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Social Media Platforms used by Harley-Davidson

Michael Rickman

MKT-265

Tara Kolojejchick

19 March 2023

Social Media Platforms used by Harley-Davidson

Many companies globally are now using social media to market their products/services, and Harley-Davidson is not an exception. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, provide countless innovative and creative ways for companies to connect with their customers. According to research, social media is an effective way to attract customers, increase market reach, improve brand awareness, and increase brand loyalty. In this paper, I will analyze various social media platforms utilized by Harley-Davidson to support its digital marketing strategy.

Social Media Platforms

Harley-Davidson uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to promote its latest products, campaigns, and events. These platforms align with its target audience. The primary target market of Harley Davidson are male customers aged 35 to 44 with a comfortable disposable income. Besides, the company targets young adults, women, and short riders. It uses social media platforms to find and reach these target audiences.

Harley-Davidson uses each social media platform for different purposes. It uses Facebook to connect with millennials who are outgoing and adventurous. According to reports, males aged 25 to 34 constitute Facebook's leading demographic (Dixon, 2023). On the other hand, the company uses Twitter to share information quickly and initiate conversations with the target market. Further, Harley uses Instagram to resonate with young adults, precisely 18 to 25 years old men. The goal is to appeal to young, adventurous individuals who want to be strong, bold, free, and embrace individualism. Lastly, Harley uses Youtube to share videos with its customers. On both platforms, the company creates customer-generated content that helps increase social media traffic, brand exposure, user engagement, brand advocacy, and conversion rate.

Each social media platform addresses a different audience. Each audience has distinct expectations and preferences for what they want to see on the forum. Thus, Harley needs to modify posts to accommodate the various functionalities of social media platforms. The company should post curated content, blog posts, and videos on Facebook (Lua, 2017). On the other hand, Harley should post stories, quotes, and high-resolution photos on Instagram. Further, the company should post GIFs, blog posts, and news on Twitter. On the contrary, Harley should post videos on YouTube.

Digital Marketing Campaigns

Strengths

Facebook and Youtube would be most effective for Harley. Facebook allows the company to communicate and connect one-on-one with customers. It also allows the company to understand customer interests and convert prospective customers into paying clients (Conlin, 2023). Besides, Facebook allows Harley to reach a broad audience and shape its brand reputation. Similarly, Youtube connects the company to a global audience. It also allows the organization to create different videos relevant to the target market. In 2016, Harley launched a new video campaign: "Live your Legend." The company launched the campaign on Youtube and Facebook. The goal was to build the H-D community and show how a new Harley bike can establish long-lasting bonds with family and friends while allowing for distinctive memories and experiences.

Harley uses digital transformation technologies to boost digital marketing. In early 2016, Asaf Jacobi, a Harley dealership owner in New York City, took a chance on a new AI automation technology, Albert. The technology helped to generate more leads by placement targeting and computerizing ad creation. According to Power (2017), the dealership moved from getting one sale lead in a day to forty in the first month. And by the third month, the sales lead increased by 2930 percent. The AI uses machine learning and predictive algorithms from previous campaigns to generate a lookalike audience. It finds sales leads with similar features to those who had previously purchased based on the analysis of the company's existing CRM and external data.

Weaknesses

Harley uses Instagram to reach young adults but still needs help to attract this audience. The company can use Instagram influencers to attract young riders. Instagram influencers can help to increase brand awareness and position. Besides, Instagram influencers can help build trust and credibility and even increase their Instagram following.

Despite remarkable success in digital marketing, Harley still needs to improve its digital activity to succeed in the long term. For instance, Harley should generate more engaging videos and user-generated content to attract more customers. Besides promoting Harley's products, engaging videos and image or video content generated by users can help showcase the exciting biking lifestyle and experience through social media.

Harley could use research to improve its digital activity. Any information collected from the research can help determine what digital media Harley-Davidson buyers consume. This will then enable the company to design its digital marketing activity based on customer interests and preferences.

References

Conlin, B. (2023). 10 Unexpected Ways Facebook Is Good for Your Business. Business News Daily. Retrieved from: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2534-facebook-benefits.html

Dixon, S. (2023). Facebook: distribution of global audiences 2023, by age and gender. Statista.

Lua, A. (2017). What to Post on Each Social Media Platform: The Complete Guide to Optimizing Your Social Content. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/what-to-post-on-each-social-media-platform-the-complete/305168

Power, B. (2017). How Harley-Davidson Used Artificial Intelligence to Increase New York Sales Leads by 2,930%. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2017/05/how-harley-davidson-used-predictive-analytics-to-increase-new-york-sales-leads-by-2930