Here are two examples of consumer electronics companies leveraging social media to reach their target audiences, build brand awareness, and drive sales.

More and more companies are allocating budget to create a social media presence. That’s because, despite early hesitation, supply chain businesses understand that social media is an important marketing tool in today’s marketplace. The consumer electronics industry is no different: Participating in social media has never been more necessary.

Nearly 60% of consumers have taken a blog or social media post into consideration while shopping in a store. You may think — sure, that probably happens for fashion labels. But in fact, consumer electronics is the top product category influenced by social media posts, followed by fashion, then household items.

So what does this mean for you? Those dollars that you’re driving into social networking posts, tweets, and videos are reaching customers and ultimately affecting their purchasing decisions. Well, I should say, only if you’re driving them in the correct places.

To effectively leverage social media in consumer electronics, you need to have a social media strategy that aligns with your business goals. You need to be using the right channels, distributing the right content, and posting at the right time.

Let’s take a look at two companies that are doing it right and why that is.

Consumer electronics companies leveraging social media effectively

1) GoPro

GoPro designs portable, waterproof cameras that users can strap on their helmets, handlebars, or surfboards to record their experiences. The brand’s target audience includes extreme-sports lovers and daredevils who like to watch and share their adventures.

As part of their social media strategy, GoPro encourages their customers to contribute their videos to its various social media channels. It’s a win-win for both the company and users: GoPro receives tons of content that is interesting and relevant to its users, and the users get to show off their skills (or tumbles). Today, the company has over 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and more than 1.3 billion views of their videos.

Lesson: Know your target audience. GoPro understands who it is trying to reach, what they like to do with social media, and where they are active. It gives users a place to share their accomplishments, and is able to grow brand awareness and brand loyalty at the same time.

2. Beats by Dre

Beats by Dre, owned by Apple and founded by Dr. Dre, is an audio brand that sells headphones, earphones, and speakers. The company is active on several social networking platforms, but its genius lies in how it uses those platforms in different ways to reach different consumers.

On Facebook, Beats by Dre finds the most success by sharing stories and experiences that appeal to music and sports enthusiasts. Content includes inspirational photos and videos of athletes and artists using the brand’s products.

On Twitter, the company has created a dedicated support account to quickly reach customers in need of service. This helps amplify the message that the company offers excellent customer service, and the team is able to quickly and broadly share users’ positive feedback.

Pinterest is an entirely different beast for Beats by Dre. The company found its users were most likely to pin high-quality, interesting images, so that’s exactly the kind of content the brand shares via Pinterest. It also curates “mood boards” around the release of new products. It helps build excitement and awareness surrounding a product launch — and it achieves the longer-term strategy of building brand awareness through its users’ social sharing.

Lesson: What works on one social media network might not work on another. By distributing different kinds of content on different channels, Beats by Dre has been able to maximize the impact of each social media channel and engage with the segment of consumers that operates there.

Today’s consumers are more educated than ever. By understanding how to leverage your social media channels to reach and best serve your target audience, you can make your tweets, posts and videos a success.

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