Dean&Francis

ISSN 2959-6130

The Impact of Social Media Marketing on the Energy Drink Industry:

A Case Study of Red Bull

Yangyang Song1, *
1
Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract:
As Red Bull domains in the market share and is well-known for its special social media marketing strategy, this article
intend to explore how Red Bull’s approach to marketing, particularly through social media, has been instrumental in
building its brand identity and connecting with consumers. Through an in-depth analysis of Red Bull’s strategies on
various social media platforms, this study examines the company’s distinctive approach, particularly its use of Search
Engine Optimization (SEO). The analysis highlights the most prominent features and advantages of each platform,
revealing how Red Bull has successfully built a strong brand image and expanded its brand influence by leveraging
the power of social media. Undeniably, this success stems from Red Bull’s strategic approach of tailoring its brand
message to suit each platform, thereby maximizing the utility and impact of its social media presence. The study aslo
provides further actionable recommendations for Red Bull to enhance its social media strategy. Key suggestions include
increasing the use of User-Generated Content (UGC) to reduce production costs and enhance authenticity, optimizing
resource allocation through data-driven analysis to focus on high-impact marketing activities, and forming strategic
partnerships to share costs and resources, thereby expanding reach and boosting brand presence. These strategies not
only address current challenges but also offer a blueprint for other companies aiming to refine their social media marketing
efforts.
Keywords: social media, content marketing, brand image, SEO, UGC.

1. Introduction revenue model, from creating content, sharing content,

and finally gaining profit through content [6]. Importantly,
After the gradually-growing popularity among the global marketers are facing the challenging survival situation
population since the 1990s, social media has expanded in which the rules of the game are highly in favor of the
its great impacts on human society, not only in the way empowered customers when customers are presented with
people communicate with each other, but also helped more opportunities and can take more control of the mar-
shape the relationship between different economic entities keting communicating process[7-9].
in the marketplace [1]. Traditionally, marketing strategy Under such circumstance, engaging the social media and
was mainly instructed by the tenets that following mass converting it as part of the strategy tools are essential to
marketing approaches during the 1960s to 1970s, which many companies’ marketing teams [10]. And it has be-
appeared to have gradually lost some of its effectiveness come a strong motive for marketers to engage in with the
[2-4]. While with the spread of the internet, the popular in growing number of social media and online customers
social media is reaching billions of users, and is changing [11]. Companies are using media under purposes of ex-
the marketing rules. The great power of social media on panding their business range around the globe, building
marketing has long been discussed and proved in many stronger relationships with buyers, and empowering brand
studies. Content marketing strategy is used as a crucial image and value [12-14]. Attempts focusing on attracting
technique for a company. News and content play an im- buyers attention on social media have widely been made
portant role in bringing clearly-defined audience to the to improve competitiveness, mainly via websites, televi-
website-in purpose of making profitable actions [5]. They sions, and celebrity sponsorship.
are a magic weapon to increase user stickiness, improve This article will take Red Bull as an example to explore
platform activity, and attract advertisers. For some compa- its marketing strategy on social media and analyze the
nies, creating their own content also gives the brand a new value of this strategy in the market. Inspired by East Asian

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functional drinks, Dietrich Mateschitsz, the founder of Analysis

