For starters, it’s important to have a holistic view of the brand experience and how it manifests across the various touchpoints. In the wake of new behaviors, devices and channels, an end-to-end approach is needed to drive value across digital—the kind that includes branding, creative, social, go-to-market, UX and more. On top of that, consumers crave personalization, which adds data management to the equation. In the past, these needs could’ve been met by hiring different providers for each. Now, we know that the brand experience is more than the sum of its parts, meaning there can’t be disconnections between them.

For Booking.com, this realization came into sharper focus as its SVP and Chief Marketing Officer Arjan Dijk set out to leverage the accelerated shift in consumer behavior and the post-pandemic rise of travel intent. This prompted his search for an end-to-end partner that could bring all digital disciplines together. Fast forward to today, we’re proud to announce Media.Monks is Booking.com’s new social partner of record, and we’ll work together to deliver a future-proofed social strategy that covers everything from content creation to data management.

When every brand is a social brand, creative differentiation matters.

As previously hinted, the biggest brands today are the ones driving culture, which means they found success in leading the conversation—not chasing trends. In that, the role of social media can’t be overlooked. Social is the barometer of culture—a fundamental indicator of what people find exciting, the problems they face and the issues they care about. It’s also the entry point for any brand looking to make an impact.

Doing so, however, may be harder than it sounds. Creative competition is becoming fiercer, especially in the new era of virtualization. Consumers’ voices are stronger, expectations around personalization are higher, and audiences are well aware of the value of their data, money and attention—meaning they demand a clear value exchange. Meeting those needs is no easy feat, but here’s the good news: communities are hungry for opportunities to co-create alongside brands, and those who provide those opportunities for them will be greatly rewarded. 

In any case, this has prompted a new urgency for creative differentiation. To that end, having a partner of record can help. While consultancies spend more time consulting than creating, a partner of record is fully immersed in the day-to-day of working in data management, content creation, creative editorial, digital media and beyond. That constant exchange of insights and expertise is key to engaging with audiences on social media, where delivering relevant content can be challenging and coming across as authentic is table stakes. 

Creative innovation is a mindset, not a sum of capabilities.

To seize cultural opportunities as they arise, a brand and its partners need to be quick on the draw. That means not only delivering with speed-to-market, but also coming up with creative ideas in the first place. A social partner of record fosters that by having a constant exchange of knowledge and ideas with the brand. While the brand’s input is key to crafting a story that’s true to its identity, the social partner provides unique perspectives that come from years of working with thousands of clients in different industries. And because they work so closely together, they operate as one well-oiled machine.

With Booking.com, we’re building on a long-standing relationship with a history of driving value through culturally-relevant campaigns. Not long ago, we helped the brand show up across cultures during the world’s largest musical event, Eurovision. Through an integrated strategy that included everything from influencer partnerships to content creation, we inspired audiences to experience the music, language and cultures that Europe has to offer—fostering meaningful conversations between influencers from different countries. And on the day of the event, we enticed the audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes content from the venue.

This, of course, is only the beginning. For Booking.com, the new, integrated social strategy includes managing PR campaigns, starting a global TikTok channel, doing a community management tune-up, adding paid social to the mix and aligning on how to communicate with the audience across platforms. “We will expand our partnership into end-to-end social that includes the launch of the first Booking.com TikTok channel, paid social, influencer marketing, community management and social strategy,” says Cedric Brunings, Head of Social Growth EMEA. “We will put together a team of social talent in Amsterdam and Madrid that will be fully dedicated to enhancing the brand’s social media presence.”

While mastering a variety of capabilities is key to seizing opportunities at the speed of social, it’s having the right mindset that sets you up for success. This means not only being adept at identifying the places, events or spaces where your brand should engage, but also knowing how you can show up authentically in every instance. That is why a social partner of record joins the conversations further upstream: because it helps marketing teams gain awareness on upcoming opportunities.

Working as Booking.com’s social partner of record, our job is to bridge innovative thinking with end-to-end creativity and speed-to-market to enable the brand to show up for consumers across platforms, regions and languages.

The role of digital communities is multifaceted and growing—not just to connect with loved ones or those who share similar interests, but to also gain information and understanding of the world around us. In short, digital communities aren’t just for the bottom of the social media marketing funnel any longer. For today’s virtualized era, they play a significant role in driving purchasing decisions, arguably more than traditional advertising. My colleague Ryan Ford aptly put it this way: “TikTok made me buy it isn’t just a meme; it’s a powerful driver of social proof.” Given the elevated role that communities play in consumers’ lives today, brands must infuse community across their digital marketing strategy—an important tactic behind brand virtualization as brands aim to remain relevant within a new era in digital. Here’s how you can.

