Liquid Death - The Right Way to Do Social Media for a Beverage

Imagine crushing the water industry through a product called ‘Liquid Death’

How have they done it? How do they get people to buy water in a can?

Quick Summary of Liquid Death:

Where did the idea of Liquid Death come from?

The founder, Mike Cessario, says he needed to force himself to think of a dumb idea.

They struggled to get it into retailers.

So they moved to bars.

Why? People want to be social.

When you walk around with a can of ‘Liquid Death’ you guarantee a social interaction out of people ‘wow what is that!’… ‘no way that is water!’

People loved to talk about it. (Pretty cool right!)

But.

The big guys own everything; the retail shelves, the stadiums, casinos, airplanes, supply chains, distribution etc.

EVERYTHING.

What don’t they own?

Social platforms and attention.

We live in a world with three things ‘organic content, paid ads & attention’.

Liquid Death take advantage of that.

Average time of success for brands is 7 years.

Social media helps you find your audience. 🌎

Quick TikTok Breakdown

Their VP of Creative has the whole social media strategy summed up in 4 words. ⬇️

Look at their TikTok.

It’s not 100s of images or videos that are crazy high quality product placement creatives.

It’s funny, sarcastic, entertaining and after watching it consumers want to ditch their can of coke and go and buy Liquid Death.

Have you ever watched a tv show for a 2nd or 3rd time?

If you’re part of the majority you’re answer was probably yes.

Why?

Because you are guaranteed to be entertained & satisfied.

Same thing applies with social media content.

Liquid Death’s unique sarcastic approach is delivered over and over again. Which is why they have 5.3m followers on TikTok and coca-cola has under 1m.

⚒️ Building a Fanbase Like a Sports Club

Consistently Storytelling Their Mission:

Think about the biggest sports clubs in the world.

People get tattoos, spend $1000s on merch, stay up till 4am just to watch their sports team play.

The clubs don’t just post content saying buy our tickets and jerseys.

Instead:

The players tell their story you want to buy their jersey.

They build up the importance of a match because of history & possibility of winning, you buy the ticket.

You see how passionate the players are, you stay up till 4am watching them. (Australia timezone sucks for watching European sports!)

Replicating this:

Using your founder’s story, Mike Cessario is always telling his story and his mission on podcasts, content and interviews. Do the same.

Share all your employees stories, everyone is different. Your business will have relatable team members that everyone can connect with.

• Get the phone out and ask them about their story, their role, favourite thing to do on weekends.

🔎 Post Analysis: A Creative Masterclass

Lets look at their post on the 3rd of May.

The (extremely sarcastic) ‘We love pure sugar’ video.

Quick summary of the video:

They got young models to hold a plastic bottle of pure sugar saying how much they love it. Obviously taking the piss out of the big soda brands. Then showed behind the scenes of the models saying they don’t drink soda…

This is entertainment. Not an ad.

They are the best at comedy.

They make people laugh like Redbull make people entertained watching someone fly out of a plane on a bicycle.

Liquid Death have fans. Not just users of a product.

Your brand needs to transcend functional benefit.

Nike doesn’t say their shoes are 50% better than Adidas. They show emotional videos of someone training hard for a marathon. You feel the struggle. The effort. Feel motivated.

YOU FEEL SOMETHING

Their brand voice is so unique that you cannot help but be entertained and slowly become a true fan of them!

📱 The Strategy to Replicate:

Be different. Okay but how do we show it?

1. Embrace a Bold Brand Persona. Be funny, crazy, happy, sad. Pick one and be it.

2. Respect the consumers time. Entertain & engage. Don’t always sell.

3. Utilise Strategic Product Placement. Liquid Death made a cartoon, with their products in it. Be creative.

4. Build a Community, Not Just a Customer Base. Coke wants you to just buy another can. Sports clubs want you to rave about the club, the highs and lows, know the players relatable stories inside and out. Be like a sports club.

5. Monitor and Adapt. See whats working. Do more of that. Keep testing new stuff in between.

⭐️ BONUS: Website Copy That Works

When you go through Liquid Deaths marketing funnel you are bound to sign up to something, find another social channel, and just keep exploring.

1: Website Viewers to Email Conversions

They make you want to sign up to their emails.

How?

Their copy: “agree to be brainwashed”

Their promise: “hilarious emails”

It made me sign up. Immediately.

Their branding and tone is the same. On every channel. A consistent & top quality omni-channel approach.

Be consistent on all platforms and customer touch-points.

2: Converting Website Viewers to Social Followers

Again directly from their website:

How they push you to their social → “Stalk us on social”

It is so on point.

Their tone of funny and sarcastic takes them 4 words that actually converts people to follow them.