Introduction
Social media has been a colossal tool of contemporary marketing used by companies. Given millions of social media users worldwide on social media platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, companies are in a better place for reaching their target audience and thus engage with their potential customers. Adidas is one of the most reputable brands in the world. The company is known for high-quality sportswear. The company has integrated social media as a prominent product marketing tool. Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms Adidas has leveraged for marketing. With over 27 million followers on Instagram, Adidas has a robust online presence and has been able to connect with its customers, promote events, and showcase its products. Thus, Adidas has been able to use social media as a marketing tool to engage consumers and grow its brand, making it the biggest merchandise company in the world in terms of revenue, sales, and brand loyalty among its customers.
Adidas Social Media Background
Adidas is the largest company in Europe and has companies under it such as Reebok, Runstatic, and Taylor made-Adidas Golf Company (Majcen, 2020). Adidas has a long history of using social media to connect with its customers and promote its products. Adidas first launched its YouTube handle in 2007 as an advertisement strategy. In 2011, Adidas partnered with Twitter under the hashtag #miadidas, where customers got the chance to customize their Adidas shoes to their preferences. In 2012, Adidas launched its first Instagram account and the “Here to Create” campaign to engage its customers, encouraging them to exhibit their creative process (Arlinghaus & Antons, 2022). Fast forward to 2019, Adidas launched the “Run for the Oceans” campaign. The Run for the Oceans campaign was established with the aim of creating awareness about environmental conservation. This was a strategy that incorporated the emphasis on the current issue of climate change and thus was a strategy that resonated with their environmentally conscious customers.
Adidas uses its different social media platforms in different ways while interacting with its customers and reaching out to potential customers. For example, the company uses Instagram to interact with its customers in a more visually appealing way because Instagram is known for sharing visuals, photos, and videos. Thus, through its Instagram, the company handles posts images and videos of athletes and other celebrities in Adidas outfits. Adidas uses WhatsApp in a more interactive way. The company launched a WhatsApp chatbot where customers can communicate with Adidas customer care service in real time (Arlinghaus & Antons, 2022). Through the WhatsApp chatbot, customers can receive answers to their queries and provide feedback on the company’s products. Consequently, Adidas engages its online audience through its YouTube account to showcase its products in action (Arlinghaus & Antons, 2022). Given that YouTube supports longer videos, unlike other social media platforms, the company uses an advertising strategy showing videos on how their products are made while maintaining the highest standards and with the products in use. Adidas categorizes the techniques of marketing through different platforms to cater to the different needs of their customers differently while prioritizing the target audience. For example, Twitter is known for having a knowledgeable and engaged audience. Therefore, Adidas uses the platform to tweet about sporting events and any developments within the company while using humor and clever word plays to engage the audience.
Adidas’ Use of Instagram in Marketing Communication
The use of visuals in marketing is a primary strategy used by many marketers to engage their audience by capturing the attention of online users. According to Haenlein et al. (2020), Instagram is known for visuals with minimal text. Thus, it becomes a good platform for marketing. According to John (2020), the use of visuals in marketing has several advantages, which Adidas has leveraged through the use of Instagram.
Memory retention. Using visuals online when interacting with customers is likely to create a lasting memory among the audience, which can lead to brand recognition that online users can remember for a long time (Sample et al., 2020).
Attention-grabbing. Visuals quickly grab the attention of online users compared to the use of texts; thus, users are likely to pay more attention to visuals on online platforms.
Emotional connection. Visuals can evoke emotions among viewers online, making it easier for them to connect with the message the brand tries to pass across, thus increasing the chances of customer retention (John, 2020).
Prompt Communication. Images and visuals can pass complex information and ideas more than the use of texts. For example, online users can understand the message behind an image compared to a long-written post which may deem boring (Sample et al., 2020). The use of visuals through Instagram has been Adidas’s essential tool for marketing which has helped the company create a massive impact of advertising campaigns.
Significance of Instagram in Reference to the 5 Steps of the Purchase Process Model
Using Instagram has proven to be a powerful tool used by Adidas throughout the five steps of the purchase process model customers go through in a significant way, as analyzed below.
Increase Awareness. The goal of increasing awareness as the first step of the purchase process is creating awareness of the product Adidas provides to its target audience. Adidas uses Instagram to boost the awareness of its products by showcasing visually appealing images and graphics that capture the attention of online viewers (Zhu et al., 2020); (John, 2020). Adidas partners with celebrities and athletes who use Adidas products to reach new audiences, thus increasing brand awareness.
Influence Desire. Once the targeted audience gets aware of a given product by Adidas, the preceding step is to influence the audience’s desire to acquire it. Adidas uses Instagram to influence desire by using the services of the platform, such as IGTV, stories, and reels. The company provides additional information in the form of videos that expresses the unique advantages and features of the product offered. In-depth information on a given product through the platform fuels the desire among the targeted audience to acquire the products or services offered by Adidas.
Encourage Trial. After gaining interest in a given product, the next step entails encouraging them to try it. Encouraging trials can be done by offering discounts, offering free samples, and or promotions. Adidas uses Instagram to encourage trials by utilizing the platform’s shopping features embedded within the platform. The availability of the shopping feature on Instagram encourages users to try out the products and services offered without leaving the site.