Red Bull, launched Red Bull Energy Drink in Austria on
Red Bull is positioned as an energy drink, emphasizing
April 1, 1987, creating a new product category－energy
that drinking Red Bull provides focused energy, vitality,
drinks. Due to the high cost of traditional marketing meth-
mental alertness, and enhanced endurance. The primary
ods, Red Bull promoted its product in another way it inno-
target audience includes young consumers, highly mental
vatively sponsored and hosted extreme sports to enhance
workers and manual workers, as well as athletes world-
brand awareness and shape its brand image. In 2007,
wide, especially extreme sports enthusiasts. Red Bull’s
Red Bull established Red Bull Media House to shoot
brand strategy is based on a deep understanding of con-
and publish video content when hosting extreme sports.
sumer market characteristics and needs. By sponsoring
These measures had enabled Red Bull to quickly take a
and organizing extreme sports events such as Red Bull
great market share and became an industry leader, and it
Ultra Natural and Red Bull Stratos, the brand aligns itself
has remained so to this day. In 2023, Red Bull sold a total
with high-energy, high-challenge activities. This position-
of 12.138 billion cans, with sales, revenue and operating
ing not only enhances Red Bull’s recognition and appeal
profit reaching new highs [15].
within its target market but also establishes a solid foun-
This article will analyze the strategic steps that Red Bull
dation for its social media marketing efforts, making its
took in social media marketing. It is divided into three
content more engaging and shareable.
main parts. The first section is strategy basis of Red Bull,
which is explained with regards to brand image, position- 3. Red Bull Social Media Marketing
ing and market analysis. The second part discusses Red Strategy Analysis
Bull’s adaptable social media strategy, segmented into of-
ficial and unofficial channels, highlighting its tailored ap- 3.1 Red Bull Official Social Media Strategy
proaches for engaging diverse audiences and maximizing
3.1.1 Red Bull’s UGC strategy
brand presence. It also proposes potential platform-spe-
cific shortcomings and offers solutions to improve the It is normal for many practitioners to share the view of
strategy’s overall effectiveness. The third part offers a the close relationship between social media and the us-
comprehensive perspective by providing three detailed er-generated content [16]. User-generated Content (UGC)
analysis of overall marketing solutions to enhance the ef- provides technical and service support for ordinary us-
fectiveness of the company’s marketing efforts across all ers to create and share in a Web 2.0 environment. These
platforms. Section 4 presents concluding statements and tools not only offer basic content creation and publishing
briefly discusses the limitations of the study and possibili- features but also provide customized and diverse display
ties for future research. options [17]. The popularity of UGC is largely due to the
widespread use of social media and the convenience of
2. Current State of Development of online content sharing. The development of smartphones
Red Bull and mobile applications has made it easier for users to
create and share content, social media has enabled the
2.1 Red Bull Brand Image customers to create, edit, and disseminate their thoughts,
Gaining popularity among people, the slogan Red Bull transforming their roles from content-consuming to con-
gives you wings was a success in persuading people who tent-generating, leading to a rapid increase in UGC [16].
live on the edge and who always challenge themselves UGC plays a crucial role in marketing because it offers
with extreme sports by delivering the message that drink- authenticity and trust that traditional marketing cannot
ing Red Bull will make it easier for them to perform well achieve. When consumers see positive reviews shared by
in various aspects of life. It is not just the product being others, they are more likely to trust and purchase the prod-
promoted and sold, but also the way of life-one of adven- uct or service.
tures and excitement, which Red Bull had closely linked Red Bull encourages UGC by sponsoring and hosting
to with their product. And customers who want to live extreme sports events. Fans and followers share their
such a life would pay for it willingly. Accordingly, empha- extreme sports experiences with Red Bull and others by
sis on great content marketing of such an active lifestyle joining in brand-specific hashtags on social media. Red
has earned the brand nearly 1 billion views on YouTube Bull then reposts the best or most interesting, tagged vid-
and more than 400 thousand clicks on their links that lead eos, interacting with the target audience. This co-creation
to the product content. activity attracts more people to challenge in the hashtag,
2.2 Red Bull’s Brand Positioning and Market encouraging a large number of people with talents to
engage in the UGC activity to produce more and more

