Nike Inc. is a multinational corporation that focuses on the manufacture, and sale of footwear. It was founded in 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman and began as a small running shoe company (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The company was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports obtained the current name from a famous swoosh logo (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). By1979, Nike had captured and dominated more than half of the running shoe market in the United States and filed for an IPO a year later in 1980 (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The company later captured markets of other sports, including football, baseball, tennis, and baseball. This paper aims to study Nike’s social strategy, analyze how the company uses social media, and discuss how it integrates its digital strategy with its social strategy. The paper will also discuss how Nike was able to develop and integrate its social and digital strategy. Order

The ecosystem of Nike as a foundation for its social strategy

Nike launched its website, Nike.com, in 1998, and its sport-specific website, Nikefootball.com, in 2000 (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The company then devised ways to connect with its customers through the created mediums. The company also collaborated with Gawker media and YouTube, both of which were upcoming to learn how consumers interact with new brands on social media and the internet. Nike also worked closely with Gawker media to create a blog, “Art of Speed” in 2004. This was before social networking became popular and garnered the public’s full attention (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). Nike was curious to understand how the 400,000 to 700,000 visitors in a month would interact in a conversation with the host (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). Read more

A year later, in 2005, Nike was aware that the World Cup championship was fast approaching and, therefore, focused its energies on the global football market. For this reason, Nike worked with MySpace, a social media network, to acquire 50,000 friends and this helped the company become the largest brand communities of that time (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). In September the same year 2005, Nike’s marketing team created a video, Touch of Gold featuring football star Ronaldinho receiving Nike’s pair of cleats and then hitting the ball in a stylish way back and forth (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The created video took YouTube by a storm attracting more than 20 million views in a span of few weeks (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). Nike Inc.

In February 2006, Nike created yet another social network platform, Joga.com, which was focused on football-obsessed teens. Joga.com was launched in 160 countries and 14 different languages (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The site also hosted an online TV channel, JogaTV showcasing football stars performing tricks. In July the same year, 2016, Nike entered a partnership with Apple to create Nike+, placed inside the shoes to monitor the speed, distance, and calories burned in the running (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). This data could then be transferred to the iPod and downloaded on iTunes. Additionally, the platform could also offer players training tips and share the workout moves with friends either through the website or the medial social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012).

How does Nike use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for its digital strategy?

Nike company uses its social sites such as Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook to interact with funs and pass announcements. For example, the company decided to launch its major commercial on Facebook, dabbed “Write the Future” (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The commercial was launched just a few weeks before the 2010 World Cup and featured great football stars. The commercial was made to view it; an individual had to become a fan of the Nike Facebook page. The video was considered a big success as it garnered 7.8 million views in the first week and helped Nike gain about 1.7 million fans in the same week (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). Nike Inc.

During the world cup event, Nike rented Life Center in Johannesburg and lit it huge images of two of the greatest football stars Cristiano Ronaldo, and Robino (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). The fans were also able to send their messages through Facebook and Twitter, and each night the editor could feature 100 messages from fans on the digital animation. Similarly, during the launch of Nike+ FuelBand, Nike company created its official Twitter handle, which aided its effort to make announcements for new products (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). Nike twitted with a hashtag #makeitscount. The company invited top athletes to tween about its daily activities, and by April the same year, the hashtag #makeitscount was retweeted for about 66,000 times (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012).

How does Nike integrate its digital strategy with its social strategy?

Nike integrates its digital strategy with its social strategy by involving consumers. The company is said to have introduced Nike Digital Sport. Through the platform, the company created interactive products and encouraged customers to track and share performance. Nike+ FuelBand is among the products featured by Nike Company in the Nike Digital Sport (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). This was a wristband that could track the movements of an individual throughout the day. The company hoped that athletes would use the product to track a score. Another product is the Nike+ Basketball, which was meant to help basketballers to arrange street games as well as manage them online (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012). It also allowed players to record themselves while doing impressive basketball moves and after that showcase. Nike+ Training product captured details such as NikeFuel, Calories, and reps of athletics during training (Piskorski & Johnson, 2012).

How was Nike able to develop such a rich, integrated social and digital strategy?

Nike managed to integrate its social and digital strategy by predicting events and acting swiftly. In other words, Nike’s management created interesting products and responded to sporting events in good time. Additionally, the company used top football, basketball, and athletics stars to promote its products. This is because fans would easily watch videos featuring stars and buy Nike items that they saw football, volleyball, or athlete stars wearing.