Personal care brands have drastically altered their social media strategy in the past year, according to L2’s Digital IQ Index®: Personal Care. In the early days of social media, maximizing visibility on Facebook meant frequent posts. Now, as Facebook becomes a pay-to-play platform that diminishes the visibility of organic content, brands are seeing better results by making fewer posts but backing them with aggressive spending.
The strategy of personal care brands reflects this shift. More than 95% of brands in L2’s Personal Care Index maintain an active Facebook presence, but post frequency has fallen by nearly 40% since Q3 last year. A case in point is Dove, which has not posted on its U.S. page since May.
However, the decline seems to be a strategic choice. Olay achieved the largest share of voice on Facebook among Personal Care brands for three quarters in a row, despite posting fewer times. And while Olay’s posts have decreased in number, each post generates almost twice as many interactions as last year – suggesting that the brand is investing more in promoting each post.
Twitter is an exception to this rule, as resonant organic content often performs better than commercial posts. For example, Old Spice has done well on Twitter by using sarcasm and Internet memes to craft a distinct voice reflecting its irreverent brand identity. The brand increased followers by 19% between April and August, largely due to a series of inventive campaigns on non-traditional media such as Imgur and Twitch.
Unilever brands Dove and Degree also perform well on Twitter, averaging eight times more interactions than the typical Index brand. Degree’s recent #WhatMovesYou campaign demonstrates the brand’s strategy on the platform. The campaign builds on Degree’s sponsorship of popular television show “So You Think You Can Dance,” using related content to promote the newest Degree MotionSense product. Brand tweets featuring the campaign hashtag performed 13% better – suggesting that brands can leverage popular events as an alternative or in addition to paid advertising.