Why 'BarkBox' Gets Social Media Right
- fesce1
- Apr 1, 2016
- 3 min read
If you've never heard of BarkBox and you're dog parent, you might want to consider signing up. If you've never heard of BarkBox and you don't have a dog, you might still feel the urge to sign up. To make a long story short, BarkBox is a boutique pet supply company that sends its subscribers boxes filled with unique dog toys and treats each month. The company has grown tremendously since their start just three years ago; and their social media may be a reason why.
source: pando.com
On Facebook, BarkBox follows a very brand-centered social media model that focuses on content. Most of their post are shared from BarkPost, a dog-themed content site that offers helpful advice to dog owners such as "7 Ways To Protect Your Pup From Invasive Coyotes" to entertaining memes about silly dogs on the web. BarkBox knows that the general public loves dogs and they use that in their social media strategy. They post frequently, and many of the posts include images of CUTE dogs (let me TELL you.) Their nearly constant stream of content, made possible by their army of brand-ambassadors known as the "BarkPack" made up of over 500 internet dogs, elicits an awareness for the brand, which according to Evans' model then leads to consideration and possible purchase, or in this case, subscription.
BarkBox has nearly 2,000,000 likes on their Facebook page, and can elicit anywhere from 75 to 12k likes per post with a healthy amount of comments as well.
source: facebook.com
Similarly on Twitter, BarkBox uses the benefits of having very cute, furry brand-ambassadors who like to pose for Instagram photos. By posting consistent entertaining content that places dogs as the target "consumer," it draws in audiences who are not only seeking cute, entertaining posts to share or retweet, but to also consider subscribing to BarkBox to pamper their pup who they might consider to be a part of their family or their best friend. They have almost 50,000 twitter followers and over 16,000 likes on posts.
Instagram is BarkBox's hub for their brand ambassadors. The brand uses photos of the dogs to evoke consideration in their audience. But, while their ultimate goal is to gain subscribers, the page also raises awareness for important issues like homeless dogs in need of adoption and the importance of pet adoption. By creating the awareness for the value of dogs, pet owners feel the need to give their dog the best, and BarkBox does a great job at solidifying themselves as the best dog boutique. With over one million Instagram followers, they really get some tails wagging.
Source: Instagram.com
Feedback Cycle
As I said previously, in the master-generated portion of Evans' cycle, BarkBox focuses heavily on awareness, as represented through their social media content. Then, using their pure-play business model, they digitally evoke consideration which consumers eventually arrive at again in the feedback cycle. After consideration, if all goes well for BarkBox, there's a purchase (subscription) or conversion. Afterwards, the consumers use the product, which, for BarkBox, is a heavily involved step. For many subscription box services, the brand encourages the customer to take a picture and share it on their personal pages of their pup and their new swag. BarkBox is no different, before the customers even form an opinion on their new items, they share it with the world, many times to get BarkBox's attention (Everyone wants their pet to be insta-famous, don't lie.) So, BarkBox might hit the "talk" aspect of the feedback cycle multiple times. Finally, after they use the products and form an opinion, they have the opportunity to talk again, and BarkBox uses a research model to collect feedback from customers on what they like, don't like, or would like to see change in. BarkBox can easily respond to feedback by changing what's in the boxes and can personalize them, to an extent, for loyal customers in return.
Four-Step Engagement Process
As Evans' describes, there is a way to measure engagement past just consumption. The four-tiered model starts at consumption, which is simply consuming digital content; the next is curation, which is described at commenting, rating, or sorting the content; next is creation, where the user actually creates content which can be seen kind of like earned media; and finally the last step is collaboration, which is the "key inflection point in the realization of a vibrant community" (Evans). It's kind of like the ultimate hierarchy for good social media, and BarkBox hits all the steps. Their strongest step is creation, because a vast majority of their consumers take photos and videos of their pups and their boxes, even if they aren't brand-ambassadors in the "BarkPack"
A pup can dream, though.
Source: Evans, Dave. Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement.
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