Advertising Exercise - Social Media Platforms

From The Advertising Concept Book by Pete Barry. The exercise:

Social Media Platforms 

Pick three brands from the list and visit each Facebook page. Explore the content. How much of it is the same across each brand? What, if any, unique content is there?

Similarities

• Great, well-designed Facebook cover image
• Profile picture, usually features brand logo
• Videos, photos related to brand/product/service
• Share links from other sites featuring their brand (eg news articles)
• Posts commemorate world events, keeps updated with daily current affairs (eg anniversary of Nelson Mandela, New Year, Christmas)
• Features brand/product/service with exciting content that is popular with audience (eg MTV mentions hit TV show Teen Wolf, Red Bull shows videos of cars racing)
• Features new products (eg new Converse collection, upcoming Star Wars movie by Disney, new Galaxy phone by Samsung)
• Promotes offers (eg McDonald's Monopoly, Samsung $50 discount)
• Offers platform for customers to comment via Visitor's Posts (eg customer praising McDonald's staff, customer complaining about Oreo creme and asking Oreo to bring back the old creme, Starbucks customer enquiring why sugar-free caramel is no longer available online, Samsung customer asking if Samsung G8 will be released)
• Links to corporate website
• Good copywriting for every post!
• Tone sounds more informal, conversational, like talking to one's friend. (eg Red Bull: "Skillz", Starbucks: "Espresso + water + ice. #IcedAmericano ☕️😎☀️")
• Use of internet slang eg hashtags, emojis
• Lists upcoming events organised by brand (eg PlayStation Experience 2016, Red Bull Music Academy)

Unique Content

• Most of the Facebook pages are in English, but Coca-Cola has posts in different languages (eg English, Spanish, Thai)
• Tone and style differs across different brands/products/services. eg Converse is cool, Disney is more "childish", Oreo is more whimsical and fun
• Some brands have separate Facebook pages customised for different countries, in addition to a main international Facebook page (eg McDonald's Singapore, Samsung Singapore, Starbucks Singapore). These "localised" pages have more customised content, eg local promotions, photos of local celebrities at events.

Learning Points

• Have cohesive branding! (eg logo, cover image, colour palette, tone etc)
• Have more visuals! Photos, videos are more exciting than just text. (Every post is a photo/video, accompanied by copy, rather than just text alone.)
• Encourage interaction and sharing! (eg links, comments, Likes)
• Stay up-to-date! 
• Post content that audiences are interested in (eg reference to pop-culture, relate to their hobbies etc)
• Self-promote! (But not in an "in-your-face" "hard" sell way, but more subtle "soft" selling.)
• Give exclusive incentives and special offers! (eg discounts, games, special events)
• Be friendly! (You can be more informal and light-hearted on social media. Make the customers feel like you are their friend.)
• Inform customers! (eg tell them about new product releases, upcoming events)
• General and customised. (It may be a good idea for international brands to have a separate local page for each country, to make the content more relevant and relatable on a local level.)
• Social media marketing is all about the people