For public relations and journalism professionals, Twitter can be a powerful tool. The rise of social media has resulted in tons of PR and Journalism professionals looking to use Twitter to improve their strategy, but is Twitter always the way to go?
“Announcements. You want to tell the public something about you, your business or your client such as a new product, an award, an upcoming event, or introduction into a new market; or to keep your audience updated during a crisis or emergency. Research. Find out what your competitors, clients, friends, media or influencers are tweeting about. Networking. To meet new influencers, clients, friends, competitors or reporters and follow them and get them to follow you.”
Although Twitter can be useful for accomplishing those tasks, Forbes also warns about the hype surrounding Twitter and PR. The amount of time and effort required to make Twitter work for PR can be exhausting, so many PR professionals look to paid services like Hootsuite to manage their use of Twitter and other social media accounts.
CBC Radio also warns journalists about the use of Twitter in journalism in their article. CBC Radio discusses the influx of media outlets embedding tweets into articles to showcase the voice of ordinary people, but often times these tweets are not accurate or are not posted by real people intending to tell their truth. Embedding tweets in articles can be useful in giving a voice to the ordinary person, but journalists must be extra careful when deciding what tweets to include and ensure that they are true and from an actual person. Twitter allows for people to hide behind a screen, so journalists must take extra time to check that the person is who they say they are.
Although journalists must be cautious when using Twitter, it is still a very powerful tool. Steve Buttry discusses the ways Twitter is most useful to journalists on his blog, The Buttry Diaries. Journalists can use Twitter to keep up with breaking news, follow newsworthy people and organizations, crowdsourcing, find story ideas and continue the conversation. Buttry maintains that Twitter is one of the best tools for journalists, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t good practices and bad practices when it comes to using Twitter.
Twitter comes with both challenges and benefits for journalists and PR professionals. Columbia Journalism Review asks the question, “should all journalists be on Twitter?” in their article. According to the article, 59% of journalists are on Twitter. With majority of the industry on the platform, it may be hard to keep up without being on it yourself. Even if Twitter isn’t particularly useful for your beat, it is still important for learning how to communicate with different audiences in different ways. Social media continues to evolve and new platforms will likely present themselves and it is important for journalists to keep up.
Lyft is a ridesharing app that officially launched in 2013 after operating under the name Zimride since 2007. Zimride was originally intended for college students who needed rides to connect with other college students who had cars. Even today, Lyft still targets college students as one of their main demographics meaning that Lyft’s services are usually more prevalent in college areas. Today, Lyft’s main competitor is Uber. Although Uber dominates the ridesharing world, Lyft has still had great success as the goals of each company are very different. Uber is regarded as a more upscale ridesharing service, where Lyft prides themselves on customer experience. Lyft’s goal is to make customers feel like they are riding with a friend. Lyft has a strong focus on community and sharing, aiming to have over 50% of rides shared between users by 2020 in order to decrease their carbon footprint. This theme is evident across their social media platforms. This critique will examine Lyft’s use of Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Since Lyft was originally intended for college students, this critique will be considered through the lens of a college aged person/millennials. This critique will examine Lyft’s social media presence and content as it appeals to college aged students and other young adults.
In general, Lyft has a fairly strong social media presence and is most active on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. This critique will focus only on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Throughout these platforms, Lyft utilizes influencers and storytelling within their content. They also have strong themes of social responsibility and community. Lyft also does well when it comes to customer engagement on social media. Throughout the platforms, Lyft maintains pretty consistent content and much of the content created is reposted throughout the various platforms.
Lyft’s Instagram page, @Lyft, has more than 148,000 followers. One of the primary uses for Instagram by Lyft is to post about new features and services. Recently, Lyft posted about their new Lyft bikes and scooters that will be launching in order to take a step towards more sustainable transportation. In addition to this, they’ve also posted content about their new self-driving car, making one of the primary functions of Lyft’s Instagram account promotion of company advancements. Lyft also utilizes all social media accounts, but primarily Instagram and Twitter, to promote their philanthropic efforts. Currently, Lyft is offering a Round Up promotion that allows riders to elect to round up their fare to the nearest dollar and donate to various causes. Not only does Lyft use their platforms to promote this, but they also keep customers updated as to how much the campaign and has raised and where the money is going. This adds to the theme of social responsibility and community that Lyft prioritizes on its platforms. One major downfall of the Instagram account is that there is a noticeable lack of posts. Lyft only posts 1-4 times a month on Instagram.
Lyft has two main Twitter accounts, @Lyft with 275,000 followers and @asklyft with 71,000 followers. The first account posts similar content to the Instagram account. A lot of the content you see on Instagram can also be found on Twitter, but Twitter has a heavier focus on promotions. Unlike the Instagram account, Twitter posting is far more frequent with multiple posts each day. Lyft also utilizes customer engagement to their advantage on Twitter and frequent replies to customers tweeting about Lyft can be found daily. The @lyft account replies to customers several times a day with funny GIFs, which applies to the target demographic of college students and young adults. The @asklyft account allows customers to voice concerns and ask questions and be answered in a timely manner.
