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Thank you for following and viewing The Energy Drink Authority’s Blogger account! It's been an amazing semester of learning about SEO, social media, and content marketing. 

Check out this video below as it outline our assignment and how your participation helped!

Thank you, 

Angela Bhoopa & Alex Magee

Red Bull vs. Gatorade - Red Bull Selfie Contest #7

Red Bull Extreme Selfie Challenge! To keep up with up the world’s emphatic love for pictures of themselves, Red Bull is offering you the chance to submit your most extreme and impressive selfie, and you could win the chance to go to one of Red Bull’s extreme events, such as the Red Bull Cold Rush, RedBull NordiX, Red Bull’s Ender, or any other Red Bull event of your choice!

Anyone can enter! Just submit a photo and proof that the selfie you are submitting is yours, and you will be entered for a chance to win! Red Bull will select the top 100 images they believe are the craziest selfies, and you the people, will get 30 days to vote on which you think is the best selfie.

This contest will be open to Facebook and Twitter. Submit your photos there and mark it with the hashtag, ‘#RedBullSelfieChallenge’ to make it count. The contest starts May 1^st, 2016, and ends June 1^st, 2016. Voting starts June 10^th, and goes to the 25^th. After that, we pick the candidates, and you vote! Remember, don’t injure or kill yourself trying to get an awesome selfie, it’s not that kind of contest.

We want you, the person reading this to get out there and discover how awesome the world is, and how awesome Red Bull can make it! Enter today!

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A REAL CONTEST, AS IT'S A STUDENT PROJECT.

Red Bull's Extreme Selfie Challenge

Red Bull vs. Gatoarde - Fan Pages - Gatorade #6

In this post, we will look at two fan pages for Gatorade. Unfortunately, like Red Bull, we could not find a third fan page on Google+. Regardless, fan pages are pretty basic in the content they provide. The creators, who are usually fans of the product or company, will often post items that the official pages share, retweet fan-made things, or post videos they’ve made in appreciation for the product or company. Fan-made pages are actually disappearing, with the verification system we mentioned before; many fan-made pages can be hard to find. If you are looking for one, search the company with “unofficial” in the search query. Anyhow, some still exist and we managed to find one for Gatorade on Facebook and Twitter.

A fan page for Gatorade on Facebook: LINK

A fan-run page for Gatorade on Facebook

A fan page for Gatorade on Twitter: LINK

A fan-run page for Gatorade on Twitter

Blog Post #7 – Powerade Content Marketing.

Blog Post #7 – Powerade Content Marketing.

Powerade needs to create a new campaign in order to attract a new audience and grow their following. Powerade should partner with local sporting teams in order to attract upcoming athletes and their families.

These campaigns can run specifically during that sports season. An example would be basketball campaigns running between October-April.

The goal is to increase followers, likes, and increase interaction with consumers. Due to Powerade’s current trend of promoting products, this is an opportunity to feature athletes drinking their product during games.

The campaign should be run on Twitter and YouTube. Videos can easily be made, posted, and linked on various social media platforms. These videos have a chance to be viral hits, emotional, or entertaining.

This campaign can feature a contest to be the next athlete featured on the Powerade accounts. This will attract athletes from many sports, ages, and even genders. 

Red Bull vs. Gatorade - Fan Pages - Red Bull #5

In this post, we will look at two fan pages for Red Bull. Unfortunately, we could not find a third fan page on Google+ for Red Bull. Anyway, fan pages are exactly what they sound like; they are pages created by regular users/customers and fans about a specific product, company or item they like. In this case, we have a page for Red Bull on Facebook, run by a fan of the company and its products. The other page is a fan run Twitter page for Red Bull. The kind of content you’ll usually find on these pages are links and retweets and posts by the official companies, as well as fan made content that the fan made pages share. These pages can be pretty difficult to find now a days with the verification system that most sites have put in place so customers can find the legitimate companies pages, but if you want to find a fan page, searching for the company name and “unofficial” is usually the best way.

