Disney Social Media: How Does Disney Use Social to Promote Itself?

Disney and social media, as you might expect, have a very close relationship. It goes without saying that people love Disney, so it’s only natural that the brand would want to capitalise on that on soical media. In our case study, we’re going to look at how Disney uses social media to spread the word of new releases, engage with its audience, and generally foster a sense of brand loyalty. Keep reading to see how Disney uses social media!

Disney & Social Media: The Early Days

Disney has been a dominating force across various social media networks since 2010 and has made a name for itself as one of the most powerful brands, both online and offline. With more than 1,000 social media accounts across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube they have a 24/7 online presence. It all began with the Disney Moms panel in 2010. This was their first major social media forum, created so that past customers (mothers) could engage with people looking to come to Disney World. The idea was that they’d have a panel of moms answering questions and sharing experiences. The forum allowed people to connect to other moms, and ask questions that would result in ‘real’ and honest responses, rather than answers from a Disney representative. They referred to this as a ‘smart risk’, because they allowed the mums to post whatever they want, positive or negative. The plus side to this is that anytime something negative was posted at least one person came to Disney’s defence without the company actually having to do anything. This advance into social media before many other companies is what has made Disney one of the most powerful brands online. Besides just using social media as a way of spreading information, sharing products and getting things out to consumers, they also use it as a listening device. A big factor that makes Disney so successful on social media is that they listen and take recommendations on board, to help expand and improve the brand. As a result of this Disney have begun to see more traffic make its way to their main website and have received feedback from people they might not have heard from otherwise.

Disney on Social Media

Much like any other brand, each of Disney’s social media outlets is used for different purposes. For some, the aim of the game is to promote new shows and movies, and for others the goal is to directly engage with its audience.

YouTube

Their presence on YouTube allows them to create videos that are more for entertainment value rather than to sell their products. They use many of their recognisable and popular characters in their videos, in the hope that eventually people will talk about the brand. Whilst the YouTube isn’t regularly updated, videos do recieve good engagement and views when something is published. For the most part,  its videos include Behind the Scenes of movies and shows, Q&As with creators, and other promotional material.

Facebook

Their biggest presence, is on Facebook. With 267 pages including individual pages for Disney consumer products, they are constantly posting and talking to consumers. These Facebook pages have been created for people across different countries and are mostly aimed at individuals aged 13 and over. The Disney consumer products team runs most of these pages because they are in a never-ending selling cycle, needing to advertise and endorse products all year round no matter whether it is for a new, or old movie.

Conclusion

Their engagement plan for their social media profiles is based on two key principals. The first is to reach families and Disney enthusiasts, encouraging them to share content and the second, is to get guests talking about the content and sharing it beyond their own profile. Although people who don’t have young children may not realise it, Disney is a huge and very important model that is well worth following when learning how to conduct a business across a number of social media platforms. Having a strong social media presence is absolutely crucial to any modern business, it offers them the opportunity to grow and ensure that consumers will be talking and passing on relevant information to friends, family and peers. Disney has been successful online from the start, but it’s important to remember that you don’t need to have a company with a huge offline presence in order to build up a strong online one. Want to see how other brands use social media to market themselves? A good place to start is our case study for the coffee giant Costa. This article was originally published in 2013. It has been updated in 2023 for relevance.