Celebrity Brands: The Shilpa Shetty social media strategy - from a diva to fitness guru

This segment of celebrity brands explores Shilpa Shetty Kundra social media strategy, attempting to decode how the diva balances between various themes, topics, and agendas.

A mother, a homemaker, an author, a fitness influencer, Shilpa Shetty Kundra seems to be ageless with passing time. Her advocacy on mindfulness, healthy mind body, has made her synonymous with health and fitness. With millions of followers, Shilpa Shetty social media strategy too is on-point in tandem with her philosophy.

Shilpa has been vocal about Fitness, feminism, animal rights, and yoga with the launch of her DVD in the past. She recently turned vegetarian in-line with her causes. Shetty has also been a part of campaigns such as the fit India movement, amongst others.

As she turned down endorsements for aerated drinks & pan masala in the past, she also rejected an endorsement offer for a brand for Ayurvedic slimming pills making her quintessential to authenticity. She was quoted saying- "I can't sell something that I don't believe in. These can be tempting since they promise instant results, but nothing beats the sense of pride of being committed to your routine and eating right."

But what works for her as an influencer that resonates with the audiences & brands, alike? We take a look at Shilpa Shetty social media strategy.

Shilpa Shetty social media strategy - Overview

Fitness, Motivation, Discipline, Lifestyle, Aspiration, Youth, Fashionista, Cooking, Healthy food, 'Swasth Raho Mast Raho', are some of the common themes observed on the actor's Instagram page & other social media channels.

Other prominent hashtags as per Talkwalker data include #TheShilpaShetty, animals, India, and health.

The actor leverages social media to spread the message of fitness & lifestyle catapulted with her experience & belief. Shetty started her YouTube channel back in 2017 to bring the 'art of wellness program' with free recipes, yoga asanas & simple health routines.

After launching her Yoga DVD in 2015, and publishing various books on health & wellness, the actor garnered significant reach on her YouTube channel. Aiming to put India on the global map for Yoga, she soon launched her app before International Yoga day. 

Shetty's timely moves in the digital field & efforts to carve her social presence have made her one of the relevant influencers in current times. Be it her ability to transform content pieces into series that is allotted to specific days of the week or be it her entrepreneurial bent of mind as she had invested & supported Mamaearth, a startup in the past, the actor's social media strategy seems to be organized.

With the popularity of TikTok, the actor was also one of the most followed celebrities on the channel where she was quoted as saying, "To spread an understanding about nutrition, I started talking about it on social media, be it on Instagram or TikTok, in my subtle way."

She commenced the year with the motto of #GetFit2020, & an attitude of gratitude. 

With coronavirus gripping the world, the celebrity influencer started advocating messages of empathy, precaution & care with guidelines from WHO and other governing bodies. She even expressed gratitude for helpers & urged people to understand the value of the smallest of things, starting a #20DayGratitude series to spread positivity. 

Another noteworthy trend on the actor's pages is collaborations with fitness enthusiasts & food influencers to bring alive her content.

She often stays abreast with ongoing news & attempts to perpetually keep her audience aware.

The influencer's page also comprises appreciation post for her husband, family, sister & kids apart from her brand associations & participation in the causes, capturing the candid side of the personality.

Social media footprint & analysis

Instagram: 17.5 million

Twitter: 6 million

Facebook: 6.37 million

YouTube subscribers: 2.12 million

According to Talkwalker, Shilpa Shetty seems to have a global appeal with maximum followers from the U.S, followed by the U.K, and even Pakistan, Russia & China, apart from people in India on Twitter account.

The age group of 25-34 engages most on the actor's Twitter account. Further, data points towards 56.8% of the Twitter audience as males.

The audience activity & content appreciation are maximum in the May-June 2020 with disproportionate Likes/Retweet ratio for the actor.

The data is, however, in tandem with the influencer's increase in activity in the same period when we observe a spike in the followers for the actor.

The actor is most active on Instagram that aligns well with her exuberant persona and posts on Twitter & Facebook are often leveraged to amplify her presence on the channel. The post captions are mostly long in Shetty's social pages, with motivational words or ending in a question to engage the audience. Again, more than 70% of the actor's posts are dynamic in nature, which garners significant views from the audience.

The actor even launched her Instagram filter in-line with the ongoing trends & started leveraging 'Reels'.

Candid, humor & moments

The fitness enthusiast brings forth her funny side on her social media along with capturing humane moments & love for her family.

Brand associations

Shetty endorses brands from varied sectors - skincare, Sanitizers, Food & Beverages & more. As per media reports, she has a net worth of $20 million & continues to remain relevant & relatable with her brand choices such as Mamaearth, Mompresso, Housie, Yakult, Trusaniz, etc.

Mamaearth

Sigma for India

Also read: Celebrity Brands: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, acing social media the Desi Girl way

Participation in social causes

In the past & even during the ongoing pandemic, tha actor participated in causes like feminism, 'Swachh Bharat', appreciating frontline workers during COVID-19, awareness on misinformation during the pandemic & supporting #VocalForLocal in recent times.

She often leverages Instagram Live to directly communicate with the audiences.

#SafeHandChallenge

War against Virus with My BMC

We Doctors Campaign

#VocalForLocal

Shilpa Shetty App & Wellness business

Apart from launching her Yoga DVD, co-owning wellness chained Iosis, and publishing books on the subject, Shetty launched her app in 2019 in a step-by-step manner. The actor is popular for her tactical collaboration for the business venture such as associating with Paytm, bringing SS App on Android TV, & present content with star chefs such as Sanjeev Kapoor & Pooja Dhingra.

Named as 'Simple Soulful App', the platform has its own social media strategy with content buckets such Myths on Yoga & health,& more apart from Yoga Asanas amongst others. Promoting the app is an integral part of the Shilpa Shetty Social Media Strategy.

Content Strategy & series

Shetty follows an organized approach for her influencer strategy. #SundayBinge & family, #MondayMotivation, Tuesdays for Shilpa Ka Mantra, & fun content #TastyThursdays, Fridays for brand promos & Saturdays for glam is the common pattern observed.

#SundayBinge

She brings her 'foodie' side through this series where every Sunday, the actor takes a cheat meal to relish her favorite delicacies.

#MondayMotivations

This series brings forth motivational posts to drive away Monday blues.

#ShilpakaMantra on Tuesdays

Shetty shares her mantra for leading a successful life through this series. The posts have a quote with a subtle peach background & the hashtag.

#TastyThursdays

Every Thursday, the actor shares a tasty recipe across her social media pages, App, & YouTube channel.

#FunFridays

Leveraging Topicals

Another noteworthy trend is the actor leveraging trending topics with relatable content.

Lohri

Yoga Day

Support for fraternity

Shilpa often supports people from the film fraternity showcasing her love for Hindi cinema & her roots of popularity.

Fashionista's love for Sari

Being one of the fittest people from Bollywood, the actor adorns all types of dresses but her love for Sari reverberates quite many times through her social media pages.

Words on the social media facade

With some of the negative sentiments brewing during the pandemic, the actor emphasized the practicality & the true nature of social media, urging people not to let the medium play with their minds and instead strive towards making it a positive ecosystem.

To Sum it up

Authenticity, organized & trending content formats tilted towards more video content is what shines through the Shilpa Shetty social media strategy. Apart from leveraging the medium to promote her wellness ventures, the actor presents a near-to systematic content plan with fun & relevance for each day, resonating with her passion for fitness & health.

With the return of the actor into the Hindi Cinema with Nikamma & Hungama 2 this year, the social media presence will probably only help boost her celebrity value.