What can Spotify Wrapped teach us about successful Marketing strategies?

Throughout the year, we use the music streaming platform and provide specific data about our music tastes, podcast preferences, and time spent on the app.

Spotify, a pioneer in assertive and well-developed methods, shares with users the main insights about their own behaviors. This often motivates them to share the results on their social networks, so all of their followers can interact in a variety of ways.

Some would say that this is a risky strategy because the company is openly showing that it collects and analyzes personal data to promote the platform. But the company has managed to turn Spotify Wrapped into the streaming giant’s secret growth gimmick.

But what is it that makes it so effective?

These factors can help answer that question:

The brand is able to use data and BI that the platform already understands about its users to deliver personalized gamification.

Surveys point to interactive content as a great source of engagement and conversion results for Marketing strategies. This blog post explains the validity and importance of quizzes: the quiz format was a good source of conversions in 2021.

Since 2015, Spotify has consistently launched this feature during the first days of December, Spotify Wrapped is now an action expected by users and also by the media and press.

This generated expectations among listeners and, consequently, a lot of fuss around the topic in this period. The brand is, therefore, able to work with the predictability of the market itself based on the increased visibility generated by the personalized use of its users’ data. Bottom line: Spotify can develop specific strategies to implement at another time of year!

At the end of the interactive experience, the user receives content created especially for him through automated algorithms. In 2021, the company went beyond playlists of top songs or artists, creating 2021 Wrapped Hub, featuring a variety of personalized, data-driven, and editorially curated content.

In other words: after a dive of user favorites within the app, the brand still offers users a free resource to keep them engaged and engaged. Does this sound familiar to you, marketer?

One of the main focuses of the format chosen to present Spotify Wrapped is to capture the user’s attention and delight them with information about themselves that manages, at the same time, to make them feel unique and members of specific groups.

But the entire user experience throughout the retrospective was built around key takeaways that are essential to the success of this strategy.

Take a look at some details:

Shocking slogans are hits in Hollywood movies, on car decals, and apparently in this year’s Spotify Wrapped.

“In 2021 you did what you had to do”; “You always understood the task”; and “You deserve a playlist as long as your skincare routine,” each showing empathy and connection with the user.

Almost immediately, curiosity is piqued to verify what is said after that, increasing the time Spotify listeners interact and engage with that experience.

Information about user behavior is presented in a colorful, engaging, and easily shareable format. During the slideshow, different animations and interactions are delivered, always together with the user’s most listened to songs and with a very clear CTA button: “Share this story”, further expanding the reach of the brand through the media. likes and shares on social networks.

Have you ever thought about creating content so good that users and customers share it for free on different channels? That’s what Spotify users are doing.

The data compiled throughout the year by Spotify and shared in retrospect allow curious insights for its users, which end up being the subject of many conversation circles. In my family, for example, nobody was impressed with the fact that The Beatles were the best artists in my retrospective, but my mother made me realize that Alok would be a good choice for my next disco party.

This increases word-of-mouth advertising marketing, further spreading the brand’s services to current and future users, without direct investment in advertising. This is without a doubt one of the most positive free ad campaigns ever!

After a period in which digital became essential for cultivating personal and professional relationships, this year’s Spotify Wrapped brought possibilities for interaction and connection between users, artists, and the brand. This action established Spotify Wrapped as one of the company’s greatest marketing successes.

But how have they done it?

In partnership with the platform’s more than 170 content creators, Spotify added videos from artists and podcasters thanking their fans for listening. So much so that they appeared in Wrapped users (these videos can be seen by accessing the custom playlists created in retrospect or in the artists’ profile).

By doing this, the company inspires other brands to develop strategies with real people. A video with your team thanking customers for the partnership throughout the year, for example, could be a good alternative.

A feature present in this year’s Spotify Wrapped is the use of common jargon and highly searched terms in search engines. This increases the user’s sense of proximity to the brand, and by sharing the content, the company gets even more free publicity.

Other Spotify Wrapped news supporting this was the launch of 2021 Wrapped Blend, a feature that allows a user to see how their 2021 music tastes match up with their friends, stream their combined playlist and share their results on social media. . Another good incentive for the growth of the interaction of people with the content of the brand.

Spreading the word: sharing on social networks

Like the numbers of the digital market, the exponential growth in the use of the TikTok platform could not go unnoticed by Spotify. In addition to the Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook channels, this year the user can share each Spotify Wrapped slider on TikTok.

With this feature, the company demonstrates that it follows market trends and invests its strategies through different channels, albeit indirectly. A reminder that new channels can be sources of good opportunities.

After a few years of following this action, we are happy to share insights on why Spotify Wrapped is a success, not only with its users but also as a complete Marketing strategy to collect, present and share data organically and with free advertising.

I hope you are also inspired by Spotify’s strategies and can replicate some of our advice in your own business.

Please let us know if you have any other questions about music, Spotify, The Beatles, Marketing, or this article.