Xiaomi's subbrand - Black Shark

Case study on the Black Shark 2 Pro gaming phone social media strategy.

10.09.2019

Black Shark 2 Pro is a recently launched gaming phone. And it has some competitors on the market.

• Black Shark website https://eu.blackshark.com/

Here is the information given, we start by structuring it in an easy-to-understand mind map.

Audience research.

I went through active users and Fans profiles in Black Shark's Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/BlackSharkGlobal/) and studied their interests and language.

Fans describe the phone with these words and phrases:

beast, amazing, stylish, made for intensive usage, hardcore, and the common opinion is that the product is "really exciting technology at an awesome price".

Most fans have an interest in The Avengers, sports cars, UFC, PUB G, and memes.

I connected with some people I know, that I thought are representing the target audience. From what they say, it was clear that it is most important to know to them was:

• how much does the phone cost
• what games are performing better because of this phone
• technical parameters of the phone that allow it to perform better than competitors
• camera quality or other parameters didn't matter as much.

Social media planning.

As a community, it is important for each individual to feel that they are special and the brand cares about them. In the Facebook group, some users are complaining about bad customer service. In Reviews section one negative comment repeats over and over again, it says that this user's comments get deleted and that the customer support ignores him. It is very important to keep in touch with the customers and reply to their comments. Especially if there is any kind of an issue.

So the Main goals for Black Shark's content would be:

1. Building a Community

2. Increasing Brand Awareness

3. Boosting Engagement

For each goal, I selected a few examples of post types.

Building a community:

Unique deals for Black Shark 2 owners, chats and survey posts, additional closed groups and events, memes related to the brand, customized wallpapers for the phone, reposts of the users' content.

Increase Brand Awareness:

evergreen posts - videos and pictures featuring the advantages of the phone like Snapdragon 855+, community events announcements, external curated content, announcements counting days before the next launch in a country.

Boost engagement:

Step-by-Step Instructions, How-to Guides, special deals and events, regular competitions among the users or fans, memes related to the gaming industry.

Here is the Content Plan Table link.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_zMZ3Ab-josMnD_t91-CrGKlOh7lg4vwIgGce6qQAxU/edit?usp=sharing

To make each platform's content unique I decided to divide it between Facebook and Twitter. Because Twitter functionality is limited I moved the most interaction with the fans to Facebook. And left all the most engaging content for Twitter.

Content visuals and copy examples.

Example of a brand post.

Example of a copy for a post about the latest event.

Examples of the visuals that can be used for the wallpapers compilation post.

Examples of curated content. Youtube Unboxing videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0csa3S_omL0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_TxBPZVp7s

Related memes.

Market research.

There are a few brands competitors:

Razer Phone 2, Asus ROG II, Nubia red magic 3, OnePlus 7 Pro, Huawei P30 Pro.

There are also similar in style and in my opinion related brands:

Monster, Alienware, Nvidia GeForce.

I decided to go through already existing ads of the competitors and the related brands.

I also checked Facebook business success stories.

Some brands were using a Playable Ad Creative which is a native to gamer's way of advertising. And which might work just right for Black Shark Strategy.

https://www.facebook.com/business/success/kakao-games-wisebirds#

https://www.facebook.com/business/success/mytona-and-nanigans#

Website analysis.

From the first look on the website, it seems a bit outdated. The product was launched in a U.K. region, but the website button still says "Notify me". The overall design doesn't specify all the powerful sides of the device.

It might have an effect on sales.

Ad strategy.

1. E-mail lists, people who recently bought Black Shark 2 can be targeted with additional devices ads. Use e-mail retargeting.
2. People who previously bought Black Shark 1 can be targeted with the message to upgrade.
3. High-value engagers - website and Facebook visitors, people who pressed the key buttons. Add % discount for users who dropped out of the funnel/abandoned the cart.
4. Look-a-like. Build LAL audiences based on customers who had the highest lifetime value and are likely to buy.
5. Test Interest-based audiences separately in the EU and SEA. Use a special deal code.
6. Run visually appealing ads on Facebook feed, suggested videos, Instagram feed, and Stories. Lead to the main page or product landing page.
7. The Campaign might be supported by a giveaway promoted on the website, Instagram and Facebook.

Budget.

To the bottom of funnel 5-10%.

60% of the budget to people who never heard about Black Shark.

Audiences

• The main audience is males, aged 18–35 who are early technology adopters with a keen interest in technology.
• Audiences countries can be targeted accordingly to the sales launching schedule.
• And age can be broken down on smaller audiences when the first tests will show the results.
• Audiences should exclude people who recently visited the website or those who already bought the phone.

Here are some examples of audiences.

Ad creatives.

I would suggest videos as it is the most engaging format for the targeted audiences.

Here are some examples of how I see the ads for the brand.

Carousel example.

The ad creatives must be the most appealing to the target audience and there are lots of materials to work with already provided by Black Shark pro.

However, there is also an alternative way. Some visuals can show the real experience having a Black Shark pro and feature UGC content like:

• Boomerang or a short video for Instagram stories. A hand holding and turning Black Shark, UGC style. The phone shines and reflects the light from different angles. The video can feature Black Shark in different colors one by one.
• A short video comparing experience playing with the regular phone on the left VS game experience with Black Shark 2 on the right.
• A quick unboxing video. Real-life experience of owning Black Shark 2.

A finished MindMap

Here is a Google folder with all the used materials.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fldUnIkSPPegy8oX55eyxkUtspvW8_ic

In this folder you can find the following:

• Facebook and Twitter social media content plan
• Mind map
• Custom Audience screenshots
• Texts
• Creatives