A fan page for Red Bull on Facebook: LINK

A fan-run Red Bull Page on Facebook

A fan page for Red Bull on Twitter: LINK

A fan-run Red Bull Page on Twitter

Blog Post #6 – Powerade Fan Pages

Blog Post #6 – Powerade Fan Pages

1.   1.   Powerade Ecuador – Youtube

This fan page has 101 subcribers and 277K page views. The fan page posts dubbed commercials about the Powerade energy drinks available in their market. Expect consistent postings and sporting related content that features athletes drinking Powerade.

2.      2. Twitter Account - @PoweradePH

This Twitter account posts about healthy living. The tweets revolve around exercise and will inform followers about new Powerade products. The successful account has 852 followers.

Red Bull vs. Gatorade - Youtube #4

In this post, we are going to look at Red Bull’s and Gatorade’s Youtube channels. Red Bull comes out strong by posting a video almost every day. Their most recent upload as of this post was 4 hours ago. The majority of Red Bull’s Youtube uploads are sports videos relating to their various events they cover and sponsor. It mostly has to do with dirtbiking, skiing/snowboarding, WRC and biking. None of their videos are advertisements for the actual Red Bull drink. Gatorade uploads a bit differently by uploading every a few videos in groups every few weeks. Their most recent post was 4 days ago, then a few videos were uploaded 5 days ago, and then the rest were much further spaced apart. Gatorade uploads mostly sports related videos, usually interviews, or inspiration stories and many advertisements for their drinks, and food.

In their description section, Red Bull links to its many social media accounts, such as: Red Bull TV, Twitter, RedBull.com, Google+, Facebook, Instagram, and the Red Bull Newsletter. Gatorade has links to their website (Gatorade.com) and their Google+ profile.

Red Bull's more recent successful video

As for popular videos, one of Red Bull’s most successful recent video was “Urban Snowmobiling in Saint Paul | Levi LaVallee”. The video currently has 374,462 views, 7,128 likes, 81 dislikes, and 366 comments. The Gatorade video that has recently been popular is their “Gatorade | Your Game IsOur Lab”, which currently has 123,166 views, 151 likes, 3 dislikes and 17 comments. These two videos have clearly been successful because they are interesting with the fan base that watches these videos. Gatorade’s video is one of their recent promotional campaigns and Red Bull’s is just a unique concept that many would like to do; snowmobiling stunts through a city.

Gatorade's more recent successful video

Blog Post #5 – Monster Energy Fan Pages

Blog Post #5 – Monster Energy Fan Pages

Monster Energy is well received by their consumers/fans. Their followers are very interactive and it may be their dream to be endorsed by Monster Energy.

There are multiple unofficial pages where fans can post about the brand and product.

1.       1. Twitter account @MonsterH2002

This twitter account posts tweets in Japanese, and retweets other pages often. This picture filled account does not create their own content but actively comments and retweets product and event related tweets from other Monster Energy lovers. The accounts bio links to Monster Energy’s account. The page is very successful.

2.     2.  Facebook page: Monster and Rockstar Energy Drink Collection Koblenz

This Facebook page was created for the user to post pictures of their collectable Monster Energy cans. Many consumers have commented on the page, including their praises and own collections. The page has an astounding 997 likes. Expect short captions and many pictures.

3.      3. Energy Drinks Today.com

This YouTube account posts reviews of Monster Energy drinks often. You can expect honest reviews and product descriptions in the form of short enthusiastic videos.

Red Bull vs. Gatorade - Google+ #3

In this post, we are going to look at the profiles of Red Bull and Gatorade on Google+. Both companies are present on Google+, but like with most of Google+, both companies aren’t terribly active. Red Bull hasn’t posted anything from 2016, with the currently most recent post dated December 12, 2015. On Gatorade’s page, their most recent post was from June 16, 2015; which would indicate they are even less active than Red Bull is with their Google+ page. Red Bull posts images and videos of extreme sports, and ‘inspiring’ photographs. Most posts have moderate social success, but it’s unlike Facebook or Twitter. Gatorade posts images and links to their various products as well as inspirational sports stories, as well as various sports events and stories.

