos - Social media has played big part in the evolution of the UK’s leading digital retailer (as the company now describes itself). One of the social principles of the brand is to be an active listener, responding quickly to customers queries on Twitter and Facebook. Also feedback received on the Argos Aliens ads via social media platforms led to the launch of the Alien children as collectable toys.

2.   Red Bull - No introduction needed to who or what Red Bull is. The company keeps their Facebook page upbeat, fun and exciting for their 32 million followers. Red Bull posts ‘full of energy’ photos of athletes, dancers and regular people enjoying life on their Facebook page. They also have more than 1 million Twitter followers.

3.   Starbucks has been known for a while as being one the best brands out there when it comes to social media use. They have it all, from Instagram to Twitter and Facebook. By promoting specials and new drinks, Starbucks has reached millions through their social media strategy.

4.   L'Oreal India decided to market their new hair color product known as Casting Creme Gloss, through their Facebook page. They created a Facebook app in which consumers who bought the hair product could enter a code found on the back of the product. From there the consumer could upload a video of themselves and a friend using the product to get a chance to star in an upcoming commercial. By offering this unique campaign, L'Oreal India saw a 45% increase in their sales.

5.   Shoppers Stop ran an exclusive offer on their Facebook page once they hit the 1 million fan mark by offering fans a special coupon deal. Within two days, the online retailer saw over 10,000 Facebook fans make purchases.

6.   Amazon may be one of the largest online retailers around, but they still use social media on a daily basis to promote their sales. In fact, they recently just ran a promotion in which Facebook users could share their wish list on Facebook in order to earn money off their next purchase.

7.   Carrabba’s, the Italian restaurant has seen a substantial growth in their sales since joining Facebook. By keeping their content always up-to-date, they have done an amazing job of keeping hungry eaters engaged with their page.

8.   Threadless was one of the early adapters to use Instagram for their marketing strategies. By sharing photos of new t-shirts on the popular social networking site, they have seen their products quickly become more popular around the world.

9.   H&M being one of the top 25 brands it’s no wonder that H&M are doing something right with regards to their social media. H&M has over 14 million fans on Facebook and updates its Facebook page several times a day. Competitions on Instagram included a chance for customers to win clothes from the H&M Brick Lane Bikes collection by posting photos of their best bike style image using the hashtag #HMBikeStyle. They also take advantage of Twitter and Google+ (with more than 2.5 million fans on G+) You can read about their social media strategy here.

10.   Hestia Tobacco - With tobacco slowly fading in popularity, Hestia Tobacco has used its Facebook profile to try and gain support. Through its social media approach, this small tobacco company earned itself a write-up from a giant business publishing group for its marketing approach.

11.   John Lewis had an excellent start to 2013, announcing a 44% increase in online sales over Christmas 2012. John Lewis doesn’t publish its own social media guidelines online however we know that content is key with a tailored approach for each social media channel. John Lewis keeps Facebook well updated and does a good job of interacting with fans. They use Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.

12.   JCPenney is one company that listened to their social media fans. During Black Friday last year many shoppers of the popular retail store were extremely disappointed and upset with their decision to discontinue the popular Disney Snow Globes. Through social media, consumers engaged with the retailer and were able to bring back the Snow Globes for the 2013 Holiday Season. By doing so, the declining retail giant saw an uptake in their sales this Black Friday.

13.   Seamless - an online service that features over 12,000 restaurant menus and discounts, has become popular through its social media marketing approaching reaching over 72,611 followers on Twitter and over 388,000 followers on Facebook.

The other seven

Click here to read detailed social media case studies of another 7 brands from 2013.

As you can see, social media is a great way to promote products and services online. With more and more people using social media as one of their trusted forms for gathering online information, businesses need to embrace this profitable marketing technique.

As a supplement for SEO, social media may even gain businesses more followers. In the year 2014, it’s no longer going to be just about where businesses’ websites falls in Google’s top 10, but how many Google+, Facebook and Twitter followers a company has.

To find out how angelfysh can help your business with SEO and Social Media get in touch today.