The only thing Innocent is guilty of is finding out how.
Today, every brand needs to have a distinct social media presence. However, it can be difficult to distinguish your business from competitors without compromising your brand identity. For Innocent, a B corporation that sells health drinks, the best way to do this was by aiming for relatability from the very start.
Seems simple, doesn’t it? Maybe even obvious? But it’s harder than it looks.
For some brands, trying to relate to younger audiences can come off as fake, off-putting, or perhaps cringe-worthy. And shifting the tone and personality of your profiles towards this could be risky if that hasn’t already been your image in the public eye.
Often, these ‘relatable’ phrases and personalities are too similar to the thousands of other companies trying to do the same thing. So, if they try and adjust towards them, the brand runs the risk of coming off as a copier or a follower of trends as opposed to the trendsetter.
In an article for Digiday, Kimeko McCoy writes:
It’s internet snark or a chronically online style of humor, mirroring how people talk online and centered around things like the TikTok girl dinner trend, engagement posts that pose a question or catch phrases like IYKYK (if you know, you know) or calling users besties. All said, it creates a social media landscape in which many brands sound the same, sacrificing individual brand voice to boost engagement online.
Kimeko McCoy, 2023
It’s a series of troubles that new brands must understand before developing their social media strategy. So, how has Innocent succeeded?
First they’ve built this branding for years. This long-term strategy has become the first thing new fans see and has remained consistent for older fans. Even if they didn’t begin their social media presence this way, the amount of time they’ve spent cultivating this identity means that this is who they’ve become. So, while changing your brand personality may result in issues initially, keeping to it will result in recognition of this branding from consumers at the very least.
Next, it feels authentic. It doesn’t feel as though they are always trying to sell their followers on something which may seem problematic for a company selling a product. However, when they post about random topics like ‘rules of December’ (seen below) and don’t even mention their product, it makes the account feel conversational as opposed to transactional. This makes followers want to engage with them because it’s fun and quirky.
The company also loves posting content of its employees, making the account feel very personal while emphasizing the ‘local business’ feeling that audiences get from its online presence even if it has grown to be much larger.
Lastly, the Innocent engages with the audience just as much as they engage with it. They respond in the comments, create humorous interactive posts like word searches that say ‘Please buy our drinks’, and even comment on posts they’ve been tagged in. They go out of their way to interact with people, never once sacrificing their brand personality for a comment that might seem ‘more appropriate’.
It’s certainly strange that a company that posts maybe once a week on a given social media platform has garnered such a large and committed following, but the results haven’t come from sheer luck. Innocent has created an incredibly personal brand that feels uniquely their own yet follows trends and shares similarities with other brands. Their reputation has only grown because of it.
Sources:
https://www.instagram.com/innocent/?hl=en
https://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/home
https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/innocent-drinks-marketing-strategy