Celebrity Brands: Akshay Kumar - the 'Khiladi' of social media?

Touted as the fittest man in Bollywood, his social media game too reflects his passion for acting & good health. Take a deeper look into brand Akshay Kumar on social media with Celebrity Brands.

A doting father, family man, philanthropist, indulgent husband, martial arts trainer and much more - Akshay Kumar continues to inspire. This segment of Celebrity Brands decodes Kumar’s social media presence, his brand credibility in resonance with endorsements, and humane side.

Also, popular as ‘Khiladi Kumar’, Kumar started his journey in Mumbai as a Martial Arts trainer. Aiming to be like the voice of the masses, the actor has been associated with causes ranging from menstrual hygiene to child education & fitness. Due to the credibility and mass-appeal, the actor is a favorite amongst Brands, too. The brands that resonate with fitness, health, action, and more, leverage the actor often.

His business endeavours include a partnerhsip in fitness brand GOQii and the ownership of Pro-Kabaddi League franchise Bengal Warriors. His commitment towards health & well being came to the fore, when Akshay Kumar declined a Pan Masala ad.

As we trace the social media presence of Akshay Kumar with the help of Qoruz data, we take a look at what makes his personal brand the 'Khiladi' of social media.

Brand
Akshay Kumar - Social media Overview

Down-to-earth persona, humble beginnings, causes, discipline, fitness, movies, nationalistic urges, healthy diet, topicals, and more are some of the trends that emerge across Akshay Kumar's social media presence.

Other prominent hashtags in his communication include #Khiladi, #Akkians #SwasthBharatSwachhBharat, & #IndiaFightsCorona.

The actor likes to say things as is in most of the cases & spread the messages on fitness, movies & lifestyle.

Another noticeable trend observed is Kumar supporting the endeavors of his better-half, Twinkle Khanna and the banter that ensues between the duo on many occasions.

In terms of individual social media platforms, he uses Twitter to voice opinions, sharing news & topicals, and reaching out to people. Instagram and Facebook, as media channels for brand associations, Live features, promotions, and a sneak- peek into the actor’s personal life.

Kumar also uses social media to appreciate his peers from the fraternity and his fans.

He started 2020 with updates on his then latest release, ‘Good Newwz’, followed by a challenge post by Twinkle Khanna for Tweak India on Good health and diet.

With the pandemic, the actor engaged himself in charitable services & campaigns with a message on social distancing, hygiene & maintaining quarantine at home.

He advocated social messages on hygiene & social distancing for public services.

The actor has also spoke about the issue of misinformation and coming together to fight Coronavirus.

With more visibility & consistent posts, Khiladi Kumar accomplished the feat of 100 million followers across social media platforms in April 2020. Soon, ‘100 million Akkians’ trended on Twitter. The actor experienced major growth in the number of followers during the lockdown.

Kumar also leverages social media to participate in trending formats & topicals.

As the Indian government banned Chinese apps including PUB-G, the actor supported the initiative of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ & Vocal for Local cause with the launch of FAU-G. This led to divided opinions, paving way for memes.

Social Media Footprint & Analysis

Back in December 2019, Kumar topped the India social media leaderboards.

The actor even scored a perfect 10.0 in the ‘celebrity heartfulness index' in 2020.

Akshay Kumar boasts of the following social media numbers:

• Instagram - 46 million
• Facebook - 45.7 million
• Twitter - 39.2 million

According to Qoruz data, Kumar's fans & following are engaged maximum on Instagram followed by Facebook & Twitter. The content affinity on his social media pages leans more towards movies, literature, family & parenting, gaming, beauty & personal care.

Instagram Overview:

Akshay Kumar’s Instagram witnessed a spike of 2.98% follower in the last 30 days with an engagement rate of 4.27%. Almost 50% of his posts are dynamic in nature with average video views of 2.7 million.

Most of the audiences speak fitness, followed by movies, technology & gadgets and comprise of 77.78% of males & 22.22% females.

Facebook Overview:

With an engagement rate of 0.64%, his Facebook account saw a spike of 10.2K followers in the last 30 days. The content performance & benchmark of Kumar, as a celebrity influencer, is higher than the industry average on the platform. There is a slight gap observed in the comments, likes & shares on the profile page.

