[Social Media Monitoring Part I] Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Introduction

There are so many beautiful things we will be through for our entire life, no matter it is a scene in which the sun goes down to the horizon or a moment in which the couple kisses each other in the wedding with smiles that outshine any other forms of happiness. We want to keep those treasures and store them in the deep of our mind. However, the memory has its limitation, and that is why we invent imaging (photography) products to help us.

Nikon is a Japan-based international corporation that commits to first-class optics and imagining products. While it runs a business on a wild range of fields including cameras, lenses, microscopes, binoculars and measurement instruments, what indeed makes Nikon a highly reputable organization is its cameras. Nikon is probably one of two kings (another is Canon) who rule the market of digital SLR cameras. The company began the production of Nikon F cameras in 1959, Nikon's first and one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Because of some of their outstanding features (interchangeable lenses, viewfinders, motor drives, etc.), Nikon F-series SLRs were the most widely used small-format cameras among professional photographers for nearly 30 years.

                                            the Nikon D3400 commercial

In the middle of 21^st century, Nikon boldly marched to the realm of digital photography, began the production of Nikon D-series digital SLRs. In late 2007, Nikon D3 was introduced to the public as Nikon's first full-frame DSLRs and the product that finalized the design of Nikon's future DSLRs. After D3, Nikon gained much reputation as a leading innovator in the field of DSLRs, and built partnerships with many other businesses or institutions, including NASA's Space Shuttle program.

Nikon F professional SLR camera with eyelevel prism and early NIKKOR-S Auto 1:1,4 f=5,8cm (1959)

Nikon D3

Social Media Platforms

Before the era of the social network, Nikon's marketing campaigns were primarily based on Television. Except for regular TV advertisements, Nikon also cooperated with different culture creators to promote its cameras. For example, singer Paul Simon referenced Nikon Cameras in his 1973 song Kodachrome, and the main character of the TV series Dexter, Dexter Morgan can be seen using a Nikon camera throughout the show.

When the Internet and mobile network began to gain popularity among the population, Nikon also placed the gravity of their marketing campaigns on social media platforms. And in this section, I would discuss Nikon's performance on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram.

Facebook

Nikon's Facebook page is a very popular one, with over 13 million likes and over 13 million follows (until Feb 22, 2018). Nikon has a very wise strategy on how to utilize Facebook page for advertisement. The smartest part is that the Nikon's main page on Facebook is not only a community where the official communicates and interact with fans, but a place of strong promotion of its cameras. Just with a simple click on the blue button on the homepage, the visitor would be redirected to Nikon's official website and online store. And Nikon encourages visitors to post ratings and reviews of cameras on the “Ratings” page. On “Ask & Answer”, Nikon does not only provide after-sales service, but also give customers suggestions on choosing the right camera according to their budget and preference.

The "Ratings" page on Facebook

 The Ask & Answer page on Facebook

We also see many cross promotion with other brands in Nikon's Facebook community. For example, days ago Nikon partner with MINI to produce a short video in Spain to promote both the Nikon KeyMission 170 and MINI car.

 The cross-promotion of Nikon and MINI

Twitter and #NikonWarnerSound campaign

On Twitter, there are also multiple Nikon official accounts which serve users living in different regions/countries. @NikonUSA is the most popular account among them, with over 225K followers. Other accounts, such as @NikonEurope and @NikonAsia, are currently followed by less than 20K Twitter users.

@NikonUSA

@NikonUSA is also very active in the interaction with other users/brands/communities and the promotion of its products and events. First, it would retweet or post authorized photos from professional or amateur photographers. Second, @NikonUSA is in charge of several major campaigns underway, including #NikonNoFilter, a long-term social media campaign that encourages photographers to post their no-filter photos on social media, and Nikon Ambassador which has invited numbers of famous photographers (such as @MoosePeterson, a user with 71K followers) to share tips or techniques of shooting cool photos in #NikonSchool workshop. Third, @NikonUSA also knows how to take advantages of cross-promotion with different photography-related brands or communities. A recent example was #WPPI2018 (the premier conference and expo for Wedding and Portrait Photographers). @NikonUSA cooperated with the host of WPPI2018 and would have a live streaming presentation from some Nikon Ambassadors at its website NikonUSA.com.  

A Nikon photographer's post that was retweeted by @NikonUSA

The cooperation between @NikonUSA and WPPI2018

In SXSW Music Festival 2013, Nikon partnered with Warner Music Group (WMG) and used SXSW as a platform to demonstrate the quality and capabilities of Nikon cameras. Over the three-night event, Nikon HD-SLR cameras were used to capture live performances. Station and roaming photographers at the festival gave people the opportunity to use the cameras and share pictures on Twitter and Facebook. It created big hype on Twitter, making #NikonWarnerSound became one of the top trending topics on Twitter all three nights during SXSW Music. This campaign was also picked up by the Forbes as one of the best influencer marketing campaigns in 2013.