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high-qualified and popular content [18]. Additionally, Instagram, and YouTube was made to reach the largest
those content can be repeatedly shared on social media group of potential customers. Importantly, while utiliz-
and other platforms, further boosting brand visibility ing media platforms for real-time engagement, customer
and attracting new audiences. Drawing in new audiences service, and sharing news and updates, different strate-
means more traffic on the brand’s website and social pag- gies were used accordingly on different social media to
es, which also helps improve the brand’s SEO. It results in maintain a significant presence, with officials responding
the enhancement of user engagement and brand exposure. immediately to comments and questions to maximize
And more importantly, it is more likely to convey visitors branding effectiveness.
into customers-contribute to a growing conversion rates. 3.2.1 Marketing strategy on YouTube
Red Bull’s strategy is a prime example of using UGC to
enhance brand authenticity and trust while expanding its Red Bull primarily releases extreme sports videos, live
market influence. broadcasts, documentaries, and behind-the-scenes footage
on YouTube. As the largest video sharing platform in the
3.1.2 Red Bull official to publish high-quality content
world, YouTube has a broad user base and is the ideal me-
Red Bull focuses on creating, producing and distributing dium for disseminating original action sports content. This
various media content through Red Bull Media House. strategy aligns with the Interest Principle of the 4I theory,
Red Bull keeps accumulating innovative and high-quality focusing on high-quality video production that delivers a
content by hosting and sponsoring extreme events, and strong visual impact and captivates viewers. By serializ-
disseminates it on various online platforms, third-party ing the videos, Red Bull ensures continuous engagement
media and its own channels. Almost every content has and sustained interest, maintaining long-term audience
caused tremendous attention and big trends from the pub- attention.
lic after releasing. Red Bull Media’s successful cases in- As a great example of successful sports event, Red Bull
clude the Red Bull Stratos program, which received more Stratos, Red Bull had set up a special video column and
than 8 million views on YouTube live broadcast in 2012. conducted a three-hour continuous live video broadcast
Another program, the Red Bull Kluge event reached a for it on YouTube. It attracted nearly 30,000 people to
total of 1 billion views on the Red Bull YouTube homep- watch the 43-year-old man Felix dived from a helium bal-
age. Red Bull Media House hosts and broadcasts extreme loon at a 39-kilometer height at the same time. Reaching a
sports events and produces high-quality documentaries. top speed of about 1357 kilometers per hour made himself
These activities not only provide extraordinary rich en- the first person to break the sound barrier during the div-
tertainment experience, but as well demonstrate to the au- ing and set many world records. In the end, the live video
dience the vitality and innovative spirit of the brand. Red had received over 8 million views, surpassing the previous
Bull Media has successfully linked the brand closely with record of 500,000 views held by the London Olympics
consumers and built a unique brand image through its out- for a single video. With Felix’s success, Red Bull raised a
standing content production and promotion methods. skydiving FAD among the young generation and adven-
3.2 Red Bull Unofficial Social Media Strate- turous people and won great reputation among them. The
gy-cooperation with Various Platforms positive relationship between the extreme sport and en-
ergy drinks was shown in the event. People would relate
In response to the pressures brought about by market the great performance to the brand image unconsciously.
changes, Red Bull has actively innovated its marketing Leaving such a deep impression also gain interest of some
strategies [2]. Utilizing the 4I principles, Interest, Inter- people over the brand, and that will help to enlarge the po-
ests, Interaction, and Individuality. Red Bull conducts tential customer group. It also had encouraged Red Bull to
online marketing activities from the user perspective, host and sponsor more relative events to express the brand
the main purpose of which is to attract users’ attention, spirit and the enhance the brand image.
encourage user participation, increase brand stickiness, Till now, the official account of Red Bull on YouTube has
strengthen brand credit and create purchase rate. Also, reached a number of more than 17.5 million subscribers.
crossover cooperation has been a major step on improving And it is always one of the most-viewed channels on You-
brand exposure and impact with sports.This marketing ap- Tube. The success of Red Bull credits on the high-qual-
proach, characterized by diversification, cooperation, and ified sponsoring event and well-conducted broadcast
innovation, has enabled Red Bull to secure a favorable po- content. Though, sometimes it could be hard for users
sition in market competition, facilitating continuous brand to made an accurate search for Red Bull related content
expansion and growth. online. After putting down a key word, the algorithm of
Cooperation with multiple social media, such as Twitter, the platform will recommend relative content to the users.

