Neflix on Top
“Netflix and Chill.” We’ve all heard the saying. Isn’t that every company’s dream? To not only be a successful organization, but a company that has become a viral dating fad; a company that personifies an entire mood? Netflix has done just that. The streaming service leads the world in its area with roughly 193 million as of 2020 (The Motley Fool). It is one of the few companies that is actually thriving in the COVID-19 pandemic, with its shares growing 65% in 2020 (Investopedia.com). So the question is: how to stay on top and relevant? By setting SMART goals, and determining social KPIs to monitor and listen to their audience, Netflix can use social media to stay in first place.
According to the Netflix website, the company objective set in 2011 is, “Becoming the best global entertainment distribution service. Licensing entertainment content around the world. Creating markets that are accessible to film makers. Helping content creators around the world to find a global audience” (Weebly.com). We know that, so far, Netflix has succeeded in this quest. However, other companies such as Hulu, Disney+, AmazonPrime, and
virtually all channels have realized that the general public has drifted away from channelled television and towards streaming services. Many people do not even have cable anymore. Netflix needs to stay at the forefront of the industry to stay alive.
SMART goals help focus what to do in social media planning and production to fulfill Netflix’s objectives. SMART is an acronym: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, & Time-bound. Keeping these key points in mind will help ensure that our decision-making results in goal-reaching. Let’s take them one by one:
Specific: Increase traffic to the Netflix website and turn that traffic into paying subscribers that become life-long customers. The coronavirus pandemic does not look to be going anywhere soon, especially in America, so the customer base should increase by a minimum of 5% in the next quarter. Netflix can do this by staying relevant, and expanding brand awareness through all social media platforms.
Measurable: There are multiple ways to measure the performance of social media campaigns. Along with umbrella hashtags such as #netflix and #netflixandchill, each new release of a series or season should have it’s own campaign with its own hashtags assigned. For example, for the release of
Ryan Murphy’s new series, Ratched, the public used the hashtags #Ratched and #RatchedNetflix. One can follow these hashtags to see user engagement
and how much the shows are being discussed on social media. I also propose using trackable links that we can attach to our social media pages in swipe ups and bios to keep track of how many people that see our campaigns are clicking on these links and continuing onto the website. Moreover, with so many different shows and genres to choose from, it is important to target social media campaigns to the likes and demographics of the customers based on their preferences. Netflix already does a great job of suggesting new material for users in the app, but I would like to take that off the screen and into campaigns. It would also be beneficial to target competitor’s users. For example, if a potential customer is a fan of “Behind You” on Hulu, we can deduct that they enjoy the horror genre and should send advertisements for “The Haunting of Bly Manor” their way.
Attainable: Netflix has continued to grow since its conception in 2000. (Yes — Netflix is 20 years old, can you believe it?) It’s overhead cost has stayed relatively the same and the company has expanded in popularity, slowly growing its operating margin from 5% to 13%, and increasing its net income even more dramatically over that period, growing from $122 million in 2015 to $1.86 billion last year (The Motley Fool). Asking for a 5% growth in conversions is a completely attainable goal.
Realistic: The measurable suggestions are very easy to implement into social media strategies to grow subscriber base. With the continuance of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise in the necessity to be online for everything from news to work to entertainment, more and more people are spending their days staring at their smartphones. This gives Netflix more of an opportunity for content reach, and the possibility of turning that reach into conversions. These suggestions also help our company to stay relevant, topical, and at number one. Since everyone is staying at home, watching the newest Netflix show or movie has become an exciting life event. Our campaigns need to help by making these premieres something that all of our users look forward to. For example, we can learn a lot with how Disney+ promoted the premiere of Hamilton on their platform. It was all anyone was talking about, and the social media sphere went crazy with user-created content promoting the show and the platform.
Time-bound: Netflix has the unique opportunity of always having easy new content to share, year-round. We could track our goals per campaign, but with so many new shows and seasons constantly premiering on the streaming service, it is easiest to look at the goals quarterly. This is why raising the conversion rate 5% is the specific goal set.
But how do we know if all of the work that we are putting into our social media campaigns is paying off? A combination of social listening, social monitoring, and KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, will help us determine if our customers are finding our content useful and enjoyable, and if our content is leading to conversions. There are many KPIs to examine, but I believe the most important for Netflix are:
- Growth Rate Percentage
- Post Reach Percentage
- Social Share of Voice Percentage
- Amplification Percentage
- Conversion Rate Percentage
- Social Media Conversion Rate
Below I have provided the ways in which to measure all of these KPIs.
From new series releases, to movie premieres to season premieres to celebrity spotlights and behind-the-scenes footage, Netflix has a plethora of content options from which to choose, each helping to achieve the company’s SMART goals. Cross promotion with celebrities and stars of their Netflix-produced shows will help drive traffic to the website as well.
The outcomes I want from the social media efforts is to ensure that Netflix remains relevant and that customers remain engaged. Through measuring KPIs and listening to what customers have to say on all social platforms, we can determine everything from what types of content to produce, to whether a show should have a second season. The goal is to expand the customer base and keep users engaged, and what better way than to hear from them directly, through our social media efforts.
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