Founded by two University of Michigan undergraduates in 2021, Tab Chocolate is taking the internet by storm. From the genius use of UGC on TikTok to extensive influencer marketing, this newbie in the confectionery industry has created a social media strategy even the top brands can learn from.
But turning a mere dorm-room startup into a global sensation hasn’t been the easiest for founder duo Oliver Brocato and Jake Lewin. Due to their specific niche of aphrodisiac chocolates, the brand ran into marketing restrictions.
So, they got creative with their approach. Tabs Chocolate ditched the regular paid marketing efforts and focused on creating consumer trust through authentic content. This paid off, leading them to build a strong community around their niche.
How? Let’s break down the recipe for Tabs Chocolate’s social media marketing success.
Analysis of Tabs Chocolate’s social media accounts
Before we get into Tabs Chocolate’s social media strategy, let’s examine the core of their phenomenal traction, i.e., the brand’s social media accounts. Tabs Chocolate’s primary marketing channel is its TikTok account, which has been the biggest catalyst for its fame.
Why? This short-video hosting platform has a predominantly younger user base of early trend adopters who are always excited to try new things. As Tabs Chocolate positioned itself as an offbeat confectionary product, the TikTok audience was its perfect target demographic.
The chocolate brand boasts 110,000 TikTok followers and mostly relies on UGC and influencer marketing posts for its campaigns. The account has playlists to make specific information like
- How Tabs Chocolate is different from regular chocolates in the market
- Why couples love the brand
- Where to buy Tabs Chocolate
Tabs also runs a Facebook page to amplify their UGC to a broader audience.
However, their Facebook group is where their marketing efforts shone. With 2,400 members, it built a close-knit community where users post content and hold discussions around the brand. As Tabs Chocolate’s social media strategy depends on UGC primarily, the brand uses its Facebook group as a consistent source of fresh UGC and testimonials.
Tabs also has an Instagram account with 170,000 followers. While they don’t post frequently here, the brand has highlights for their most viral TikToks, ingredient list, reviews, and other resources. It simplifies the Instagram audience’s experience with their social media marketing even if the user doesn’t use TikTok.
Tabs Chocolate also has a Twitter account with 1,129 followers, where it posts updates on new product launches and user-generated content.
However, while their marketing on TikTok is the ultimate playbook for creating your niche category through social media marketing, Tabs Chocolate’s presence on Twitter is quite confusing.
There are multiple accounts on their brand name. As their primary Twitter profile isn’t verified, it’s difficult for visitors to identify their actual account (which we struggled with in our research, too).
For a cohesive digital presence, it’s important to have validated profiles across social media platforms.
Want to find the best marketing channels for your brand? You can authenticate your account on Keyhole, get a pulse of audience sentiments, and see which social media platforms will work the best for your brand.
What makes Tabs Chocolate’s social media strategy successful?
Tabs’ rise to $11 million in less than 18 months was no easy feat — and social media played the most significant role here.
But where it takes years for a new brand to get recognition in today’s competitive market, what did Tabs Chocolate do right to maximize their impact? Let’s break it down:
1. Unique positioning
Tabs Chocolate knows their market isn’t the standard chocolate lovers. Their target audience is sexually active people looking to spice up their sex lives. That’s why the brand positioned itself apart from regular chocolate brands and marketed its product as an intimate experience.
However, Tabs Chocolate’s promises of sexual performance benefits stirred up quite some skepticism. So what did Oliver do to show his product as a reliable experience booster? He tapped into social-proof marketing to gain credibility and created a whole new category of aphrodisiac chocolates in the market for their brand.
Tabs Chocolate’s marketing strategy heavily revolves around customer testimonials throughout its website and social media. Oliver believes, “Customers are afraid to buy. We have to show them that we’re reputable, tried and tested, and that other people have bought from us and had amazing experiences. I think people are conformists. They don’t want to be the first one to try something, they will get cold feet.”
To put it simply, Tabs Chocolate didn’t try to fit in as your everyday sweet treat. Instead, the brand embraced its taboo nature, marketed its product as a luxury sexual experience-enhancing snack, and backed its claims with social proof.
2. Leveraging UGC
User-generated content has gained significant popularity as a marketing tool in recent years because they are authentic and believable. Tabs Chocolate recognized this potential of UGC to drive trust in their fairly new and unique brand early on.
So, continuing their emphasis on social proof, they made content created by their users their primary campaigning tool. Instead of exhausting resources on creating branded marketing content, they let the creativity of their customers spread awareness and trust for their product.
Due to TikTok becoming the Eldorado for users creating and consuming content every day, Tabs Chocolate chose it as their primary social media marketing channel.
Tabs Chocolate started encouraging users to showcase their love for their chocolate by marketing clever hashtags. Through challenges and regular reposts, the brand harnessed TikTok’s immense virality. Plus, the product’s sensational nature also served as a good content topic for TikTok users. This created a ripple effect and Voila! Tabs Chocolate started getting a flood of UGC from TikTok.