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Red Bull exhibits an overreliance on platform algorithms, and strengthen its brand image as an extreme sports ener-
which to some extent limits the brand’s visibility in gy drink. Such strategy has achieved a lot, especially for
search results. To maximize search success rates, practi- the cooperation with the celebrities. However, as much is
cal strategies need to be considered. For instance, SEO achieved on this fast-paced platform, there are still some-
optimization strategies could significantly enhance Red thing neglected that diminishes the effectiveness of the
Bull’s online presence. Red Bull should increase its focus content. The information and content are overwhelmingly
on keyword research and the utilization of long-tail key- renewed and replaced by new ones in seconds. So the
words. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush exposure time and views of the content will be highly lim-
can be employed to conduct in-depth research on popular ited. It is recommended to increase the frequency of Post-
keywords related to the Red Bull brand, extreme sports, ing during mainstream user active hours to maximize the
and associated themes. Effective keyword selection can visibility of content. Then when large flow of information
enhance the chances of being recommended on search rushes in, the frequent renewal can ensure a considerate
result pages, thereby driving better video traffic and over- exposure to users.
all brand awareness. The use of long-tail keywords can 3.2.4 Strategy on TikTok
capture traffic from users searching for keyword combi-
nations related to the target keywords, providing more Red Bull’s social media strategy on TikTok makes full
targeted coverage and a comprehensive reach to users. use of the platform’s hottest and most popular challeng-
es and trends, presenting extreme sports challenges and
3.2.2 Strategy on Twitter
behind-the-scenes content in a similar manner to create
Red Bull uses Twitter to disseminate brand-related news, eye-catching short videos that attract a young user base.
event updates, game results, and real-time emergency This strategy aligns with the Interaction Principle that
information, thereby providing users with the latest infor- Red Bull can can take advantage of platform’s potential
mation they seek and want. This approach aligns with the for viral dissemination to rapidly promote short videos,
Interests Principle of 4I Theory, meeting users’ needs for further enhancing brand exposure and influence in a short
timely and relevant updates. At the same time, Red Bull time frame. This approach to content creation and dissem-
organizes various interactive activities on Twitter, such as ination not only aligns with the nature of the platform but
voting, Q&A, and lucky draws, to encourage much more also reflects Red Bull’s dynamic and innovative image. As
heat discussion of the newest topics. The newest infor- one of the best platforms for maintaining customer inter-
mation as well as the official activities online can keep est, TikTok is widely used as a crucial promotional tool.
people interested in the topic and the brand. The high
user participation and interactivity can not only maintain 4. Suggestion
real-time interaction with users as to improve the brand’s While various platforms may present unique obstacles in
user stickiness, but also further heat up the topic in public the execution of social media strategies, the underlying
and raise wider range of discussion, which is rather ben- issues are consistently relevant for Red Bull. Specifically,
eficial for brand awareness in market. When publishing from a more holistic perspective, Red Bull confronts sev-
interactive content, Red Bull uses hashtags and hot topic eral principal issues in its social media promotion efforts,
tags to increase the visibility and reach more users, there- including the high costs associated with the production
by increasing the brand’s exposure and influence. of marketing content and suboptimal resource allocation.
3.2.3 Strategy on Instagram The former implies that the substantial costs associated
with marketing content production may place significant
Red Bull vividly showcases brand activities and products
pressure on the company’s overall marketing budget,
by publishing high-quality pictures and short videos on
thereby constraining the allocation of funds to other pro-
Instagram. In addition, Red Bull makes full use of the In-
motional activities. The latter issue is also of significant
stagram Stories feature to release temporary content, such
concern, particularly in terms of the strategic distribution
as event sites and behind-the-scenes footage, to ensure the
of resources across various social media platforms to max-
immediacy of content and user interest. These intuitive vi-
imize the effectiveness of promotional initiatives, thereby
sual effects not only attract a large group of users but also
mitigating the risks of resource wastage and imbalance.
effectively convey the core value of the brand. At the same
In response to the identified issues, three potential solu-
time, Red Bull cooperates with extreme sports celebrities
tions are presented below.First,to address the cost pres-
to further enhance the brand’s visibility. By doing so, Red
sures associated with producing high-quality content on
Bull can expand the brand’s promotion range through
social media, Red Bull could consider increasing the pro-
these people who have great influence among their fans
portion of UGC utilized. UGC, which encompasses con-