Red Bull's Google+ post referencing WRC

For their more successful posts seen, Red Bull posted a photo of a WRC event, with 484 +1’s, 24 shares, and 5 comments. Gatorade posted a .gif of a spinning cap off one of their signature drinks that gained 68 +1’s, 4 shares and 7 comments. Both companies have incredibly low participation from both the companies and fans on their respective pages. But it makes sense considering Google+ is a relatively unpopular social media platform, often with people forgetting they exist.

Gatorade's Creative Gif

Blog Post #4 – YouTube (Monster Energy vs. Powerade)

Blog Post #4 – YouTube

Monster Energy and Powerade are both active on YouTube.

Monster Energy has a large following on YouTube with nearly 1M subscribers. While Powerade comes in with 22K subscribers.

It should be noted that when Powerade is typed into the search bar its verified page is not the first recommendation.

Monster Energy:       

Monster Energy posts a new video a few times a week. These videos tend to be action packed and/or feature their very popular Monster Energy Girls. They have found the content that attracts viewers and stuck with it. There is no industry related content or commercials

.

The brand has some very successful videos that revolve around their sponsored/endorsed events.

Their description is breif as it only states their slogan “Unleash the BEAST!”. The About page also features links to their Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts.

Powerade:

Powerade has posted multiple times in the past 5 months. Their videos feature commercials that are believed to be from other countries. These videos are not as successful as Monster Energy’s videos. Their most viewed video received 102 likes and 2 comments.

There is serious room for improvement.

Monster Energy vs. Powerade: Twitter Analysis

Blog Post #2 – Twitter

Monster Energy and Powerade utilize Twitter in different ways.

Monster Energy:

Monster Energy uses Twitter to promote industry related events, the athletes they sponsor/endorse, and occasionally the brand promotes their product. The brand tweets multiple times a day.

The brand does not use the 50/50 rule in relation to the industry that their product falls into. Their tweets focus on the above mentioned categories.

Monster Energy attracts their followers through links, hashtags, tagged accounts, and pictures.

Their most successful tweet included the popular hashtag #MonsterGirlMonday, links to their YouTube page, contains a short video, and appeals to their demographic.

Monster Energy's most successful Twitter post.

The successful tweet received 178 retweets, and 1.1K likes.

Powerade:

The Twitter account of Powerade is dull. The tweets are few and far between, but there are a few gems.

Their most successful tweet brought in 1.2K retweets and 2.1K likes. The only problem is that this tweet was made in September of 2015.

 

Powerade's most successful Twitter post.

The brand tends to tweet about current campaigns and attempt to engage with their followers. The use of the #justakid and #powerthrough hashtags is prevalent throughout the 25 most recent tweets. 

Red Bull vs. Gatorade - Twitter #2

In this blog post, we are going to look at Red Bull and Gatorade’s Twitter pages. Both pages are used less than their Facebook equivalents, but they are still used frequently. Red Bull posted 4 posts in the last 24 hours. Whereas Gatorade posted 3 times in the last 24 hours. That’s a lot closer together than the two companies Facebook profiles were.

For content, #Red Bull focuses on sports and sponsorship related content as well as articles and coverage of events from their website. They also retweet different company’s tweets they work with. They cover everything from #skateboarding, #surfing, #rally/WRC, #biking, #racing, general #sports and more. Very few to none of their posts are about their actual products, but just unique pictures or videos they deem relevant. #Gatorade takes a much more split approach and retweets #sports events and their #GSeries product line. They post and retweet the different players they sponsor as well as crowd pleasing moments in recent various sports games.

