Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Instagram, as well as 7 million subscribers on YouTube with 2.14 billion total views

(RedBull’s YouTube channel, 2018) (Red Bull’s Facebook page, 2018) (Red Bull’s Instagram

page, 2018). ! Limitations of SMM and conflicting perspectives

These social media statistics regarding Red Bull demonstrate a strong indication that

promotion through social media has developed their growth as a brand. Due to how social

media allows Red Bull to promote their products and strengthen brand awareness toward

their entire target market, it can act as additional explanation as to why sales have increased.

However, this is based entirely on assumption as there is no evidence which shows an exact

correlation between an increase in Red Bull’s sales and an increase in their social media

followers. Also, there are some important limitations to consider regarding the statistics of

Red Bull’s social media followers. Although they may have dozens of millions of followers

across multiple platforms, this does not mean that all of those people will be constantly aware

of Red Bull’s activity and uploads. Obtaining a follower on any of these platforms only

requires one effortless click/tap from them. Therefore, having a follower does not guarantee

that any of them will absorb any of Red Bull’s future promotive content. ! This is evident in the number of views on their most recent content. For example, the

majority of YouTube videos uploaded by Red Bull in the month of April 2018 have less than

100 thousand views despite having 7 million followers. However, the majority of Red Bull’s

Instagram images and videos uploaded within this same time frame were more promising

despite having over 8 million followers, with views hovering between 300 and 800 thousand.

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