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tent created and shared by users, such as photos, videos, such as sports brands and technology companies, to co-
and reviews, can provide a means to alleviate the financial host sports events. The first aspect of this strategy directly
burden of professional content production teams while si- reduces Red Bull’s overall expenses in event planning,
multaneously enhancing content diversity and update fre- thereby providing significant economic benefits. The sec-
quency. The extensive variety and large volume of UGC ond aspect allows for the integration of resources and the
provide Red Bull with a rich data source, enabling the resulting synergy, which enhances Red Bull’s competitive
company’s marketers to gain deeper insights into consum- advantage in the market. In detail, partnerships with tech-
er behavior, interests, and preferences. The breadth and nology companies can provide essential resources in terms
diversity of this information assist Red Bull in enhancing of technical support and innovation. Red Bull can inte-
the accuracy of consumer understanding, thereby allowing grate these technological resources into its promotional
for more precise targeting of audiences and the develop- videos, thereby significantly enhancing the technological
ment of effective marketing strategies during market anal- sophistication and visual appeal of the content. Not only
ysis and decision-making processes [19]. Moreover, UGC that, but also collaborating with sports brands allows Red
often possesses greater authenticity and relatability, which Bull to leverage their existing customer base and market-
contributes to the establishment of brand credibility and ing resources for promotional activities. This approach not
the attraction of a broader audience. Therefore, Red Bull only enhances Red Bull’s market coverage but also fosters
should adopt a positive approach towards a UGC-driven mutual promotion effects through cross-brand collabo-
marketing strategy. By systematically incentivizing, col- ration, thereby contributing to an increased market share
lecting, curating, and utilizing UGC, the company can and elevated brand awareness.
not only reduce content production costs but also enhance
brand value and increase user engagement. 5. Conclusion
Second, regarding the maximization of resource alloca- Red Bull uses and encourages UGC and Red Bull officials
tion, Red Bull can adopt a selective sponsorship strategy, to publish high-quality content. Concerning its unofficial
focusing on events that offer the highest potential for strategy, Red Bull focuses on giving targeted strategies
exposure and brand impact while minimizing investment on different social media platforms to maximize the ad-
in low-return activities. Specifically, by utilizing data ana- vantages of platform characteristics and user groups.
lytics tools to assess the effectiveness of various activities Cooperation with many mainstream media platforms is
in enhancing brand equity, Red Bull can not only optimize made to increase brand exposure through the wide cov-
resource allocation but also enhance the brand’s overall erage and influence of these platforms. Meanwhile, Red
market performance. In detail, employing social media Bull differentiates its content across various media plat-
analytics platforms such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and forms by leveraging each platform’s unique interactivity
Buffer allows for tracking user engagement, evaluating and strengths. This approach allows the brand to engage
content performance, and analyzing the brand exposure with fans of varying characteristics., fostering broader
and user participation associated with its events on social communication and enhancing fan interaction and loyalty.
media. These tools provide comprehensive data and in- Most importantly, fans of all social media platforms will
sightful analysis, enabling Red Bull to understand the ac- become potential customers of Red Bull. Red Bull can
tual impact of different activities, thereby facilitating more significantly enhance its social media influence by con-
informed decision-making. Furthermore, by integrating tinually innovating and implementing a multi-platform
sales data with historical event analytics, Red Bull can strategy, while optimizing resource utilization and cost-ef-
identify characteristics of high-return events. This strate- fectiveness in promotional video production. This analysis
gic approach will assist Red Bull in selecting sponsorship provides valuable insights for e-marketers interested in
opportunities that promise high potential returns, broad understanding Red Bull’s social media marketing strategy
audience reach, and strong alignment with the brand’s tar- and gaining a deeper understanding of the distinctive fea-
get market. tures of various social media platforms. By examining the
Third, furthermore, to maximize resource allocation ef- advantages and disadvantages of each platform as demon-
ficiency, forming strategic partnerships is an effective strated through Red Bull’s approach, this analysis serves
strategy that Red Bull can adopt. By collaborating with as a reference that can inform and guide the development
other brands or organizations, Red Bull can not only of their own marketing strategies. This paper presents only
share the costs associated with event sponsorship but basic analysis of the marketing strategy on social media.
also benefit from shared market resources and audience Future research should focus more on the exploration and
bases. To achieve these goals, Red Bull should actively analysis of the efficiency of different marketing strategies
seek strategic partnerships with brands in related fields,

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