Social media best practices continue to evolve and savvy c-stores are adapting their strategies to drive engagement with customers across major social platforms in 2023.
Major c-store brands today are active on popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. C-store brands should consider joining TikTok in 2023, but to be successful they’ll need to consider how the platform differs from those that have come before it.
“TikTok is a platform for creators. It is not a place typically for highly polished or produced content. If you see something highly polished or produced, it’s probably an ad and it may or may not perform very well,” said Seth Bridges, founder of Rival IQ.
RivalIQ is a social media analytics software company that help brands measure their social media engagement and benchmark their performance against their competition and their broader industry. In December 2021, RivalIQ was acquired by NetBase Quid, a global provider of consumer and marketing intelligence.
When it comes to TikTok best practices, Rival IQ has found it’s important to find a person or small team to consistently get in front of the camera and drive the look, feel and presence of your brand, Bridges explained. Most of all, the content must be entertaining. Part of being entertaining might mean offering your chain’s take on popular sounds or trends.
“You can’t be successful if you can’t find a creator that understands TikTok, who uses TikTok, who gets every corner of what it means to be a successful creator and is okay with being in front of the camera,” Bridges said.
Content should feel native to TikTok, be posted regularly and maintain a consistent flavor. Bridges advised hiring a student who is already active on the platform as one solution.
“Now, we have, of course, (we have) oversight and we make sure they don’t do something that’s going to damage the brand, but these kids get it because this is their platform,” Bridges said.
Buy-in from leadership is key.
“You’ve got to build trust quickly, so that you can get these folks into a place where they can execute in a timely fashion,” he said. “If you want them to be able to capitalize on a bunch of these trends, you can’t wait a week to talk to your boss to pitch this idea to then do the work and then get it approved. It’s too late. … You’ve got to give these folks the reins … give them the trust and then let them continue to earn it, but let them execute. And I think you’ll find a lot of success.”
Videos, Influencers & More
Beyond TikTok, short-form video is popular across platforms. Both Instagram and Facebook feature Reels, and many brands repurpose TikTok videos across the channels.
“If you’re going to invest the time to be successful with short-form video, at this point, you should be thinking about how to do it well on TikTok because everyone else is just copying that model,” Bridges said. “If you can invest, then you can probably find success with that content on Instagram and Facebook Reels as well.”
In 2023, Bridges expects to see more brands partnering with creators.
“There’s nothing wrong with ads, but there’s also nothing wrong with building partnerships with creators whose audience might have an affinity to your brand. And that paradigm can work on any channel. I think there’s no shame in saying, ‘I need to spend some dollars to get the right message in front of the right people,’” he said.
On Twitter, successful brands are finding positive things or funny things people say about them and turning them into content.
“I think with a little tech and a little bit of creativity, you can still create a lot of positive momentum for your brand here,” he said.
Don’t be afraid to reply to people and go back and forth in the comments, he advised. Opportunities exist to publicly “beef” with other brands. One brand might comment on TikTok, and the other brand might respond to them on Twitter, for example.
“This is just social media managers having a good time. But it works. It works,” Bridges said. “And so, I think you can’t be scared to do it, if it’s right for your brand.”
CStore Decisions recently released The 2023 Social Media Awards, powered by Rival IQ, which showcase the convenience store chains going above and beyond on social media today. Click here to download a free PDF of The 2023 Social Media Awards.
Download the Social Media Awards Podcast with Seth Bridges here.
