One day, when Netflix twitter follower @KianaforLife asked “Wanna know what I don’t get? Why there has to be a difference in @Netflix_CA and @netflix ??”

We had a very simple answer for her: “because we’re the gay one”

The response was not only overwhelmingly positive from our followers, but it started a new chapter for the brand.

We officially came out as: The Gay One.

While our followers and engagement continued to grow, we became one of the few brands online that identified as queer. This differentiated us from our US counterpart in a very progressive way.

The tweet, “because we’re the gay one,” was distinctly part of Netflix Canada’s culture. We are a brand account that identifies as queer, so much so, that it is in our Twitter bio. As the Canadian account for Netflix, we differentiated ourselves from the US account with a very real and personal identity. This response worked best on Twitter because it became a viral moment, which is easier to have on this platform as opposed to Facebook or Instagram.

Our tone of voice on Twitter was a natural collaboration between our community manager and our client, who both identify as queer. In the months leading up to this tweet, we made the brand’s Twitter account a voice for the community that focused on queer stories, characters and moments. Through social media monitoring, we saw that our engagement was steadily increasing amongst our target audience of men and women, ages 18-25.

The strategy behind this tweet was to differentiate ourselves from our US counterpart and essentially “come out” as gay. We had a queer outlook and we were finally looking to solidify that on this channel. The best way was to organically react to a follower.

This response worked best on Twitter because it became a viral moment, which is easier to have on this platform as opposed to Facebook or Instagram.

On September 16, 2018 at 7:13 p.m., we received a tweet from Netflix Twitter follower @KianaforLife asking “Wanna know what I don’t get? Why there has to be a difference in @Netflix_CA and @netflix ??”. Later that evening at 7:42 p.m., we replied "because we're the gay one".

On September 16, 2018 at 7:13 p.m., Netflix twitter follower @KianaforLife tweeted “Wanna know what I don’t get? Why there has to be a difference in @Netflix_CA and @netflix ??”. Within 30 minutes, our team responded, "because we're the gay one".

With this tweet, our followers and engagement grew significantly. We saw a 5% increase in new Twitter followers within 48 hours of the tweet. Not only had we earned one of our top performing tweets for the year, we were also awarded “Brand Voice of the Year” by Twitter in Canada.

https://blog.twitter.com/en_ca/topics/insights/2018/Canadian_Twitter_brand_campaigns_2018.html

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