Just scrolling will give you an adrenaline rush. Every click will shock and amaze you. Double tapping feels like drinking from the Fountain of Youth. But that’s not why Digital Information World reported that it’s the most popular F&B brand Instagram account.
With over 16 million followers and an average ER of 20%, Red Bull passes the average brand account engagements by almost 18%.
So how do they do it?
Similar to trends we see in social and video-form advertising, brands continue to seek less intrusive avenues to persuade consumers. Red Bull follows all the boasted best-practices, but in a natural and truly enticing way.
Instead of asking questions in captions to encourage user responses, they write things worth responding to. Like this video’s caption, for example.
This video received over 500 comments because it encouraged users to tag their friends without telling users to tag their friends. In a way, creating humor with your audience is a way brands can game-ify interactions. While users fight over who’s funnier, or gets the most attention, Red Bull sits back and racks up the ER.
Instead of telling consumers what the brand pillars are, Red Bull celebrates boldness, action and energy with every piece of written and visual communication. They show the brand personality in a creative and compelling way. The videos of bike races, skydiving, and other limit-pushing activities are so gripping and cool that you almost forget this is a branded account. It’s the same reason Netflix and TikTok have been so successful in increasing our screentime – they make us forget we are consuming.
Strong content is just the first step. Red Bull’s social branding is effective because it goes beyond what is needed to be a successful brand instagram. It follows larger communication trends from game-ification, to subliminal branding, to native advertising that keeps consumers engaged longer.