Twitter
Overview:

Kumar’s Twitter account shows a considerable growth in the follower numbers with a 404.5k increase in the last 30 days. There is a slight gap in the retweets & favorites for the actor’s posts. But the content performance on the platform works well.

It is also observed that 90%+ of his followers on Twitter speak English, followed by UK English & even Russian & Arabic.

Kumar’s social media post captions range from long & medium length posts to just popular hashtags. The actor often expresses himself through only hashtags. The language used is primarily English & in some cases, Hindi for post captions. The background image of his social media posts usually features himself, followed by nature’s post, movie posts & family pictures.

Also read: Celebrity Brands: The Shilpa Shetty social media strategy – from a diva to fitness guru

Doting Father

Actor’s social media pages are often flooded with endearing posts of him spending time with kids.

Fun & Banter: Akshay X Twinkle

With widely opposite viewpoints regarding many subjects, the #PowerCouple - Akshay & Twinkle often engage in banter on social media.

Brand Associations

Khiladi Kumar occupies the 2^nd position in Duff & Phelps celebrity brand evaluation report 2019. His brand value amounts to INR 742 crore as per the report. According to the Forbes 2020 report he has a net worth of $48.5 million.

From advocating cause-related messages to a seeming real-life hero, Kumar has made an effort to merge his reel avatar in ads. Post his film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Akshay was seen as the face of Harpic in a campaign. His PSA for a sanitary pad campaign, post the release of Padman is known to all.

As per a TAM report, Akshay is one of the top endorsers for personal care brands & one of the top celebrities to have been associated with brands across categories from April-Jun 2020.

Kumar's brand association on social media span from TV Channels to FMCG and BFSI brands.

Starting his career with a ‘stuntman’ imagery to now doing ‘socially relevant movies’, many brands seem to draw parallels and resonate with his journey, philosophy, and image.

With IPL 13 kickstarting in September 2020, Kumar is seen endorsing some notable brands.

Kurkure

Harpic

Lodha Group

Ayush Ayurveda

Policybazar

BergerHome Shield

GOQii

Initiatives

Akshay has been vocal about varied issues prevailing in the society such as equality in education for children, animal welfare, women empowerment, and menstrual hygiene.

Akki is also seen providing support in times of crisis & natural disasters to governing bodies on the State & National-level.

#IndiaFightsCorona

Ode to heroes in white

#Together4India

Put your masks

In the start of the year, Kumar was dragged into a controversy for a Nirma Ad when a certain section of people had taken offense over his depiction as the Maratha warrior. He however seemed to have taken the situation with a pinch of salt.

Motivation, Fitness, Appreciation

Akshay is often seen sharing motivational posts for inspiring his followers, usually displaying a ‘go-getter’ attitude.

The actor often takes to social media to appreciate juniors & peers from the entertainment industry. He even lauds sports’ personalities through his social platforms.

Sharing BTS posts with outdoor fitness activities is another avenue through which the he with his fans.

News, Topicals, & Trends

The actor majorly leverages Twitter to voice his opinions over news & shares posts on trends and topicals on Instagram & Facebook. The latter are mainly in the spirit of fun.

Environment day

Rasode Trend

Filmography & digital ventures

Throughout his social media presence, Kumar keeps his fans abreast with updates on his movies - old & new.

Discovery
+ App

Interacting with 'Akkians'

Be it fan wars, or celebrating the star’s birthday trending on Twitter two months in advance, Akshay Kumar fans, popularly nicknamed as Akkians have supported their favorite always. Every year, Akshay takes to his social media handles to thank his followers during and directly interacts with them.

The megastar’s birthday was even celebrated in the south with ‘official Common DP work’ on social media.

Summing It Up

Akshay Kumar seems to establish an emotional connect with his fans, via a two-way interaction through social media. This also goes in tandem with his reel image & brand endorsements, that majorly rely on his Khiladi image. With actors' social media handles now becoming another steady source of income, there is indeed a lot to be learnt from Akshay Kumar's social media presence.