Bringing users closer to your brand.

Communities thrive on human-to-human connection. In realizing the power they have to forge deep relationships, savvy brands are tapping into communities’ highly engaged members and the key opinion leaders (KOLs) they admire—an approach to marketing that’s built around driving conversation, not conversion.

Acting with a sense of purpose is key to supporting—not exploiting—the communities that your audience has carefully built, and this reinforces communities’ power to validate or amplify a brand’s values. For example, OPPO realme’s inspiring and inclusivity-minded campaign exemplified the power of community by featuring local influencers known to defy the status quo in their own communities. A brand film championed the pursuit of their individual and collective truths—a rallying cry that resonated so well that it achieved 1.5 billion topic engagements in just two weeks.

There are many more ways brands can effectively and authentically engage with existing communities—or maybe even launch their own. To know how to best plug into communities, it’s helpful to understand the different kinds that exist.

Personal interest communities.

Platforms focused on user-generated content like Reddit and Discord are examples of personal interest communities. Diverse groups of highly active users meet in these self-governed communities to share their interests and passions. Norms are unique to each one, making it important that brands understand their culture to engage with them authentically.

In some instances, personal interest communities cross social media platform lines, meaning that accounts set up on one social media platform may funnel users to another. For example, an instructor in sports anatomy may post an instructive video on Instagram that tells followers to tune in for a live Q&A session on TikTok. Another example, this time among gaming communities, is overlaying Discord chats on Twitch streams.

Brand-initiated communities.

Brand-initiated communities are communities built by brands that draw in audiences who align with their core values. Fitness giant Nike has cultivated its lifestyle communities via a range of apps and touch points such as Nike+ and Nike Running Club. These spaces allow Nike to actively engage not just individuals, but also their personal circles, by allowing consumers to share their own fitness and lifestyle goals with like-minded friends within the Nike ecosystem.

LG recently took an approach that blended key aspects of both personal interest and brand-initiated communities. Partnering with Star Wars to promote its OLED TV, LG launched a Discord server focused on the sci-fi franchise in conjunction with its presence at the Star Wars Celebration held at Anaheim Convention Center.

To entice fans to join the new Discord community, LG handed out lenticular cards with a QR code that directly linked visitors to the group. Merging product demonstration with digital activation, an LG TV acted like a photo booth for visitors to take photos from. Animated photos could also be retrieved digitally from the Discord channel.

KOL-led communities.

KOL-led communities are centered around key opinion leaders and are ready made for brands to tap into. Much like brand-initiated communities, KOLs attract followers who align with their personal values and enjoy the content they put out. Therefore, brands partnering with KOLs can associate themselves with values of those community and the positive associations that come with them.

Automobile innovator Kia engaged with KOL communities to great effect with their “Movement that inspires” rebranding campaign. Kia created a virtual instrument using high-resolution music samples captured from nature. Partnering with Soundcloud, Kia then launched a music competition with its freely available virtual instrument.

Media.Monks curated a list of prominent music producers known not just for their artistic ability, but also for their past work as advocates for the environment. This fostered genuine synergy between Kia’s rebranding and the music community and demonstrated to audiences how Kia is both sophisticated and conscious of sustainability.

In order to thrive, being genuine is key.

Connected by shared passions and values, audiences in social communities are incredibly engaged. Brands who immerse themselves in these spaces authentically have an opportunity to gain new fans and drive culture in compelling ways.

Staying true to your brand’s values and being consistent in how you show up—despite the fleeting and fickle nature of social media—instills trust. By fueling conversation and supporting audiences, brands can build deeper relationships with consumers and position themselves at the forefront of how people connect today.

Access the issue now and you’ll learn:

• Game theory and its role in motivating choices and interaction
• How to seamlessly integrate actions between physical and virtual spaces
• How to build a sense of belonging in spaces like the metaverse by enabling a sense of play

It’s all in the name, because collaborating with digital creators has proven to be one very effective way for brands to work their crowd. With influencers and creators—yes, they are different and the report will tell you why—the “creator economy” has rapidly expanded to a $20 billion industry. As such, it’s a growing focus for brands in catching the attention of consumers. This fast-expanding segment of our industry is driven by the ease of producing high-quality creative content, forging connections over shared interests and passions, and serving the desire for an authentic community. 

