This is part of a series highlighting brands that effectively use social media to connect with their customers, tell their brand story and make sales. Social media's influence on purchasing decisions is strong and only getting stronger. Check out the full series to learn specific ways your business can use social media marketing here.
Tesla and its larger-than-life CEO Elon Musk frequently make headlines with their innovative products and publicity stunts. This is an organization that is well-known for having a $0 advertising budget, making marketers around the world both love and hate their creativity.
How does Tesla do it? Well, they have amazing products. Plus, they have a highly rewarding referral program. So some huge assets in the business world.
Beyond that? Even though Musk recently said he would delete the Tesla Facebook page –losing 2.6 million engaged fans in the process– the car company still uses Twitter and Instagram to connect with customers.
This is a quick look at a few ways Tesla uses social media in a creative, compelling way to build its brand and to continue to tell a powerful story about making dreams a reality.
1. Tesla’s Instagram is More Authentic Than Staged
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using photoshoot-quality photos for Instagram. It looks great and it’s much, much easier to maintain a theme on your business’ Instagram account.
Tesla opts for sharing photos and videos on Instagram of their products in-action, either driving or at events.
It’s a much different look-and-feel than Ford, for example.
Ford posts more stylized, staged photos.
While there are certainly pros and cons to each approach, Tesla's candid Instagram content lends to its brand being known for being authentic and open to connecting with followers and consumers.
2. The Tesla Twitter is Ready to Interact with Elon Musk’s Twitter
Tesla uses Twitter for:
Customer engagement
Customer service
At this point, using Twitter as a customer service tool is a best practice, used in this capacity by many businesses both big and small.What Tesla does differently is they use social listening to join Twitter conversations.
Even if Tesla isn’t tagged, it’s obvious that their social media team is on standby to be a part of discussions about Tesla and Musk, as seen in this example:
3. Elon Musk Is the Influencer
Similar to Sara Blakely and Spanx, Musk’s personal brand seamlessly integrates with the Tesla brand.
He is the influencer.
When the CEO of a company builds his or her personal brand, it yields a lot of power for the company’s brand. Instead of paying influencers or celebrities for endorsements, the marketing and focus on leveraging the personal brand.
And those personal brands help humanize the company brand, leading customers to feel connected and creating more opportunities for consumers to be inspired by the brand's vision.
4. Elon Musk’s Instagram Pulls Back the Curtain of Mystery — Just a Bit
Firstly, if you’re not following Elon Musk on Instagram, you’re missing out.Secondly, following this account truly is a backstage pass to Elon Musk’s world – Tesla, the Boring Company and beyond. On Instagram, Musk reveals new products like the flamethrower and his Tequila.
Plus, as a bonus, Musk’s mom comments on his Instagram posts, which only further humanizes all of Musk’s business brands.
You may not understand Musk.
Or how he comes up with his ideas.
Or what his vision for the world is.
But he has a supportive, loving mom, and that’s pretty relatable.
There’s also his seemingly random Instagram posts, like the one about the Boring Company’s tunnels opening in Los Angeles. Most other companies would have carefully orchestrated the reveal, complete with press releases, maybe a press conference, synchronized announcements across social media, emails from the company.
Not the Boring Company, and certainly not Musk. He’s built his personal brand so these type of announcements can be made with a single post, and from that post, there’s press coverage and organic social media shares and organic buzz.
5. Musk Manages His Twitter Account
A CEO running his own Twitter sounds like a PR nightmare waiting to happen.
But from the public’s perspective, this makes the man behind the vision super accessible. Sure, he’s got a degree from Penn. And he founded one of the first and still largely used money exchange platforms. And he’s leading the cause of making humans “multi-planet species.” And he’s one of the driving forces behind electric vehicles.
His accomplishments and ambitions are intimidating. But on Twitter? He’s just like you and willing to respond and engage in conversations.
While it’s unlikely you’ll ever be in the same room as Musk, he keeps the door open for you to contact him through Twitter.
What Can Authenticity Do for Your Social Media Marketing?
This level of authenticity on social media platforms can feel unfamiliar if you have an established brand. But as more and more people and businesses join Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, you’ll need to do something to stand out from all the noise and posts/videos/paid advertising. As Musk and Tesla have demonstrated, being authentic is certainly one way to stand out.
You can check out this list of the most authentic brands of 2017 — and you’ll probably know some of these names already, which is just further proof that authenticity benefits businesses. Go ahead and follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and take note of how they promote content and engage with the customers.