What is the Corporate Disconnect?
The corporate disconnect is when a brand creates a large social media following and receives minimal engagement. The following is created by brand interest, then their audience is turned off by their content, lack of brand engagement, etc.
Who is my Audience?
Think about your audience, specifically in off-road racing or motorsports. Who are they? How do they talk? What do they talk about? What makes them laugh? What gets a "Hell yeah brother!" kind of response?
In motorsports, your audience is mostly male, and out in the field cutting up, having a good time, talking about the last race, discussing a new product, or something along those lines. The level of politically correctness is usually low, and people are out to escape their corporate life.
When they log into social media, they are already getting blasted with the news, mind numbing PC content, ads, and sales pitches. If your brand falls into this category, they aren't going to want to engage with it. Over time, the algorithms are going to quit displaying your content to them.
Why does this happen?
I have witnessed the corporate disconnect happen for three main reasons:
- Someone uninvolved in the industry is put a the helm of their page. They do not understand the industry and create content that doesn't resonate with their audience. It comes off as a sales pitch, inauthentic, or generally not interesting.
- There are too many corporate restrictions on what they can post and the posts have to be approved by someone who has always had a corporate background. A corporate image is usually clean, non-controversial, and consists of layouts from Canva or similar apps that get the point across in the least creative way possible.
3. They were led to believe that sponsoring the highest profile athletes will build their brand. Sponsoring Eli Tomac may seem like the marketing breakthrough a company is looking for, until they constantly share posts of him clearing a quad or taking a win. Everyone has seen him do the same thing since before he turned pro, and their feeds are littered with this content already. An effective sponsorship has the athlete promoting YOUR product exclusively on some occasion. It's up to you to design a marketing strategy to make your return worth your investment.
So What Does my Audience Want?
If you are trying to sell a product or promote your brand, you need to create content that shows you're actively participating in the industry, content that is relatable, fun, and can . Your audience needs to exist before you can begin selling. Not everything needs to be a sales pitch - that will hurt your long term branding, drop your engagement, and reduce your ability to sell!
People do not get fired up over sales - they get fired up over seeing how your product can improve their hobby or racing program. This means you need to show, not tell. If your product is easier to install, demonstrate that. If your product has a competitive advantage through proprietary technology, demonstrate how that will improve their experience. Create a silly, goofy, or slightly controversial post every once in a while.
They also enjoy behind the scenes content. If you create your own products in-house, show them what sets you apart. What do you do differently? What is a cool or unique process that will resonate with an audience that is hands-on with building or tuning their own motorcycles, dirt bikes, or cars?
How do I use Controversial Posts?
Controversial posts do not mean giving your divisive views on politics, religion, crypto or any other trending mainstream media topic. It means sparking a conversation. Which riding area is the best? Why do you use one product over another? Is this old school technique still the way to go? Was Cooper Webb's pass clean or dirty?
Your audience gets enough of the news on TV and controversial opinions from their Aunt Karen at Thanksgiving dinner.