Liquid Death Social Media Audit

With a campaign slogan like “Murder Your Thirst”, and social media videos that seem directly out of an 80’s horror movie, it’s clear that nothing about beverage company Liquid Death’s use of social media is anything but traditional. While their social media tactics are certainly a bold choice, that does not mean they have not paid off, as they are far away the most followed water company on social media. Their company’s growth and success can be largely attributed to their viral marketing strategies that include a jab at a now deceased golfing hall of famer and a horoscope that depicts the subscriber being murdered, Liquid Death has long blown past the barriers of how a company should use social media.

Instagram

Liquid Death’s use of Instagram is arguably their biggest strength in terms of use of social media. They boast 2.8 million followers on the platform, where they post images of products, as well as Reels that often rake in 100,000-1,000,000 views.

Analysis Of Instagram

Using Ebay to auction off an advertisement slot is one of many ways Liquid Death has used viral marketing

Overall, Liquid Death does a great job at utilizing Instagram, as their frequent posts, which range from promotion of their goods to publicity stunts such as auctioning off a 500,000-case wide advertisement to the highest bidder, which ultimately crashed Ebay as a whole, before settling at a final bid of $500,114. This use of viral marketing makes it so word of mouth by people sharing these things on the web get more and more eyes on Liquid Deaths page, which ultimately results in more sales. These tactics have led to serious results, as Liquid Death boasts more followers than any other water company on Instagram.

Now, while Liquid Death’s tactics have led to success so far, it would be wise for them to promote existing products, rather than only promoting new products. While their current rate of posting every few days is fine, they could also benefit from posting more frequently, even just a short post about current flavors could help increase sales.

X

Much like Instagram, Liquid Death uses X to promote new products and flavors. However, they do have a smaller following on X, with only 47.6 thousand followers. Unlike Instagram, X allows users to respond to other users posts in a more direct manner, which Liquid Death takes full advantage of, as they often quote tweet and respond to fans and other viral posts, which helps them grow their audience. Some of these posts are humorous in nature, while others show gratitude towards fans showcasing their artwork or merchandise they bought.

X Analysis

While they post similar content on X and Instagram, Liquid Death hasn’t seen the same success in numbers that they have on Instagram. However, the ability to reply directly to fans builds brand loyalty and makes the beverage brand based around death and murder actually seem quite inviting.

I can see their follower count on X riseif they have a post or two go particularly viral. They can try and make this happen by running a marketing campaign exclusively on X, and reference it on other socials to drive people who may not follow them to do so.

TikTok

On TikTok, Liquid Death has a staggering 4.9 million followers, and has almost 20 million likes. On TikTok, liquid death posts similar videos to what they put on Instagram Reels, but also has posts with celebrity endorsements, including Travis Barker promoting a fictional “enema of the state” kit and Steve-O cutting off his hair to be used in Voodoo dolls that Liquid Death sold out of almost immediately.

TikTok Analysis

Liquid Death’s use of TikTok has been instrumental in their growth as a brand. With Tik-Tok’s user rate constantly increasing, it is smart for Liquid Death to partner with celebrity to increase awareness for their brand. Their videos are always very high quality and professionally done, often including original songs centered around the product they are selling.

Facebook

Facebook is a bit of a middle ground for Liquid Death, as it has 285,000 followers and 263,000 likes, which are good numbers. However, they do not post often on the platform, as they only use it for big announcements like the launch of a new product or flavor. There is not much fan interaction on the site either.

Facebook Analysis

Liquid Death’s use of Facebook is maybe its only weak point, as their lack of posting prevents them from further growing their audience. If they can target some advertisments toward the older facebook crowd, they could see a tremendous increase in sales.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Liquid

With Liquid Deaths unique style of mrketing, they have created some advantages and disadvantages for themselves in the beverage world.

Some strengths are

Unique Can and Case design makes products stand out on the shelves
High engagement rate on social media
Often have posts go viral
More followers than competitors
Advertising Style is different than competitors
Some weaknesses are
Not enough Instagram posts
Doesn’t promote already existing products
Comedy can take away from the products themselves
Some competitors post more across all platforms
Competitiors can advertise sugar free products

Conclusion

In all, Liquid Death’s outside-the-box promotion has led to serious virality online and gained substantial growth in popularity online and in stores. Their ability to make grim wording and imagery seem appealing to customers has made them more than a novelty brand, but rather a serious force on social media and in stores.

They have created several advantages for themselves on social media, such as their products being unique to customers, as well as easy virality online. They have avoided boxing themselves in brand wise, although their comedy heavy nature does risk overshadowing their products as a whole online.

While their initial growth has been impressive, if they were to increase their posts on Instagram as well as promote their already existing products rather than just new ones, they would see an increase in sales and views on social media.