Cricket Wireless: A Social Media Analysis

Cricket Wireless: A Social Media Analysis

Cricket Wireless is one of the leading prepaid providers in the wireless telecommunications industry. Cricket, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T, is very different from the corporate giant. It is visible through its many social media platforms, that Cricket is the young and quirky version of the parent company. Unlike AT&T’s family-oriented and commercial feel, Cricket stays independent in their online reputation and style. This paper will analyze the social media presence of Cricket Wireless and the connection between the brand and its followers and fans.

Audience

The Cricket Wireless target audience can be easily sensed when navigating through any of the organization’s social media sites. The big, bold emoji’s strewn across the top of their Twitter page screams ‘Millennials’ all over the internet. The bright colors and shiny phones attract a younger crowd who are focused on three main things:

1. Cost-efficiency
2. Music
3. Self-Service

Cricket’s website carries a tab at the top that read, Why Cricket? Once on that page, a large photo with six young people ranging from ages roughly 16-24 are posing with lemons that spell the word ‘smile’. The site then goes on to list all the reason one should buy a plan with Cricket, each option tying a catchy phrase back to the concept of lemons. The bright and cheery demeanor is meant to attract the younger generation. In addition, these millennials are looking for a suitable 4G LTE device, without committing to a contract or paying a high phone bill. The budget-friendly carrier offers plans that even a student could afford. When it comes to music, Cricket has always been a large advocate for music downloads, music apps, and paid music services. One of the original music programs, “Muve Music”, sprung the brand into popularity when adults and teens alike where taking advantage of the fresh new idea. “In 2011, Cricket launched its award-winning Muve Music® product, the first music service designed for a wireless phone that now has more than 600,000 customers” (Cooper, 2012). Lastly, Cricket’s audience loves the fact that they can stay independent in self-service and do not have to spend all day on a pesky customer service line. The website provides bill pay services, the ability to change/upgrade your plan, purchase a device, switch from another company, and more, all online. Chris Hansen, Cricket’s digital strategy team lead, explains that online content is powerful in the expansion of the organization. According to Content Science Review (2016), “Now that we are growing and gaining more customers, the focus is shifting to providing a great self-service experience. Content plays a huge role in helping people gain confidence that they can troubleshoot issues, pay their bills, and manage their account”. Aside from the targeted group of consumers, Cricket customer vary from large families, to single mothers and fathers, to kids and teens. There seems to be a melting pot of backgrounds and incomes flooding the organization’s social media sites and anxiously getting online to buy the next Samsung Galaxy device when its released; motivated by Cricket’s cost-conscience products and plans.

Tone, Style, and Authenticity

Cricket is a huge advocate for joyfulness through an online presence. The tone and style of each online environment stays consistent in the colors, verbiage, hashtags, pictures, theme, and content. The recognizable bright green background can be seen across all social media sites, company vehicles, merchandise, and even the walls of the retail stores. The cheerful characters have become prominent mascots throughout commercials and social media platforms. Furthermore, Cricket Wireless promotes a carefree and happy mood through the trending hashtag: #STSA, meaning “something to smile about”. (Cricket Wireless, 2017). The content sounds authentic to the brand, as it continuously hosts fun events where there are prizes, games, and giveaways. The energetic tone and charismatic style attracts a young, vibrant crowd.

Audience Engagement

Cricket Wireless stays very connected to its customers through utilizing social media platforms. Cricket has won awards such as “The Shorty Awards” for “Best of Social Media” through social media strategies that led to brand awareness and exposure throughout the online community. The company has partnered with WWE in a Multi-Year sponsorship to generate awareness and exposure to the brand. Cricket will participate in sweepstakes that engage customers and consumers to sign up every time they visit a site or store. On the brand’s Facebook site, 715,000 people ‘like’ the company page. Cricket seems to know exactly what they’re doing in terms of interacting with potential buyers and leads. Furthermore, Cricket Wireless has recently implemented the use of blogging on their corporate site. In year 2015, Cricket posted their first blog in what the website calls, ‘The Newsroom’. Since then, the brand has been consistent in updating the blogs frequently and with relevant content. The blog is interactive in providing a variety of information for customers that are trending topics, but still market for the brand at the same time. “Blogs encompass useful information (e.g., insightful product reviews and information-rich consumer communities) that could potentially be a gold mine for business intelligence, bringing great opportunities for both academic research and business applications” (Chau & Xu, 2012). The blog posts assist in both bringing new traffic to the site and regulate audience engagement.