Gaming, our Social Innovation Lab highlights, is a great example of an industry where this creator economy can thrive, as it offers a digital space where influencers and creators, like livestreamers, are consistently strengthening connections with their communities at the intersection of content and entertainment. While the report touches on several areas where digital creators are adding depth, let’s use this space to dive into gaming and explore why it’s not only super fun, but also super efficient in speaking to your audience. 

Getting Ahead Of The Game 

As social distancing reigned these past two years, many people moved from physical to virtual worlds in search of new forms of entertainment. As such, it may not come as a surprise that the global gaming market has grown 21.9% compared to pre-pandemic levels, Statista reports. In 2020, there were nearly 2.7 billion active gamers worldwide and this number continues to grow, especially among Gen Z. The gaming industry has an incredible global reach—and leading brands are taking note, increasingly embracing this culture with open arms. 

“The gaming industry, particularly the culture, is becoming more crucial for every brand that wants to survive in the next twenty to thirty years. This has everything to do with upcoming generations, who will grow older and with time gain more buying power,” says Funs Jacobs, our Gaming Category Lead. “81% of Gen Z’ers have played video games—the highest share of any generation—so if you fail to understand this culture, you’re going to miss the connection with this audience and every following generation.” Check out our podcast episode with Funs Jacobs. 

So, collaborations between brands and gaming platforms are not just becoming more common, but also more serious, with the former owning virtual spaces inside video games or even producing their own unique, artistic gamified experiences. That said, the gaming industry is completely new territory and vastly different from what brands are used to creating in collaboration with influencers. Nevertheless, many industries don’t shy away from a challenge. Fashion and luxury, which is known for its innovative spirit and commitment to speaking to the moment and shifts in culture, was one to quickly tap into the upcoming gaming trend. Nike, for example, recently built its metaverse store Nikeland in Roblox, allowing nearly 7 million visitors worldwide to try on virtual products and play various games. Through such gaming platform collaborations, fashion brands are able to gamify their virtual products, thereby making the shopping experience all the more exciting. 

Livestream to Streamline Your Community Engagement 

Talking about excitement, live action is indispensable to a gamified brand experience in an era of digital creators. While gaming was originally a digital experience that combined gameplay, interactivity and narrative, it now also entails streaming technologies that enable the creation of online communities centered on the acts of playing and watching. Nowadays, popular game streamers are able to interact and connect with fans around the world and across platforms like Twitch, Instagram and YouTube. Brands want to reach audiences far and wide, whereas streamers want to be sponsored and earn an income from doing what they love. So, it wasn’t long before the two joined forces—it’s a true win-win. 

Community-building is central to the gaming experience. “Communities are being formed in and around gaming, which is fascinating,” says Jacobs. “However, many brands don’t have a strong community at the moment. They may have fans, but they don’t have that 360-degree relationship with their consumers—and that is something that needs to change in order for brands to survive.” Through collaborations with game streamers, brands are able to tap into diverse digital communities. Within these communities, the work of game streamers especially contributes to building an environment in which fans are not just entertained, but also gain a sense of belonging. 

Our Social Innovation Lab argues that “community” is the new version of word-of-mouth, and the opinions of people who are influential online can either boost or block sales. Belonging, information-sharing and the demand for a product are all stimulated by the powerful influence that digital communities can wield. Moreover, they provide a very useful space for brands to gather insights and feedback. So, by getting to know the digital community and looking closely at its behaviors, preferences and needs, brands have a unique opportunity to deliver tailored products, services and content. In other words, the digital community is an innovative, effective and fast-paced way for brands to sell directly to their consumers in the social media space—but more about community commerce can be found in the report. 

Forecasting The Future Of Creators  

While subcultures and tight-knit communities interacting across platforms characterize gaming culture today, it could look completely different tomorrow. The industry is growing, innovating and evolving faster every day. Fortunately, we now know that brands are paying close attention to these important developments. Always ahead of the industry, our Social Innovation Lab expects that one will be metaverse integration, predicting that in the next five years game streamers will interact with fans through their avatars in the metaverse while wearing virtual products and playing games together. Again, both efficient and super fun. 

What else do we think might change? Explore the report and find out more about the current state and future of digital creators.

On occasion, people’s particular interests grow into communities, and these communities evolve into subcultures. These subcultures come with beliefs, codes and languages that challenge the status quo and stoke the fire of societal change. But how do brands participate in this cultural transformation, and how can they authentically engage with them to resonate with society?

In the second edition of Social Bites, a series of quick explorations on various social media themes, the Social Innovation Lab delves into subcultures and how they can be woven into brands’ overall social marketing strategy. You can find the issue of Social bites here, along with some of our key findings below. 

