Simplicity overrules

Honda’s recent social media strategy alteration really put things into perspective. Simple, in their case, is better. Like many other companies, their social media goals were: to personalize the brand on a different level and engage consumers in all aspects of the brand. However, we live in a maximalist market where the norm is to be more innovative and creative each day; and that is exactly what Honda’s Instagram reflected.

Despite this maximalist norm, the pictures that had the highest engagement – receiving on average 300% more likes per photo – were the simple posts of just Honda cars. The brand then began incorporating cars in every post, “hiring different influential photographers to add some diversity to the style of sheet metal shots” and transitioned their platform into “just sheet metal”.

So why is simplicity the better choice for certain brands and not for others? 

Many factors come into play such as the brand identity and nature of the product or service it sells. In terms of Honda, I speculate that the reason why consumers crave simplicity if because of the nature of the product. Cars are both a necessity to many consumers, yet there are still aspirations involved. People dream of having a better, faster car, and they receive utility from viewing aspirational posts. On the other hand, when people are looking to purchase a car, they also view these pictures and use them as a tool to evaluate their options. Buying a car also tends to involve a more of a cognitive decision process, which again reinforces the need for consumers to see the actual product in a post rather than an abstract post. Therefore because of the fundamental nature of the product, simplicity is better because the consumers are interested in the product itself.

At the end of the day, success on social media is very subjective to the brand, but the one important point to remember is: excessive creativity is not always the answer. Simplicity sometimes overrules. 

Sources:

https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/449467842_640.jpg

http://digiday.com/brands/hondas-instagram-strategy-just-sheet-metal/

http://motrist.com/images/posts/1/5/248/15248_m.jpg