With brands increasingly disappearing from news feeds, ephemeral content such as Instagram Stories are key to staying visible and top-of-mind in 2018. By leveraging these features on an ongoing basis, users will continue to see your brand and can then search back to your profile to view more, like, comment, and tag, which will further boost your impressions by putting you back in their newsfeed and in front of the eyes of their following. In 2017, we saw Snapchat and Instagram stories begin getting access to linking. This has already caused a big splash in influencers driving sales through these mediums. “I expect marketers and influencers to find new and creative ways to leverage the creative, ephemeral, and highly engaging medium of stories to drive massive sales and traffic.” Says Sydney Liu cofounder of Commaful. Have you ever read a post by your favourite blogger, seen a product recommendation from them, and snapped it up right away? This is influencer marketing in action.By utilizing the voice of well-connected people in your niche, you can reach an audience that’s relevant and already engaged to make more sales. And, when 75% of consumers are more likely to buy something based on a reference on social media, it’s easy to see why influencer marketing is heating up.

Nostalgia is alive and well among the fashion industry. Consumers who are longing for styles of past generation are influencing organizations to bring back products from the 50s and 60s. In a recent nostalgia-driven feud, Adidas and Nike both brought back retro offerings, Adidas with their Superstar and Nike with their Cortez shoe. Both were wildly popular shoes of the past, yet only one of the two successfully made a comeback. Why did the Superstar win the retro battle and the Cortez fall flat? Adidas understands how to use social media to influence shoe-culture.

It’s the wold’s most valuable sports brand. And it all began when founder Phil Knight decided to start selling track shoes out of the trunk of his car in 1976. Today, Nike is a global athletic shoe and apparel juggernaut, with a brand value of nearly $15 billion U.S. But a string of public controversies in the 1990s and early 2000s over the working conditions at some of Nike’s factories around the world threatened to derail close to 20 years of brand building in one fell swoop. Allegations of child labour, poor wages and dangerous working conditions at various locations in its global supply chain triggered widespread protests and seriously threatened Nike’s very existence. And while the company initially denied any claims of wrongdoing, further damaging its reputation, it eventually responded with humility and transparency. Today, Nike makes its supply chain practices transparent and available online and uses social media in various forms to actively listen to and engage with its stakeholders in order to influence where and how its products are designed and manufactured – all critical elements of effective, and modern, supply chain management.

Competition and teamwork is at the core of human motivation. What many of us struggle to achieve on our own, without supervision and benchmarks, can often be achieved when we are pushed beyond our comfort zone and joined by others with a common goal. Nike has repeatedly leveraged this fundamental element of human nature, and has successfully gamified the typical shopping experience through their online community: NikePlus.  

If there is one company who knows how to engage their consumers with the use of social media, it’s definitely Nike! From their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube pages, their customer following is in the masses, their hashtags have been used by millions, and their videos have been shared and watched by all! Nike has even created separate product pages and accounts for their different sports categories to cater to each and every type of Nike product user- accounts like Nike Running, NikeWomen , and even Nike Basketball can be followed by all. Whether you run, are looking for inspiration, or just wear their products for comfort or fashion; Nike’s social media pages are for everyone. They have even used their Twitter account to interact with their customers and provide advice and customer service to their followers. How exciting is it when Nike decides to reply to one of your tweets!? Nike has definitely become a huge success in the world of hashtags, sharing, and “going viral”. If you don’t see yourself as a frequent Nike user, I am sure that you have come across a Nike Video once or twice on your favourite social media account…and you’ve probably watched it too! Below is a popular “Snow Day” video that was released on Nike’s social media pages. This 2 minute clip features a number of pro athletes such as pro football players Rob Gronkowski and Ndamukong Suh and has been watched more than 10 million times on Youtube and 8.5 million times on Facebook!