Feeding Culture

While subcultures tend to begin in niche communities, they are quickly bleeding into the mainstream in society’s constant pursuit of novelty. The younger generation in particular is very welcoming of new ways of being, as they are more open to new identities and values that can help shape their own. 

Subcultures often break into the mainstream by permeating fashion, aesthetics and entertainment. Drag culture is a great example of this. With ideals of diversity and inclusivity, its values transcended marginalization and paved the way for a new era of fluid identities and entertainment—think RuPaul’s Drag Race and innovative beauty tutorials. In connecting with those subcultures, brands need to look at the values and ideals that come with it, as they offer a glimpse of shifts in societal values and cultural concerns. The goal is not to appropriate these subcultures; it’s supporting their ideals with authenticity.

Powering Communities in Social Media

Today, subcultures are born in social media and powered by it. Reddit, TikTok, Instagram and Tumblr play a fundamental role in community building, as they provide the digital spaces for people to connect with others. On these platforms, a subculture may even merge with another and form hybrid communities—a phenomenon prompted by the accelerated trends of the hyper-connected digital world and the app algorithms that connect the two with the same audience.

For brands, this serves as a guide on how communities are built and how novelty leads to excitement. While weaving these learnings into their cultural strategy, it’s important to remember that it’s not about trying to predict what subcultures will emerge; rather, it’s about cultivating them by being an active participant in today’s cultural scene. 

Achieving Social Cultural Insertion

To become a valuable player in social culture, brands need to acutely read their audience. The rise of a subculture on social media can be fast, so there’s no time to waste in becoming fluent in upcoming trends. The latest Social Bites report includes information on how brands can identify the rituals, habits and overall feel of a subculture to build a stronger cultural strategy that authentically supports those at the bleeding edge of culture. In this era of hyper-connectivity, brands can expect countless benefits from adapting fast to the evolving culture, as long as they approach their audience with transparency and purpose.

In their inaugural issue of Social Bites, a series of quick explorations into a monthly theme, the Social Innovation Lab puts a spotlight on fan communities to help brands better understand their motivations and attitudes. You can find the issue of Social bites here, along with a short summary of key ideas below.

What do we mean when we talk about fandom?

Built around shared passions, fandoms are communities of people who are more than just consumers of the stuff they enjoy—they're producers and creatives in their own right (think fan art, fan fiction, cosplay or even commentary channels). Fandom is an example of participatory culture, and subcultures and communities often feel a sense of fellowship through their shared interests and attitudes.

Consumer, fans and stans

There are three levels of fandom: the average consumer, the fan and the stan. Consumers are indiscriminate shoppers whose relationship with a brand is based on convenience—they show little to no loyalty. Fans are co-creators and promoters who are capable of amplifying a brand by word-of-mouth. A stan—a playful portmanteau of “stalker” and “fan”—are excessive in their enthusiasm and carry strong loyalty.

The Northstar of fandom

Properly tapping into a fandom effectively means making a match between your brand and your potential fans. Every fan has what we call an “inner mantra,” or a vision of who they are or long to be. A person's inner mantra is linked to their sense of identity—and in seeking new fans, brands should carefully consider how their implicit and explicit values connect and align to the attitudes and ambitions of potential fans.

Fandom tactics for brands

How to best connect with consumers, fans and stans depends on the actions of your audience, which you'll want to match in your own messaging. Our new issue of Social Bites explores some of the tactics available for brands to meet every level of fandom, along with examples of brands who have already captivated communities too much success.

This month we look at how social commerce is playing a role in the holiday shopping season, the influence of TikTok on social app development, and more. Find a quick look—and a link to the insights in full—below.

Brands canceling social media as a statement 

While it seems like everyone is on social media these days, some brands are intentionally absent. We take a look at the decision of Lush to deactivate its social media profiles as a statement on mental health. 

Baby Boomers and Gen X as the newest generation of social users 

The hottest audience on social media might not be who you think it is—Baby Boomers and Gen X. COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption within both generations, presenting new branding opportunities for marketers in 2022. 

Holiday live-streaming and changing social commerce landscape 

This holiday season, many marketers are looking to shorten the path to purchase. Social commerce and live-streaming opportunities present new purchase opportunities across social platforms. 

The influence of TikTok on social media app development

TikTok has taken the social world by storm and other platforms have taken notice. The latest updates across Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube look to take a page out of TikTok’s short video playbook.

Increasing interactivity on Instagram with ‘Add Yours’ 

This month Instagram launched the ‘Add Yours’ sticker aimed at increasing interactivity between users. We look at how this new feature has been received.