National Geographic magazines on a shelf
Image via Alan King under CC0 1.0

With more than 45 million fans on Facebook and 86 million followers on Instagram, National Geographic is one of the top non-celebrity brands in the social sphere. If you’re following Nat Geo on any of their channels, you already understand why. Their photos and videos are stunning and their storytelling is top notch.

Behind the scenes, National Geographic’s social strategy is based on four core guiding principles, as we learned from Annabelle Canwell (National Geographic’s SVP of travel partnerships) at the recent ITB Berlin travel conference in Germany. Let’s take a look at the lessons these principles hold for any brand trying to build a strong presence on social.

1. Stay true to your brand

Know what your brand stands for, and embody that in your social presence. “It’s what people expect and respect,” Canwell said.

In line with its commitment to social responsibility (a quarter of the company’s proceeds benefit the non-profit National Geographic Society), National Geographic launched The People vs. Climate Change campaign and #myclimateaction hashtag to encourage followers to share the actions they were taking to help protect the earth.

[ #MyClimateAction ] Repost courtesy of @ccecale . Glaciers melt into overfull and unstable alpine lakes, high above the homes of hundreds of thousands of people in la Cordillera Blanca. This is one of the handful of guardians — taken during my research project on climate change impact on local populations — tasked with keeping watch and alerting the towns below in case of disasters. — Join @natgeo in The People v. Climate Change and use #MyClimateAction to share a first-person perspective on how we as humans face climate change, and the positive steps we can take to protect our Earth. . Let’s tell stories together #YourShotPhotographer. Go to the link in our profile to join Your Shot.

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