Facilitate Purchase. The fourth step is to make the purchasing process more accessible and more convenient for the targeted audience. Adidas uses the shopping feature on its platform to make purchases easy and convenient for users to make purchases. To make it even more convenient, the shopping feature provides multiple payment alternatives; thus, the target audience can opt for the methods they deem convenient.
Cement Brand Loyalty. The goal for any company offering products and services is to create brand loyalty by offering quality products and, thus, customer retention. Brand loyalty can be actualized by providing stellar and prompt customer service (Haeruddin, 2021). Adidas, through its Instagram platform, provides customers with the ability to provide feedback and ask queries concerning the company’s products. It is important to note that engaging customers through social media increases the chances of brand retention among them, which is a precursor to brand loyalty.
Social Influence Theory in Marketing
In addition, the use of Instagram as a marketing platform by Adidas has been anchored by social media marketing concepts such as the social influence theory. The social influence theory suggests that people’s behavior is significantly influenced by the opinions, attitudes, and actions of other people they see around them (Hu et al., 2019). In the marketing context, this theory can be used to influence people to purchase a product by using the influence of others. One of the main applications of this theory in Adidas’s marketing is the use of Instagram influencers, celebrities, and athletes to influence its social media audience and other potential customers to purchase the company’s products. Thus, potential customers are able to make purchases of products, given the influence of their favorite celebrities.
Another application of the social influence theory in Adidas’s marketing is through showing social responsibility (Hu et al., 2019). Many online users are influenced by campaigns that address social issues. For example, Adidas runs a campaign dubbed ‘Run for the Oceans’ where Adidas emphasizes environmental awareness and the need to keep our oceans clean for human sustainability. By emphasizing social awareness through social media, potential audiences who are environmentally conscious and campaigning against environmental pollution get to resonate well with the brand, thus increasing the chances of gaining more followers and customers from Instagram.
Discussions and Suggestions
Adidas is one of the companies that has invested its marketing resources towards using Instagram to communicate and engage its customers and other potential customers to opt for its products. Using social media has seen the company grow its customer base globally. However, as much as using Instagram to reach its potential customers has seen Adidas being the most prominent sports brand in the world, using the platform exhibits strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the brand.
Strengths. One of the main strengths of using Instagram in consumer outreach is the large and engaged user base, thus providing Adidas with a broad audience for their marketing campaigns and strategies. Additionally, Instagram is a visual platform, thus being a consummate platform for showcasing its products in high-quality detail.
Weaknesses. One main weakness of using Instagram is oversaturated nature of the platform. Instagram stands out as a very competitive platform where other rivaling brands such as Nike and Under Armour are competing for the attention of users; thus, it is challenging for Adidas to stand out from the rest. In addition, Instagram algorithms keep fluctuating and are unpredictable. Thus, Adidas finds it challenging to sustain congruous levels of user audience outreach.
Opportunities. Instagram has storytelling features embedded within the platform. Therefore, Adidas can leverage this feature to tell spellbinding stories concerning their brand, new developments, and their values to engage their Instagram audience further.
Threats. One of the biggest threats Adidas faces through the use of Instagram as a marketing platform is the increased number of budding companies providing the same products and services as Adidas. As more and more brands flock to Instagram, Adidas may find it challenging to sustain online competition.
It is important to note that the brand-customer relationship is crucial for the sustainability of a brand through customer retention and loyalty. Currently, Adidas only engages its customers through the customer service handle. Enhancing customer relations that could lead to retention and loyalty requires Adidas to engage its customers more through the comment sections and direct messages on the company’s main Instagram handle. This keeps its online followers captivated and engaged. Additionally, Instagram algorithms keep changing. Also, many budding companies offering the same products are leveraging social media to engage their audiences. Therefore, Adidas, through Instagram, needs to maintain consistency in its posting schedule to keep its followers engaged and up to date on its products and services.
References
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Haenlein, M., Anadol, E., Farnsworth, T., Hugo, H., Hunichen, J., & Welte, D. (2020). Navigating the New Era of Influencer Marketing: How to be Successful on Instagram, TikTok, & Co. California management review, 63(1), 5-25, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0008125620958166
Haeruddin, M. I. W. (2021). The Influence of Brand Equity on Consumer’s Purchase Decision: A Quantitative study. PINISI Discretion Review, 4(2), 211-220, DOI: 10.26858/pdr.v4i2.19698
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Majcen, A. (2020). Adidas AG: powerful brand making strides in key markets (Doctoral dissertation), https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1160&context=honorstheses
Sample, K. L., Hagtvedt, H., & Brasel, S. A. (2020). Components of visual perception in marketing contexts: A conceptual framework and review. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, 405-421, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00684-4
Zhu, L., Li, H., Wang, F. K., He, W., & Tian, Z. (2020). How online reviews affect purchase intention: a new model based on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework—Aslib Journal of Information Management, 72(4), 463-488, https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-11-2019-0308.
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