It’s hard to argue that there has been a more successful Irish FMCG brand than VitHit in recent times. VitHit, the low-calorie vitamin drink, has firmly established itself as a big player in the beverage market. The drinks are packed with 100% RDA of 8 essential vitamins, taste delicious and have been a huge success with the increasingly health conscious public.
As consumers sway away from sugar filled drinks like Coca Cola and Pepsi, the competition is rapidly increasing in the zero to low calorie drinks market. VitHit has a strong foothold in Ireland, and exports to over a dozen countries, from Europe to the United Arab Emirates and further afield to Australia.
As someone who loves analysing how brands use their platform online, I noticed that VitHit were definitely under performing on the digital media front and this was surprising, given just how high the quality of their products are. I’ve outlined some of the changes I would instantly make that would see more engagement and give the brand more of a human feel, rather than just another company that produces liquid in a plastic bottle.
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1. Content, or lack thereof.
VitHit have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. One huge thing that stuck out to me as I went through all of their pages, was how little content they are producing and how repetitive that content is.
Their Instagram feed, while extremely aesthetic and clearly professionally managed, has been posting the same images of the product for a number of years. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, the proof is in the numbers. VitHit have just shy of 15,000 followers, not too shabby you might say, but let’s compare them to another hugely successful Irish FMCG brand, Fulfil Nutrition. Fulfil have 54,000 followers, nearly 4 times as many as VitHit.
Of course, you can say that followers don’t account for sales, but surely it would be in VitHits best interest to produce content that gets people talking and interested. Fulfil have done an excellent job of this by posting workouts, various recipes and images of people across the world enjoying their range of protein bars. If you examine the instagram feeds of Red Bull and Coca Cola, you will see that they hardly ever showcase their products, instead opting for content that is entertaining, interesting, recent and relevant. This is content that VitHit could look to adopt.
The most recent posts on Vithits Instagram feed. While pleasing on the eye, they really aren’t providing any value to potential followers and provide no incentive to follow their page.
On Twitter, it’s possible they have forgotten both the password and the email they used to recover the account, as they haven’t tweeted in 2 months, with the most recent being a retweet on July 16th.
Excluding retweets and replies, they have tweeted just 6 times in the past 6 months, despite launching the new VitHit Sparkling range, which by all accounts has been a huge success for the brand. Why not inform your fans more about this new range and run a few competitions to increase the follower count (currently at just 2,900).
Facebook has been somewhat of an area of success for Vithit, accumulating 88,000 likes on their page. Fulfil Nutrition, by comparison, have 55,000, however their page was set up 7 years after Vithits, so it’s fair to say they had some catching up to do. In a similar vein to their Instagram feed, VitHits Facebook content is not enticing, and one has to wonder are they missing a beat by not commissioning a few mini documentary series covering athletes and health advocates from their target markets.
LinkedIn offers a platform to inform fans of some of the more financial, operational and logistical components of a business. Vithit, suffice to say, have not taken advantage of this with fewer than 5 posts in the past 6 months. Yes, there’s been a pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped other brands from showcasing the work they have been doing behind the scenes to keep operational levels as close to normal as possible.
BrewDog, the hugely popular Scottish craft brewery, are masters of self promotion and publicity on LinkedIn, recently boasting how they are the first ever beer company in the world that are Carbon Negative. This received widespread publicity and applause, and further cements Brewdogs positive public image.
Back in May, during the height of Covid-19 lockdown, VitHit generously donated thousands of bottles for National Health Service lunches, providing a small but highly appreciated gesture of goodwill for the frontline heroes. There was an opportunity to talk about this on LinkedIn and show that they are committed to helping in any way they can.
2. Blue Tick Verification ✔
Not a single one of VitHits social accounts have the blue tick verification. Verification adds a sense of credibility, authenticity and ultimately professionalism. It also will vastly improve a brands search footprint, due to the fact that algorithms push verified accounts to the top of search results, meaning more followers, and more engagement.
Could you imagine Coca-Cola not being verified on the various social media platforms? It wouldn’t be plausible. If you want to compete with the giants of the industry, you’ve got to present yourself in the most professional manner possible. It’s quite easy to get verified when you are an established brand like VitHit. It’s a quick fix, and will improve the brands professional image tenfold.
3. Fan Engagement.
Engaging with fans isn’t for every business. Nobody wants to be asked how their Monday morning is going from an insurance company, but VitHit fit the profile of a fun and ultimately happy brand. When you have fans literally swearing by your product, as seen in the images below, there is a golden opportunity to connect with these people and also to do some gloating about how great your products are.
VitHit are missing a beat by not replying, liking and retweeting to the people who are doing incredible marketing on their behalf. If nothing else, it shows that you care and that you have a human side to the brand. The smallest gesture of appreciation can go a long way, especially online, where word of mouth marketing has enormous reach and influence.
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Along with the changes outlined, VitHit should look to start a YouTube page (we know that 80% of content consumed online is video) where they team up with nutritionists, athletes and fitness influencers who can provide different forms of content - informative, docuseries, entertaining and product related. Couple this with blog posts and daily use of social media features such as Instagram stories, IGTV, tweets and educational content, and they will see a huge increase in customer interaction and ultimately loyalty.
VitHit are doing absolutely fantastic on the sales front, and the most important part of the business - the products, are a winner. As long as they continue to provide healthy, refreshing drinks, they are sure to continue their rise in the beverage industry. With that said, every business has areas of improvement and for VitHit it is their digital image and what value they are providing to their fans.