Red Bull's Vine Video they Tweeted

Two of the more successful tweets for the two companies was Red Bull’s Vine video clip for a unique and different camera angle from dirt biker, Ronnie Renner. In the clip, the camera spins around his head as he mounts off a large jump into the snow. The tweet received 74 retweets, and 218 likes. As for Gatorade, they retweeted JimmieJohnson’s NASCAR win at the #FoHQT500 at Atlanta Motorspeedway on February 28^th. The original post came from @NASCAR, and gathered 374 retweets, and 597 likes. As Gatorade is a large sponsor in NASCAR, it makes sense for Gatorade to promote both NASCAR and therefore, their own products.

Gatorade's Rewteet of @NASCAR'S #FoHQT500

Blog Post #3 – Google+

Blog Post #3 – Google+

Monster Energy and Powerade are both on Google+, a great social media platform that has the potential to reach all Google, and Gmail users.

Monster Energy:

Monster Energy mainly uses Google+ to promote their YouTube videos (A new post generally means a new YouTube video/link).

Check out Monster Energy's Google+ page.

The Monster Energy description takes the time to introduce the brands idea to support their endorsed athletes and events instead of their product.

The Monster Energy Google+ page has raked in an astonishing 13M views. The page does not state the amount of followers.

Powerade:

Powerade’s Google+ page has garnered 152 followers from 1.6M page views.

The brand takes the opportunity to use the popular “optimal hydration” key words in their description. The brand successfully shares their presence on social media with links to their Twitter account, Facebook page, YouTube account, and website.  

The brand has not made any posts. The Google+ account simply shares their YouTube videos with their 152 followers.

Monster Energy vs. Powerade on Facebook

Blog Post #1 – Monster Energy vs. Powerade on Facebook

Monster Energy and Powerade seem to take two different approaches when utilizing their Facebook accounts.

Monster Energy tends to focus their posts on sporting events, the athletes they sponsor, and their “Monster Energy Girls”. The brand does not post about their product. Their posts are very frequent as they often post twice a day, every other day. Each post contains either an album, video or photo and all posts provide hashtags, links, and questions for their readers.

Monster Energy has many successful posts, their most recent success racked in 76,000 likes, 2,015 shares, and 287 comments. The success is related to fans intrigued by the event, car and brand.

Powerade doesn’t seem to utilize their Facebook page in the same way that Monster Energy does. Their last 25 Facebook posts range from 2013-2016 (with no posts in 2015). The brand focuses on their product and the latest posts seem to be only in Swedish, unlike others that have translations in many languages.

Powerade’s recent success has accumulated 10,000 likes, 72 shares, and 140 comments. Simply weak in comparison to Monster Energy. This post was the most successful due to the translations, inclusion of their product, and consumers wanting to represent their countries. 

Red Bull vs. Gatorade - Facebook #1

In this post, we’re going to look at how Red Bull and Gatorade use their social media profile. First off, we noticed that Red Bull posts usually about twice an hour. As of the time of writing this post, Red Bull posted 20+ different Facebook posts in the last 9 hours. Now compared to Gatorade, they posted 7 different links since the start of 2016. That is a stark contrast between Red Bull who can post near 50 items in one day, and Gatorade, who posts around 2 items per month.

As for content, Red Bull often posts interesting articles and links to thing they find relevant or unique. Red Bull will also post links from different languages, meaning they cater to other countries, and not just English speaking. Gatorade on the other hand posts only English links that are usually promotions for their own products, or interviews with athletes they support.

Neither company uses the 50/50 rule too often, as Red Bull doesn’t often promote their Red BullEnergy Drinks and will often post news from their Red Bull Racing Division and articles from their own site, or from other websites they support. Gatorade on the other hand, usually only posts Gatorade Drink Promotions and advertisements for their products.

Two successful posts we decided to look at, was Red Bulls pinned post for ‘Hard Enduro’, a motocross event, and an unpinned post for one of Gatorade’s most recent commercials for their product line of ‘fuel foods' and drinks that top athletes require to perform their very best. The Red Bull post had 56k likes, 2.5 million views, 11,513 shares and 3,119 comments. The Gatorade post had 18k likes, 2.2 million views, 2,002 shares and 159 comments.

