In this informative interview with Nate Randle, a former brand manager at Nike and current VP of Brand Strategy at Vivint (a Fortune 500 company), we discuss what large and small companies do on social media to build engagement and community.
Nate shares how Nike used social to sell out the new Tiger Woods shoe in 48 hours and blow past it’s revenue projections by 400%! All with social. We also explore how not to use social and common mistakes.

“If it’s easy, it doesn’t mean it’s right.” – Nate Randle, former VP of Brand Strategy, Nike and the Utah Jazz, NBA basketball team. He’s currently the CMO of Vivint (a Fortune 500 company).
Here’s a play by play:
1:00 : How Nate got into branding by targeting his top companies
2:30 : Why he’s passionate about branding and how the Nike brand builds with stories
4:30 : Branding and storytelling
4:45 : How to create a story to support your brand (even if your company is boring)
5:25 : Importance of listening to the consumer and connecting. Let the consumer shape your brand
6:30 : The biggest mistake entrepreneurs and big brands make!
7:00 : Why you’re not Steve Jobs
8:00 : How big brands connect to consumers on a small budget
9:30 : How stealth mode kills your engagement
10:00 The process Nate learned after making 50+ commercials for making an engaging commercial
12:30: How Nike engages with social media to tell stories and why they shifted spending from commercials to social media.
14:45 : What to post on social media. What Nike Golf learned from mistakes when posting products on social media.
16:05 : The 3 elements needed for social engagement in each picture.
17:10 : One big mistake brands make in social media. How long videos should be. How to get people to share.
18:45 : What Nike learned from posting image of Tiger Woods on social media. Why it’s a mistake to post the same thing on each social platform.
20:25 : What content to post on Twitter, Facebook and Instragram and how to build a story between them.
21:30 : Why Hootsuite and other aggregators hurt your brand.
22:45 : Mistakes brands make with email newsletters
24:00 : How to keep your brand consistent, but keep it fresh
28:45 : “Social media has become a place where people go to complain.” How to build brand ambassadors.
29:45 : What VIP access is and how it builds loyalty. How social media helped Nike sell out the new Tiger Woods shoe in 2 days and sold 4 times more than projected.
34:40 : Kickstarter and story creation to build raving fans
Great interview! I learned so much! Really helped with learning how to brand through social media.
Awesome interview, great content. Gonna have to listen to this one again.