We’ve all enjoyed a Reese’s peanut butter cup at some point. Although Reese’s sits under Hershey’s umbrella, it stands on its own as an individual brand. This post will focus on Reese’s social presence in regards to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. I apologize in advance as this analysis will really have you craving a Reese’s.
Branding is all about consistency and Reese’s hits the nail on the head as far as their social channels go. Take a look at the Twitter screenshot below:
All of Reese’s social channels have the same icon, cover photo, handle, and bio. The consistency makes it easily identifiable as Reese’s page. Consistency doesn’t only involve the tangible aspects of social channels but it also takes into account less visible ones such as message and personality. Reese’s personality is rugged but more specifically, mischievous. The “Not Sorry” slogan, found in both images and the bio, emphasizes the mischief. As we go through the channels keep in mind the visual and non-visual components.
Facebook and Instagram
I’ve decided to group Facebook and Instagram as the content and upkeep is more or less the same. Reese’s posts several times a week on these two channels and most posts are product related with an occasional post about a random event, announcement or recipe. Postings are escalated during prime time holiday seasons such as Halloween, Christmas and Easter.
The Instagram screenshot to the right provides a visual of the content. As you can see, the posts are all product related and in the form of a short video clip. The color orange is one of the biggest distinctive brand assets Reese’s has and it is heavily utilized on the feed. In addition, the logo can be found on each and every post. The content, colors, and logos are the same across the entire feed on Instagram and Facebook. These visible attributes are clear as day by just looking at the screenshot or scrolling through the pages.
As far as personality goes, we need to take a look at the actual posts. Since Reese’s is known for mischief we want to make sure that their brand personality is consistent across posts. Since the posts are short videos, I’ve taken two screenshots per post in attempts to capture the whole thing. Take a look at the two posts below.
The tone of both captions is modern and in a sense “slick”. On the first post Reese’s uses satire to highlight how delicious their product is- so delicious that they are convincing people to ignore trick or treaters and treat themselves. As far as the second post goes, Reese’s uses street talk to settle the debate of whether Reese’s should be eaten at room temperature or chilled. Both posts speak to their audience, they are relatable and more importantly they are on brand in terms of visible and non-visible aspects.
Reese’s Twitter account takes a different approach in comparison to Facebook and Instagram. With over 300k followers Twitter is the second largest platform for the brand, falling behind Facebook. On Twitter, Reese’s retweets a lot of consumer content- for example someone finding a hidden Reese’s holiday edition in their home or a tweet that ranks them as the top candy in America. Recently, Reese’s twitter has been sports focused rather than product focused. This shift came in mid-November of 2019 when the brand capitalized on the Reese’s Senior Bowl- a game where senior players who are going to the NFL play with one another in a game to showcase their skills. In addition to the Senior Bowl, Reese’s has involved itself in March Madness as well. Now the page consists of a lot of retweets and March Madness promotion. Here is what Reese’s posts look like now on twitter.
Due to the sports focus, Reese’s has fallen slightly off brand on Twitter. The tone of voice that exerts mischief is nowhere to be found (or is to be found after tons of scrolling). When you go on the page looking for #notsorry posts you’re overwhelmed with sports posts. There is a sense of inconsistency. Reese’s can’t afford to be off brand at any point in the year. If it wants to take a sports approach it has to do so by integrating it into the current brand strategy, not flip flopping between chocolate seasons, otherwise they will miss key events. Since we’re talking about missing events, the brand didn’t even post about their famous Easter Eggs on Twitter. A missed opportunity if you ask me.
YouTube
YouTube is an underrated channel. It’s strategy often gets thought of last, if at all by brands. However, brands should not underestimate the power of YouTube. Here’s the thing- for YouTube it’s really quality over quantity. The longer a video is on the channel the more views it gets. This does not hold true for other channels. Think about it: You post a Facebook video in May of 2019 at it receives 50k views, how much higher do you expect it to be in May of 2020? Not much. However, if you post that same video on YouTube (given that it’s high quality) you can expect nearly double more views a year later.
Currently, the brand has a total of 74 videos that are split into categories: products, commercials, sports, seasonal, recipes, for the fans and Walmart football playoffs 2015. Most of the content is outdated and doesn’t follow what the brand is doing on other channels or outside their social realm. For example, on Halloween in 2018 Reese’s released a “candy converter” machine in NYC so that people could trade any of the candy they collected that day for a Reese’s. This event was praised across social channels and marketing magazines yet it’s nowhere to be found on the Reese’s YouTube page. Often times YouTube is a dumping ground for brands. They upload whatever they have just so that they’re present on the channel. But it can be so much more.
Recommendations
My recommendations focus mainly on Twitter and YouTube.
As mentioned earlier, on Twitter you’re overwhelmed with back to back to back football retweets. In the midst of all the football and basketball, Reese’s should tweet something true to its brand. For instance, a product video, a question to its followers (which will ultimately boost engagement), a #notsorry statement. This way it’s not just football, but you get a feel for the brand as well. By doing a mixture of sports and products, Reese’s would be integrating the sports posts into their current strategy rather than neglecting their product offerings and personality. In addition, there is also the opportunity of going into other sports such as baseball during MLB season or tennis during the US Open. By expanding the sports focus, Reese’s might bring in new consumers and increase their top of mind awareness. It’ll only be successful if sports are seamlessly integrated into the brand.
Reese’s has a huge opportunity on YouTube in terms of content. Reese’s website is full of recipes using its products, why not expand the recipe playlist with those videos? Show people a step by step video for the vast recipes they already have. In addition, being the mischievous brand it is, Reese’s can conduct #notsorry pranks year round. The pranks don’t have to be wild or over the top but little pranks that people would find funny could be a huge source of engagement and talk for the brand. Both recipes and pranks could be user generated content. If a person uploads a #notsorry prank or a Reese’s recipe, Reese’s could post that video on their own page. In a sense, some of the work would already be done for them. Finally, if the brand wants to take a sports approach to Twitter it can bring it into YouTube as well. Clips from the Senior Bowl or March Madness can be posted on the YouTube page. By doing so, Reese’s will be addressing the inconsistency issue I mentioned above as far as Twitter goes.
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