Red Bull's Currently Pinned Facebook Post

Both posts were successful as the Red Bull one is very unique, as it’s an uncommon form of motocross, and the Gatorade post is a creative advertisement for their line of products, something Red Bull does not often advertise.

Gatorade's Most Recent Facebook Post (Unpinned)

Powerade Social Media Study

Powerade

Powerade Logo, 2016.

Powerade enters the energy drink market as a sports drink that contains electrolytes.

Powerade is present on various social media platforms including: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Powerade does not fully utilize social media to its fullest potential. The brand is not consistent across social media platforms.

When posting, the brand attempts to focus on promoting the product to its consumers. There is effort on their part to engage with consumers on their Facebook page, replies are strictly made in Swedish while posts contain different languages.

Successful Powerade Facebook post.

Powerade needs to implement a new strategy to their social media. There is potential for a new following on social media. 

Monster Energy Social Media Study

Monster Energy Logo, 2016.

Monster Energy


Monster Energy is a popular energy drink brand. 

The brand is known for its many endorsements of athletes and extreme sporting events such as Kawasaki Ninja Racing, Motocross, skateboarding, and BMX. 

Monster Energy has a large following across many social media platforms including: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and more.

Monster Energy makes the effort to post regularly and to the point. The brand focuses on their events instead of their product, and it seems to generate the most interest. Frequent posts contain keyword sentences, very little wording, and often features pictures.

Monster Energy creates the most responses on Facebook where consumers and fans can share, like, or comment on posts that interest them.

Popular Facebook post.

Monster Energy has found a strategy that works for them and implements it well. Frequent posting of event pictures captures their specific audience in the intended way.  

Gatorade - A Social Media Study

Gatorade – A Social Media Study

A study on Gatorade and its social media presence.

Gatorade Logo, 2016

Social Media Venues

Facebook (Gatorade)

Twitter (@Gatorade)

Youtube (whatsg)

Instagram (@gatorade)

Google+ (gatorade)

FourSquare (gatorade)

Pinterest (gatorade)

Gatorade takes a much more slow and subtle approach to their online presence. Gatorade posts very little online content, and on their Facebook page, have posted three items to their since February 2016. Gatorade posts about one post per day on their Twitter feed. Gatorade also posts videos occasionally to their Youtube channel, and they are either very short (less than 1 minute long) videos and/or are commercials.

Gatorade's Facebook Page, 2016

The majority of Gatorades content they post is sports related. They will post when athletes use their various products and will post other sports related content such as congratulations to different athletes or will post highlights from different sports games.

As for social media, Gatorade has 7,282,072 Facebook likes and 334k Twitter followers. Gatorade does not command much of a social media following, but clearly people who like Gatorade, follow it because of their products. Whereas many people follow Red Bull for all the cool, non-drink related content they post. Gatorade definitely has a social media presence, but it’s unlike their competitors. 

Red Bull - A Social Media Study

Red Bull – A Social Media Study

Red Bull Logo, 2016

A study on Red Bull and its social media presence.

Social Media Venues

Facebook (redbull)

Twitter (@redbull)

Youtube (redbull)

LinkedIn (red-bull)

Instagram (@redbull)

Google+ (redbull)

FourSquare (red-bull)

Pinterest (redbull)

Red Bull is incredibly active on social media. They have social media accounts on numerous different websites, including some websites people don’t often use anymore or have even heard of. Red Bull will post daily, often 4 to 5 times an hour. They also post their content in different languages. So everything is not necessarily in English.

Red Bull's Facebook Page, 2016

The majority of the content Red Bull posts to their social media page is various sports and drink related news articles, Youtube videos, or links to their website. Red Bull does a very large amount of sports related sponsorship, media, and coverage, and will often post or relate their content to their interests. Red Bull also responds to people’s comments often giving them answers to questions or agreeing to their general statement.

Red Bull also commands a fairly large following, with 45,053,888 likes on Facebook and 2.12 million followers on Twitter. Red Bull has mastered social media by gaining a serious following and by constantly producing and sharing interesting and ‘viral worthy’ content that people are likely to share with their friends. Red Bull has successfully created a unique and engaging image for their brand.

