In the world of social media marketing, you have no doubt been told time and time again about the importance of knowing your audience. Clarifying who you’re talking to really helps you make a splash with your messaging, and today I want to demonstrate how effective this can be and take a deep dive into one brand’s approach to this: Ryanair.
Their sarcastic, ‘beat you to it’ style content across their omnichannel marketing is making waves in the travel industry (and the wider marketing industry), and I’m willing to bet you’ve seen them taking off somewhere online!
Ryanair’s approach is so groundbreaking because, as a budget airline, they have taken a brilliant risk and embraced all the stereotypes, benefits, and grievances associated with travelling this way.
Their tongue-in-cheek content marketing is ingenious, and, let’s be honest, we’ve all sworn never to fly Ryanair again, only to find ourselves lured in again by those cheap tickets…so, I felt like getting my scuba kit on and diving deeper into how effective their marketing strategies are, to see what we can learn from their witty approach.
Let’s explore!
Imagery
The imagery (and video content) Ryanair uses in their social media marketing revolves around a few key themes. Their brand colours are prominent, utilising the familiar blue and yellow theme to help consumers easily identify them.
The imagery choices are often very basic, appearing as though minimal effort has gone into the visuals…which, of course, is far from the truth! Ryanair are brilliant at knowing their audience and focusing on common complaints to turn them into memes, which is backed up by comical Reels anthropomorphising the planes with the face filter. It’s the absolute perfect example of being ‘on brand’, even if that is for the budget market.
They’ve embraced every bit of being a non-luxury, affordable airline and they do a shell-rific job of knowing who their customers are!
Now let's explore the style of captions that Ryanair use...
Captions
Ryanair’s approach to their captions follows the same short, snappy and sarcastic theme as their visual marketing. Across Facebook and Instagram, the captions are to-the-point, humorous and hit the nail on the head every time.
They make waves by mirroring their brand perfectly with their ‘like it or lump it’ attitude, which manages to be relevant and funny without bordering inappropriate. A round of applause for this bold marketing, please!
When it comes to Linkedin even Ryanair errs more on the safe wing, with a combination of content topics including company updates and industry news as well as memes and promotions - something of a hybrid of their other core platforms.
Even Ryanair knows where to draw the line, and knowing their audience differs across different platforms enables them to effectively reach their customers across their marketing efforts.
Hashtags
Hashtags…we love to hate them, don’t we? Finding the perfect ones is like sailing the seven seas without a map, but this isn’t an issue for marketing giants Ryanair.
They use virtually no hashtags, simply because they don’t need to.
They reach their audience through their content alone, and the hashtag void echoes their wider minimalistic content marketing strategy.
This is proof that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to social media marketing, especially when it comes to the dreaded hashtag!
The Response
Sparking the right comments and conversations with your social media content is key, and I love to see what passengers are saying about Ryanair’s content.
Their posts are such talking points that they immediately engage their audience and encourage conversations, with users bonding over their shared experiences with the budget airline.
It is almost as though Ryanair has brought itself in on the joke, and consumers are really buckled in and ready for take-off!
The huge takeaway from this Ryanair deep-dive is that knowing your audience and being bold with your content angles really works, especially as we head into 2023. Your audience is looking for fresh, edgy content that really speaks to them.
Gone are the days of coasting by with wishy-washy posts - it’s time to whale-y dive in and embrace your uniqueness and niche. Ryanair’s marketing on social media is so successful because they never try to shy away from what their brand is known for, and customers appreciate this straightforward approach.
They are on-brand, consistent, topical and trendy and invite engagement - the ultimate combination.
If you’re wondering how you can nail this for your own brand, take a look at my Social Media Strategy Sessions. I can help you find your own edge, and embrace your brand in 2023!
Yasmin 🌺
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