Lyft stands out with their interesting YouTube content. One of Lyft’s most successful YouTube endeavors is their Undercover Lyft series which features celebrities such as Demi Lovato, Chance the Rapper and DNCE as they go undercover as Lyft drivers and pick up fans. Each of these videos receives millions of views and thousands of comments and likes. Snippets of these videos can be found across Lyft’s other platforms. Lyft also uses these celebrity influencers for other videos to promote Lyft features and charitable campaigns. Lyft’s use of influencers is one of their most effective strategies across social media. Lyft also has a highly successful Car Sounds Remix series on YouTube. This series takes popular songs such as Bodak Yellow by Cardi B and Humble by Kendrick Lamar and remixes them using only car sounds. This content is also shared via Instagram and really appeals to their younger audience who are fans of these artists.
Across all the platforms, the main strategies Lyft uses include influencer marketing, storytelling and timeliness. Influencer marketing is most prevalent on YouTube but crosses over to other platforms as the content is reposted. Lyft reportedly also uses Snapchat to work with influencers and has featured stars such as Josh Peck and GloZell on Lyft Snapchat takeovers. In addition to influencers, Lyft also utilizes storytelling strategies in their content. Lyft features the personal stories of various Lyft drivers who have been impacted by driving Lyft on their Instagram account. They have also created more detailed content on YouTube sharing the stories of Lyft drivers who have been touched by their passengers. Lyft also takes advantage of timeliness in their social media strategy. For example, on Election Day, Lyft posted across platforms of their special promotion that gave users 50% off rides to the polls. They also did other special promotions and content for International Women’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.
Lyft does an excellent job of appealing to their college aged demographic. The use of relevant influencers in their Undercover Lyft series and their spotlight of popular culture through the Car Sounds Remix series really appeals to the college aged consumer. According to Forbes, millennials and young adults value social responsibility more than past generations. Lyft does a great job of appealing to this through their promotion of charitable campaigns, emphasis on sustainability and the sense of community they are building across all platforms. Not only does Lyft encourage sharing, but they frequently share stories of passengers whose lives were touched by drivers or other passengers they shared a ride with. They also launch social media campaigns that focus on the importance of voting and diversity, both of which are clearly aimed at the college aged or millennial consumer. For example, Lyft launched Passport Mode in select cities which allowed riders to choose to have an international driver and get exposure to their culture through the ride. Lyft’s efforts when it comes to social responsibility and community on social media directly reflect their effort to reach college aged/millennial customers. According to an analysis done by SocialMention, Lyft’s efforts are paying off through engagement. In comparison to their biggest competitor, Uber, Lyft’s sentiment ratio is 38:1 whereas Uber’s is only 11:1. This means that Lyft has far higher engagement and their content is better received than Uber.
Although Lyft does an overall great job when it comes to social media, they could improve in the areas of posting frequency and user generated content (UGC). Lyft’s engagement is good, but could be significantly improved by more frequent posts, primarily on Instagram. By posting more often, Lyft will develop a stronger base of followers and increase brand awareness. Another major recommendation for Lyft would be to take advantage of UGC. Lyft shares stories of drivers and passengers that have be affected by Lyft, but this content is clearly curated by Lyft themselves. Lyft could take advantage of their wide base of passengers and drivers and let them tell their own stories across their own platforms. By encouraging users to post about their own positive Lyft experience and using this content to their advantage, Lyft could cut the cost of content production. This would also result in more genuine and authentic content and show the connection Lyft builds between people through shared rides, which is a major goal of their social media platforms.
Lyft has a strong presence across all social media platforms, but there is definitely room for improvement. Lyft could benefit from a strong presence on LinkedIn because of their duality when it comes to target audience. Not only is Lyft targeting passengers, but they are targeting drivers to sign up for their app. By creating a strong LinkedIn presence, Lyft will be able to reach those searching for job opportunities who may not have considered Lyft. The second platform recommendation surrounds Snapchat. I added the Lyft Snapchat account two weeks ago when I began working on this project, and I have yet to see any content despite the Snapchat takeovers that media platforms have discussed. Lyft could utilize Snapchat to better reach the college aged demographic. One particular tactic that they could use would be Snapchat stories of Lyft rides to expand on their storytelling strategy. I would also recommend more frequent Snapchat takeovers by influencers. Lyft could also partner with Snapchat to allow users to connect their Lyft and Snapchat accounts for special promotions and fun Snapchat filters while riding in a Lyft. In addition to Snapchat stories, Lyft could improve their posting frequency on Instagram through the use of Instagram stories. The story features on Instagram and Snapchat allow for the quick and easy consumption of content and stories are frequently utilized by college kids and young adults.
In conclusion, Lyft has a very strong social media presence and the strategies in use have proved to be effective. Lyft really utilizes social media to appeal to that younger demographic that they strive to target. By looking at my recommendations and implementing them, Lyft could continue to grow their social media and increase brand awareness. This is especially crucial for Lyft has they are competing with the powerhouse of ridesharing, Uber. By using social media to improve their brand awareness Lyft can grow the business and become the go-to ridesharing app for college aged/millennial consumers.
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