#NikonWarnerSound campaign on Twitter

Youtube and Nikon I AM NIKON campaign

Nikon put less attention on the video-sharing website YouTube, compared with other social media platforms. Nikon Europe has by far 107,935 subscribers and posts new videos weekly. However, one advantage videos have while pictures don't is that videos are able to present the photo and the story behind the photo. At the heart of the image. This is the leading ideology of Nikon for years. And what Nikon is always trying to show customers as a part of their business culture is that in the birth of every photo, there is an impressing story to tell. It might be why Nikon began to view YouTube as a primary battlefield of their I AM NIKON campaign.

 The Nikon's official ads from I AM NIKON campaign

Nikon's collection of user's photos made for I AM NIKON campaign

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I AM NIKON was originally a campaign started by Nikon Europe in 2010. Because of the good reaction in both sales and the public opinion, it later became a long-term, global campaign that has been lasting for more than eight years. The most interesting part for I AM NIKON campaign, I think, is that it is an ad campaign in which Nikon and its users join together to generate the groundswell. Every year, Nikon would post numbers of images with the “I AM [     ]” logo on major social media. Half of those images are advertisements of its cameras, while the other half contains photos Nikon collected from its users. Users need to choose a word or a phrase that could best describe how he/she feels about his/her picture, and fill it into the blank. If you are lucky enough, Nikon would even make a short video to tell your legend as a photographer. And every year, Nikon would post a video on YouTube to celebrate 12 months of special moments and exciting time through the lens of the Nikon community.    

A video from I AM NIKON campaign that shares the story of an 11 years old wildlife photographer, Josiah Launstein  

An annual video from I AM NIKON – I AM NIKON 2016

Google Trends

The google search trends of keyword “Nikon” on a 12-month scale (01/01/2017 – 12/31/2017) shows that there were two searching peaks in 2017: the period of Nov 19 – Nov 25 (Black Friday), and Dec 24 – Dec 30 (Christmas).

Google trends timetable (Jan 1, 2017 - Dec 31, 2017)

It indicates that Nikon camera achieved larger commercial success during holiday sales. However, this does not mean the downturn for the rest of the year. Instead, Nikon managed to keep a steady awareness of its products (cameras) among the public in 2017, as the timetable shows the search volume of “Nikon camera” in 2017 is around a value of 75.

We might have a more precise understanding if we compare Nikon camera's search volume with that of Cannon camera in the same 1-year period (see the graph below). The average search volume of Cannon camera in 2017 is the value of 9, while that of Nikon camera is 76, which is over eight times of Cannon camera.

The search volume of Nikon and Cannon in the same period

As for the regional difference, Nikon gained most popularity in Hong Kong, Australia and a lot of Europian countries in 2017. It drew moderate attention in North America and Southeast Asia and was lack of exposure in Africa and South America, which I believed is due to both the economic level of these regions and the absence of Nikon's marketing activities.

Interest by region (Jan 1, 2017 - Dec 31, 2017)

Social Mention

(From up to bottom) social mention for the last day, last week and last month

The social mention of Nikon in last day, last week and last month (with the endpoint of 10 P.M., Feb 22) are presented above. An over 50% strength indicated that more than half of the possible mentions directly linked to the keyword Nikon. The rate of passion was around 50%, indicating that 50% individuals talking about Nikon before are likely to have repeated discussions. If a person refers to Nikon in his/her several different posts, he/she has a great possibility of being a loyal customer of Nikon. The majority of mentions related to Nikon were neutral. It could mean that most customers or users were rational when making any purchase decision.

Another thing to be highlighted is the difference across platforms. In the last month, Nikon was mentioned mostly on Photobucket, Twitter, and Reddit. While Twitter and Reddit are both platforms where users discuss a wild range of things they are interested in, Photobucket is a picture store/edit/share/hosting website. It might be a signal that Nikon could consider having more partnership with picture sharing website (such as Pinterest).

Nikon's social mentions on different platforms

 Conclusion

Nikon so far has made good use of social media campaign and has managed to generate or energize the groundswell with the help of its successful campaigns, including #NikonWarnerSound and I AM NIKON. It also broke the barrier and created buzz on different social media platforms, and among different individuals from a different age, gender or cultural groups.

However, a greater endeavor is needed if Nikon wants to energize groundswell further to give a boost to sales or public awareness. After my part 1 research, I think at least Nikon could do better on following parts:

• Expand its customer base. It is good to know that Nikon has worked hard on campaigns that please royal customers for the past few years. But the next success would not come if it is unable to attract more individuals to become their new fans. #NikonWarnerSound is a good idea which did interest many people who had no experience of using Nikon cameras or even any camera before.
• Have more interaction with customers. Nikon has always been active in posting news on social media platforms, but if we have a close look, we will find that almost all Nikon's official accounts are lack of communication with its fans. No matter it is a comment, or like, or share, or retweet, Nikon ignored them a lot.
•  Campaign on products' good quality. In January 2014, it was reported by several media that some units of Nikon D600 had oil/dust issue, which later lead to a negative influence on the Nikon's reputation as a high-quality DSLRs maker. Until today many remain suspicious of Nikon D-series cameras. Nikon needs to utilize the power of groundswell to change the public's attitude.