Tough Mudder Online Strategy

For this task, I am interested in the online social media strategies of the ‘Tough Mudder’ brand. Tough Mudder is a series of hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle – mud run events designed by British Special Forces, which uses Facebook as its primary channel of marketing their events around the world.

Tracking and Monitoring Strategy

A few key objectives have been outlined by ‘Tough Mudder’ for an online social media strategy including;

-          Increasing brand awareness

-          Driving people to sign up to it’s events in specific cities in  way that is socialable and sharable.

-          Develop a community of individuals interested in participating in Tough Mudder.

Distribution/Channel Strategies

Facebook is the primary channel of promoting ‘Tough Mudder’ events. A Facebook page was first established in 2010. Facebook was recognised as the most common social media tool, which is accessed by its primary target market (18-40) year olds. Through Facebook, ‘Tough Mudder ‘ is able to increase brand awareness, and essentially see an increase of sales over the years.

Communications/Content Optimisation Strategy

‘Tough Mudder’ takes part in advertising beta programs to extend its reach through the Facebook community including;

-          Sponsored stories in the news feed that let people know when one of their friends had liked the Tough Mudder Page

-          Leveraged the Facebook Exchange to show more relevant ads to people who engaged with the Tough Mudder website

-           Experimented with video ads and sponsored stories to increase brand awareness

-           Tested “clusters” to show more relevant ads to past customers about upcoming Tough Mudder events

Engagement Strategy

There are several strategies ‘Tough Mudder use to engage with its audience on its page, including;

-          Posting pictures and stories of individuals who have made the ‘Tough Mudder hall of Fame’

-          Sparking conversations about its events by posting ‘fill in the blank sentences’ such as Best part of Tough Mudder was….

-          Developing a custom tab  called “Are you Mudder Ready?” that allows users to take a quiz to see how prepared they were for an event

Measurement Strategy

The most important tool ‘Tough Mudder’ uses is ‘Custom Audiences’. This involves using a Facebook Pixel which can track down people who have visited your website page and find them on Facebook. You are able to capture the audience you would like visiting your site, and engage with the target market.

With further research, I plan to evaluate the success of the strategies used by Tough Mudder through their Facebook marketing campaign.