How to Make Your Social Channels Thrive Like Disney Plus

Mastering more than one social media channel is a difficult skill that few people possess. But whoever runs Disney Plus’ social channels proves that it can be accomplished. In my last blog post, I talked about how the new streaming platform was winning on Twitter. I checked out Disney Plus’ other social channels and they are consistent on all three platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). They use all of the same best practices but lack in the same areas across the board. Here’s two ways Disney Plus is reigning over their competitors and one way they can improve their overall digital presence:

1. Staying Consistent

My two classmates, Ana and Nicole, and I all found that Disney stays consistent in many ways on their social media channels. They have the same logo and bio across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and also keep their posts about the same on each platform. They are able to mix their content onto all of their social channels, and don’t try to force a certain type of post on a platform it doesn’t work on.

Disney Plus also stays consistent with their brand voice, according to Ana. They don’t post too often, but often enough, and all of their information is relevant. The site feels comfortable and welcoming, their information is useful, and the brand is reinforced consistently, despite not replying to users. 

Lastly, Disney stays consistent by posting around the same time span every day. Ana also found that there is a similarity between Instagram and Twitter, as both platforms are posting 2-5 times a day (with the exception of retweets and replies). However, it is a little different from Facebook. Facebook posts 1-2 times during the week, and 3-5 during the weekend, but their posts do not inspire a lot of engagement. (Check out her post if you want to learn more!)

2. Engaging Followers with Questions

Disney Plus plays it smart by having a few posts a week that directly ask for engagement. Sprout Social’s article “5 Social Media Best Practices Every Marketer Must Follow” states that asking engagement-driven questions is important, as it can garner genuine responses from your audience.

On the 14th anniversary of High School Musical’s premiere, they asked fans on Twitter how old they were when they first saw the movie. Despite the fact that they didn’t post this on their other channels too, they had different posts on Facebook and Instagram that invited engagement.

According to Nicole, Disney+ does a good job of this, often including a question or asking for the experience or opinions of fans at the end of the captions for posts about their shows. This often plays to people’s nostalgia when it’s in reference to an older property of Disney’s and gets a high level of engagement through responses and tagging. For example, their post regarding a new Pixar short asks users if they are ready to see more about the next chapter of Woody and Bo Peep’s adventure, two very popular characters, which drew some of the highest engagement of the audit period.

3. Interacting with Customers

Despite Disney Plus’ great efforts to stay consistent and drive engagement, they fall short in a major area for all three platforms. Disney Plus never interacts with customers/followers, and will only ever interact with other Disney-owned brands on Twitter by retweeting or quote tweeting.

According to “7 Steps to an Effective Facebook Marketing Strategy” by Sprout Social, it’s important to engage proactively with your audience. They state that conversation and engagement should not be put on the back burner.

Nicole found that in her audit of their Facebook there was no response at all from the company to any of the comments on their page, positive or negative. Social media is also increasingly becoming the main avenue for customer support help. There are almost no posts that were posted during the period she audited Disney+’s Facebook that don’t have at least one unrelated customer service comment. Even then, there is no engagement at all from the brand.

Ana agreed, as she said that although Disney achieves many recommended best practices, they could still improve the platform by connecting with influencers, responding to comments, and similar innovations.

For a brand that’s only existed for three months, Disney Plus is killing it across the board. They’ve nailed their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram game. Do you think Disney Plus will start interacting with customers? Will they migrate their brand onto TikTok next? Leave a comment about how you feel about Disney Plus’ social media presence!