Bark Shares Some of the Keys to its Social Media Success in New ‘Social Skills’ Series

This could give you some helpful notes and inspiration for your social media strategy.

Last year, Facebook launched a new brand tips series called ‘Social Skills’ in which it interviewed social media leads from several big brands to get their key advice on generating engagement.

Social Skills is now back for season 2, with the first two episodes now available online. The second episode in the new season looks at Bark – the makers of ‘BarkBox’ – and how it’s driven huge numbers with its social posts.

There are some great tips – here are three of the key notes from Bark’s Alexis Nelson.

Tailor content for each platform

This should really go without saying by now, but every social platform is different, and the audience on each will open that specific app with a different intent. In general, people may be looking to be entertained or informed, but the actual delivery, via content style, trends and approach is different. People don’t come to TikTok with the same mindset as Facebook.

As an example, Facebook says that the Bark team use Facebook to dive deeper into topics through blog-style posts, while on Instagram, they focus more on “sharing visuals that excite and inspire with short, but sweet, post captions”.

Leverage user-generated content

UGC can be a key tool in building community, generating engagement, and activating your social media presence in a range of ways.

Used well, UGC enables you to acknowledge your most passionate and dedicated fans, which can help to strengthen their connection to your brand and products, and see them advocate on your behalf to their own network. That can have a compounding effect, and it’s worth considering how you can acknowledge your most enthusiastic supporters to build on your efforts.

Facebook notes that Bark has established a system to help them easily identify and share their customers’ most engaging posts.

“Behind this system is a hashtag strategy that encourages customers to include the #barkbox hashtag when posting content. Since starting the hashtag, it’s been mentioned over 4 million times on Instagram alone.”

That provides a constant flow of new, brand-aligned posts and content, which Bark can re-purpose as needed, fulfilling both content and community-building purpose.

Of course, Bark is at an advantage here, given its popularity and subject matter (Nelson notes that the #BarkBox hashtag sees thousands of posts each month). But still, it’s worth considering how you can make the most of UGC to boost your presence.

Create memorable moments

This is one of the areas that Bark has truly excelled in – and its idea is not some big-budget, high-concept strategy that can only be executed by big brands.

As explained by Facebook:

“Every year, the company launches a social campaign to make it seem as if their Facebook and Instagram accounts have been hacked by every dog’s biggest enemy: the neighborhood squirrel. Between the engaging content and playful messaging, this year’s campaign helped generate over 6 million impressions on Instagram and a bump in subscriptions.”

As you can see here, for a set period of time each year, Bark posts a series of updates from seemingly aggressive squirrels, who demand food via the Bark social accounts.

It’s simple, funny – and importantly, it’s repeatable, giving Bark ongoing content, year after year, iterating on the theme.

Of course, Bark, again, benefits from being a brand that’s already aligned with something that brings joy – this approach wouldn’t work for, say, a bank. But the idea is that through even a simple, playful thematic shift, you can generate buzz about your brand, and inspire engagement and sharing.

It’s not necessarily easy to come up with something so shareable, but maybe, by thinking through common elements, you could come up with a similar campaign approach for your business.

These are some good notes, and while they won’t all work for every business right away, they do provide some food for thought for your strategic thinking.