Red Bull Infographic

This is a Red Bull Infographic created to showcase some interesting and possibly unknown facts about the company and the brand.

Red Bull Infographic

SEO Analysis: Monster Energy vs. Powerade

Introduction

SEO is an important consideration for marketers because it is the easiest way to drive traffic to your site. In the energy drink industry Monster Energy and Powerade have proven to be leaders. Using keyword sentences throughout their sites like “Keeps You Hydrated” and “Thor Kawasaki”, they attempt to attract different audiences. The objective is to determine which of the two sites when compared has a stronger SEO.

Screen Captures of both home pages:

SEO Considerations	Monster Energy	Powerade
URL:	https://www.monsterenergy.com/	http://www.us.powerade.com/
Keywords used on each site:	Unleash the Beast!, Total domination, Thor Kawasaki, Variety of energy drinks.	Hydration drink, Sports drink, Keeps you hydrated.
Frequency of Keywords:	Often	Not as often.
Locations of keywords:	Headers, alt text, description.	Alt text, description.
Keywords in URL:	None (Company name)	None (Company name)
<title>	<title>Monster Energy | Home</title>	<title>POWERADE - The Official Website for Powerade</title>
<meta name="description" content=“”/>	<meta name="description" content="Produces a variety of energy drinks in the USA. Offers information on each product along with apparel and information on their sponsored teams."/>	<meta name="description" content="Sports Drinks with Electrolytes. The best hydration for today's game. Discover more about our athletes, products, and exclusive rewards.">
<meta name="keywords" content=""/>	<meta name="keywords" content="Monster Energy US,monster,monsterenergy,energy drink,monster energy,energy,athletes,sports,promotions,girls,events"/>	N/A?
Site upload speed:	Fast	Fast
Quality of written content:	Well written.	Well written.
Quality of Visual Content:	Excellent.	Excellent.
Alt Text used:	Names & countries?	Names & countries?
Captions used:	Music, Monster girls, Teams, DOONIES 2, Total Domination for Thor Kawasaki 2	Powerade Rewards, Get Game Day Ready, Give Your Game Some Flavor, Lets All Connect.
Quality of Layout:	Excellent	Excellent.
Call-to-action:	No	Yes
Anchor Text:	Used often.	Used often.
Mobile Friendly:	Yes	Yes
Content is “shareable”:	Yes	Yes
Links to Social Media:	Yes	Yes
SERP ranking results when using keywords from this table:	High/Medium?	Medium?

 Google Trends:

Google Trends Insights:

It can be seen that Monster Energy is no match for Powerade. There is quite a difference between interest of Monster Energy and Powerade. It is interesting that there is a heightened need for energy drinks around September (when school starts).

Summary:

Monster Energy’s strengths are its use of captivating SEO keywords to entice you into staying on their page.
Powerade’s strengths are its use of captions and anchor text. The keyword sentences “Keeps you hydrated” can be found on Powerade’s site multiple times, trying to convince the consumer that is a viable option when in need of a drink.  Other observations are that Monster Energy has utilized their website in a brand sense, while Powerade tried to push their product more.

Conclusion:

In the energy drink industry, Monster Energy and Powerade have utilized SEO and their websites in a captivating way.  Using keyword sentences throughout their sites like “Variety of energy drinks”, “Keeps you hydrated”, and “Total domination”. In my opinion the overall winner of this SEO Search analysis is Monster Energy.

APA Citations:

Google. (February 2016). Google trends. [Energy drink, Monster Energy, Powerade]. Retrieved from https://www.google.ca/trends/explore#q=Energy%20drink%2C%20Monster%20Energy%2C%20Powerade&date=today%2012-m&cmpt=q&tz=Etc%2FGMT%2B5

Monster Energy. (2016). Monster Energy Home. Retrieved from https://www.monsterenergy.com/

Powerade. (2016). POWERADE - The Official Website for Powerade. Retrieved from http://www.us.powerade.com/