Social challenger brand playbook

Identifying as a challenger brand is the new norm, but cutting through on social media as one isn’t easy.

We study and work with challenger brands every day, looking at…what, where, how often.

Our annual Challenger100 audit reviews a selection of brands with under 50 employees and under £10million in turnover. But also who have something different to offer (and say) in their category.

👇 These ten learnings act as a playbook for how challenger brands can stand apart in their category on social media. It’s not every answer for every brand, but a starting point to getting there.

Being a challenger brand on social media can be about being smaller, in size and budget. About being disruptive and provocative. About being agile and taking risks.

But, mostly it’s about having something unique to say. Something that changes your category. A new product, service or business model.

That new thing changes things for the better. For consumers, or even for the world. That’s your mission. You need to lead with it.

Find a relatable way to communicate that mission on socials. And do it consistently.

Thursday change the way people date. Their mission is to be the biggest IRL dating app in the world. That mission is clear, as they reenergise IRL dating, through innovative in-person events.

Often brands over-complicate their content pillars. They look good on a slide but don’t land on socials.

Social audiences are showered with content. For yours to land it needs to be simple, direct and consistent. Start your pillars (and maybe end them) with three P’s.

As above. What is your brand aiming to achieve that changes the category. That change has to be something you and the audience really want to see. Something universally better than the status quo. 

Wild Farmed tap into purpose with their food revolution - with disruption at the heart of how they tell that story.

Hero your product or service in a way that is relatable and social-first. Lo-fi, UGC-style is generally more engaging than studio quality content - make it look great, but also real.

Check out Living Things for how they make their drinks look delicious through eye-level content.

Feature people in your content - that can be a founder, ambassador or customers. Ideally not a SMM. Then create content that speaks to the lifestyle and interests of your audience.

Olly’s bring founder and team into their storytelling consistently, giving the brand recognisable faces.

Take people on your journey, which is particularly important right at the start. The story behind the brand is the exclusive access audiences expect on social media.

Let people behind the curtain. Talk about purpose, product development, funding, retail listings. Always in a way that makes followers feel they are getting something exclusive.

Treat your brand as a story. Told through social media one post at a time.

Sult have told their development story openly from day one, building an audience who are invested in milestones including launch and first photoshoot.

Now always wins on social. Try to prioritise content that tells the story of what’s happening today over evergreen content banked for a rainy Wednesday.

Show up in cultural moments, by staying close to what’s happening in social culture. Keep a calendar of relevant events to prompt you to be reactive and relevant.

Do trends. But only if your brand has an interesting take or they really overlap with your audience. Don’t lip sync for the sake of posting.

Sometime brands feel too ‘digital’. Like there is nothing happening beyond the post. It’s easier to talk if something has been done.

Social audiences engage with real things. Physical events, people gathering together, people making things. Do then tell. Always thinking about IRL makes social strategy a hell of a lot easier.

Dash create IRL stunts and media activations that deliver cut-through on social channels, giving the brand a physical edge.

Being creative and finding ideas that excite your audience is the daily job of a challenger brand. Not churning out content.

‘Content’ suggests just filling something. If you try and post every day sometimes you end up just creating filler. Which doesn’t engage. Commit to ideas instead.

Find a signature stream. A format that is identifiably yours, which leads with your mission. Bold Bean Co are on a mission to make people OBSESSED with beans. And they are consistent with that idea.

Find a monthly theme, Surreal talk about NPD with an imaginative platform like putting sex toys in their cereals and post off that idea for a month.

If you are jumping on a trend, bring a twist and invest time into it. Craft it so it’s unmistakably yours. Don’t just mimic the masses.

“How often should we post?” is still a question that brands we speak to lead with. The answer is usually somewhere between how often you can and how often you should.

Of brands we studied the winning accounts posted on average 2.5x per week on Instagram and 4.5x per week on Instagram. But what works for them might not work for you.

• Think about the category. Does it feel like one that should post daily (like for skincare which is a daily ritual) or less often (like alcohol, which shouldn’t be).
• Think about your audience. The insights of reach engagement will tell you if you are posting too often, as well as if there’s scope to post more.
• Think about bandwidth. Can you dedicate the time to post something valuable every day? If not, don’t put out content just so you are seen. Set your frequency to how often you can put out content of value and quality.

“Grab attention in the first 3 seconds” is so over. You need to grab attention in under a second. Think about how you scroll, even 1 second feels like a long time to make a decision to stick around.

The first second of your posts is basically an ad for the rest of it. It’s your chance to stop the scroll and grab people to watch what you have to say.

Spend half your time crafting that first second - then the other half making the second half worth sticking around for.

The majority (75%) of social users watch both  Instagram and TikTok posts on mute. Your content needs to stand alone without sound.

If posting with a trending sound, make sure to add text to offer value without it. Don’t make the backing track the whole story. Use the hook to get people to view and therefore have the sound on.

Always review content on mute, but use sound to take it to another level.

Finally. You don’t always need totally different content streams for TikTok and Instagram. What you do need is different formats.

Your social strategy and creative thinking needs to be elevated about platform. The compelling story, IRL activation or talent you use can be mirrored across both. The execution is where it needs to be specific.3

Candy Kittens create ‘snacks’ for TikTok and ‘meals’ for Instagram. 7s videos on TikTok post 3x as often as the 20-30s more polished reels on Instagram. Telling the same story but in different serves.

Follow these steps as a playbook for landing on your social strategy. Treat them as a guide, whilst always being uniquely you.