Social playbook for challenger brands

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

We’ve audited the social behaviours of 100 challenger brands, looking at everything from brand mission and content pillars - to frequency and format.

These ten learnings from the brands who are winning can act as a playbook for how challengers can stand apart in their category on social media.

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 the category. A new product, service or business model.

That new thing changes things for the better. For people, 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 users are showered with content. For yours to land it needs to be simple, direct and consistent. Start your pillars with three P’s:

What is your brand aiming to achieve that changes the category? That change has to be something you and the community really want to see. Something undeniably 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 or how they make their drinks look delicious through eye-level content.

Feature people in your content - that can be the founder, ambassador or customers. Then create content that speaks to the lifestyle and interests of your community.

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 people expect on social media.

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 a community who are invested in milestones - such as their 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 the interests of your community. Don’t lip sync for the sake of posting.

Nice Drinks invest in ideas that are current and stay relevant to cultural moments.

Sometime brands feel too ‘digital’. Like there is nothing happening beyond the post. 

Social communities 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.

‘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.

Create a signature stream, a format that is unmistakably yours and that leads with your mission. Bold Bean Co are on a mission to make people OBSESSED with beans. And they are consistent with that idea with every post.

Plan 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.

• 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 community. The insights of reach and 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.

Think about the first second of your post as essentially 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.

Use captions, overlay text and a clear visual story to make sure the message is clear.

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 interact and therefore get their sound on.

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

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

For Moju’s ‘ravey’ launch into Sainsbury’s they created 30+ second ‘long-plays’ for Instagram and <10-second ‘short-tracks’ for TikTok. 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.