The brand’s whole TikTok feed is filled with candid video testimonials by users, before and after reactions, and unboxing videos. It has TikToks showing couples sharing the chocolate on date night, people gifting S/Os boxes of Tabs Chocolate, etc.
The brand also shares UGC on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. These are not only engaging but also educate the audience on the chocolate’s ingredients and usage. Such authenticity of real user experiences resonated with the audience, increased engagement, and created buzz and intrigue around the sexy snack.
3. Amplifying influencer marketing
Tabs Chocolate is an adult product. So, Oliver and Jake understood that paid ads weren’t for them due to strict social media regulations. Besides organic UGC, they needed another marketing channel that could leverage the natural virality of the product.
That’s why the brand started partnering with TikTok influencers. They used social media analytics to dig deep into customer preferences through social listening. Then Tabs used this data to identify rising TikTok influencers whose content style resonated with their target demographics.
For example, Tabs collaborated with Eddie Zepeda, a social media creator known for his funny TikToks with his partner.
Tabs Chocolate influencer marketing was perfect for building aspiration among the audience to buy Tabs’ high-end chocolates. Finding the right influencers got the brand further reach and drove attention to their product from the right crowd.
If you want to run influencer marketing for your brand but aren’t sure how to find the right collaborators, choose a social media monitoring tool like Keyhole to identify the top creators of your industry and analyze their organic performance with influencer tracking.
4. Strategic community building
UGC and influencer marketing generated significant awareness and fostered a vibrant community, thanks to Tabs Chocolate TikTok strategy. To leverage this further, Tabs created a Facebook group and multiple subreddits to fuel the conversation around their product.
This not only built curiosity and drove more people to their site but also created additional sources for the brand to collect more testimonials and UGCs — their most valued marketing assets.
Tabs Chocolate’s social media strategy in a glimpse
Now, let’s look at Tabs Chocolate’s social media strategy in tangible terms. We tracked the racy chocolate brand’s growth and engagement on social media and this is what we found:
1. Tabs Chocolate on Instagram
From November 2023 to February 2024, Tabs’ Instagram account had a follower growth rate of 5.20% and an average engagement rate of 30,734 per post. In this period, the brand’s Instagram engagement was at its peak, i.e., 69,398 during the first week of December, which declined to 147.
However, their follower growth has gradually increased during this period. Most of their content is reels and the most popular ones are UGC and creator videos.
2. Tabs Chocolate on Twitter
Twitter is not Tabs Chocolate’s most profitable social media channel. The engagement during the November 2023 to February 2024 period is negative.
The follower growth on the brand’s Twitter account also dropped in mid-February this year. However, it has started scaling again.
3. Tabs Chocolate on YouTube
Tabs Chocolate’s engagement rate showed the best numbers during the week of December 18th with a drop at the end of December and another spike in January.
The top video section shows that Tabs’ UGC and influencer marketing shine through in the brand’s YouTube profile as well.
Replicate Tabs Chocolate’s marketing strategy with social listening
To summarize, the success of Tabs Chocolate’s social media strategy is the result of:
- The brand’s unabashed product positioning
- Deep understanding of the target demographic
- Strategic and continuous use of UGC and influencer marketing
While it’s not the most holistic social media campaigning plan, it worked because the brand understood its bandwidth, focused on limited marketing channels, and used its potential to the fullest.
There are several learnings you can draw from Tabs Chocolate’s marketing strategy. But to make your brand shine, you must customize a plan that works for your industry and target audience. For that, you must stay on top of social media trends, analyze competitors, and monitor audience conversations in real time.
How? Take your demo with Keyhole and get every social media monitoring tool you need to create a marketing plan as stellar as Tabs.
Related Articles
Tinder Social Media Strategy: Matching Needs To Maximize User Engagement
SKIMS’ Social Media Strategy: Shaped Via Inclusive Influencer Marketing
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How can social media help Tabs Chocolate enhance its brand visibility and reach?
Social media can significantly enhance Tabs Chocolate's brand visibility and reach by allowing the company to connect with a wider audience. It provides a platform to share engaging content, build brand awareness, and foster customer loyalty through regular interactions and promotions.
2. What social media platforms should Tabs Chocolate prioritize to connect with its target audience?
Tabs Chocolate should prioritize social media platforms that align with its target audience demographics and preferences. This may include popular platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Conducting market research or analyzing customer data can help determine the most effective platforms for engaging with Tabs Chocolate's target audience.
3. What strategies can Tabs Chocolate implement to engage customers and drive sales through social media channels?
To engage customers and drive sales through social media, Tabs Chocolate can implement various strategies. This may include creating visually appealing and enticing content, organizing contests or giveaways, collaborating with influencers, encouraging user-generated content, and providing exclusive discounts or promotions to followers. It is crucial to monitor and analyze the performance of these strategies to optimize results.
