How Flagship Content Could Help Nike
Nike is a leading company in athletic ware and athletic equipment. However, they are also known as athletic experts due to their narrative and content that they push to the public. Nike is known by most people around the world and are a major sponsor of worldwide sporting events, such as the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and the Olympics. But how do they achieve such notoriety and expertise? Let us dive in.
Nike uses several types of content, with authority building
and pillar content being amongst the top types of content. Authority building
content is when a sponsor or company, such as Nike, positions itself as an
authority or expert on the subject. These sponsors and companies may publish
backlink-building content to help have a healthy reputation as an expert in
their subject or industry. (Tuten, pg. 238)
Pillar content “creates a solid foundation of original
content” and the base blocks are known as the “pillar.” Pillar content is
typically content that continues to attract consumers and viewers. This content
can include compounding posts, which is content that is reposted and cited by
others. (Tuten, pg. 238)
Nike’s best example of authority building content is their
blog, which can be found a www.nike.com/stories.
This blog can also be part of their best pillar content as well. They post
articles that demonstrate expertise in the athletic industry and field. For
example, they have posted a few articles about coaching and inspiration. One
article is about Fabian Domenech, whom is a Nike yoga instructor that has
taught all over the world. The article illustrates what he has learned in his
journey and inspires or coaches others to find themselves through centering
themselves and meditating with yoga. (Trained Podcast: Find Authenticity With Fabian Domenech, n.d.)
This can be considered authority building content as it demonstrates
their expertise in the athletic industry. It builds trust in their consumers
and content consumers that Nike knows what they are talking about and that they
can be trusted to speak on such subjects.
Nike’s blog is also a great example of pillar content. They use their blog as a base, or foundation of a pillar, and build it up from there. Again, this just promotes their expertise and builds their reputation and credibility in the athletic industry. As Nike continues to post on their blog, this could attract more and more viewers and potentially create an even greater impact in the industry.
Although Nike has a prominent social media and digital presence,
which can be credited to their authority building and pillar content, there is
another form of content that may help their brand. This other type of content
is flagship, or evergreen, content. Flagship content, also known as evergreen
content, is “original, authority-building, pillar content that becomes a
seminal work in the field.” (Tuten, pg. 238) This content may be ground
breaking and original work that could shape the way people think for a long
time.
I believe that Nike could do case studies on certain athletes,
sports teams, or certain types of their equipment. Nike would study one of the
before mentioned items and make a report on it that could potentially change
the way people think in the athletic industry. As an example, say Nike does a
case study on a professional football player. Nike could provide certain equipment,
or even new, never tested, equipment to the player. The player would use the
equipment as intended. Nike would then study the player’s outcomes and metrics
while using this equipment. Nike would then create a report based on the data and
release that study. This could be considered flagship or evergreen content as the
results could be ground breaking in the industry if the equipment is new. The
results and report could alter the way people think about equipment in the
future.
If you were on Nike's marketing or social media team, what kind of content would you push? Would you choose to stick with authority building content and pillar content, or would you push for flagship or evergreen content? Is there a different kind of content that you think would be best?
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References
Tuten, T. (2023). Social Media Marketing (5th ed.). SAGE Publications, Ltd. (UK). https://ccis.vitalsource.com/books/9781529625790
Trained Podcast: Find Authenticity with Fabian Domenech.
(n.d.). Nike.com.
https://www.nike.com/a/fabian-domenech-on-discovering-yourself-through-meditation-and-yoga
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