Strava’s winning formula on Instagram
The popular app is making waves on Instagram, where it has built a community of over 1.6 million followers. Its strategy revolves around inspiration and engagement. Strava leans into powerful storytelling, showcasing the unique stories of its community and the achievements of athletes, while tapping into major sporting events and cultural trends. More than just a performance-tracking app, Strava has become a space for human stories and genuine connection.
With over 1.7 million likes in just eight months , an average of more than 9,000 likes per post — Strava is clearly striking a chord on Instagram.
Shining a light on its community and their personal stories
Strava goes beyond tracking athletic performance, it also celebrates the meaningful moments in its users’ lives. On Instagram, the app shares powerful stories, from a runner giving birth, to an unexpected encounter with a singer during a half marathon, to touching anecdotes where sport and emotion intertwine.
The focus is firmly on the human side of sport, especially during major events like marathons, where pride, achievement and tears of joy come together at the finish line.
Strava s’empare aussi des défis qui enflamment les réseaux sociaux, à l’image de celui du chanteur Rilès, qui a couru 24 heures sur un tapis de course : un exploit repris et célébré par la marque sur son compte. La publication comptabilise plus de 459 000 likes :
Strava also jumps on viral social media challenges, such as the one launched by singer Rilès, who ran for 24 hours straight on a treadmill — a feat the brand picked up and celebrated on its account. The post has racked up over 459,000 likes.
Strava’s collaborations with athletes
Beyond emotion, Strava also spotlights the achievements of top athletes pushing their limits around the world. Record times, legendary race victories, and extreme ultra-endurance challenges all feature prominently in the brand’s content. Among them: French athlete Mathieu Blanchard’s incredible feat at the Yukon Arctic Ultra — over 625 kilometres covered in seven days, in sub-zero temperatures. His story earned more than 77,000 likes, eight times the account’s average.
Another remarkable performance shared by Strava is that of Deo Kato, who ran for 518 days across 21 countries, a journey that received over 48,000 likes.
Event activations: Strava’s key moments on Instagram
Strava also capitalises on major dates in the global sporting calendar, starting with the world’s biggest marathons. During the London Marathon, the brand was right at the finish line,capturing data on participants’ performances and routes, while soaking up the atmosphere alongside the supporters.
Armed with witty signs like “Do it for the kudos”, “Wave for kudos”, and “If you pass out, I will pause your Strava”, fans perfectly captured the app’s central role in runners’ lives. The post generated over 52,000 likes.
Strava also used the event as an opportunity to share dedicated content, highlighting key accounts to follow during the British race (8,267 likes) and showcasing its on-site activations, such as a giant screen promoting its partnership with the Runna app (3,276 likes).
Strava’s involvement in social causes: supporting mothers
The brand is also involved in social causes, with a particular focus on promoting women’s participation in sport. Strava partnered with a support programme providing grants to help cover childcare costs, enabling mothers to train and take part in races. Widely highlighted on Instagram, this initiative reinforces Strava’s image as a brand that cares about the everyday realities of its community. The app notably announced a $300,000 donation to the organisation For All Mothers+, a post that received over 9,500 likes.
On LinkedIn, Strava takes a B2B approach, the opposite of its Instagram strategy
While Instagram allows Strava to build an emotional connection with its community,celebrating achievements, human stories, and user creativity, LinkedIn offers a completely different angle. Here, the brand adopts a more professional tone, highlighting partnerships, research, subscriptions, and its strategic vision through expert interviews and thought-leadership content.
This dual approach demonstrates Strava’s ability to tailor its communication to each platform, balancing community engagement with sectorial credibility.
Strava’s features and innovation at the heart of its LinkedIn strategy
On LinkedIn, Strava also highlights innovation and its latest features through short, targeted posts. Updates related to subscriptions, app news — such as performance comparisons or the introduction of new fitness goals — provide content that can be shared to inform and engage its professional audience.
Strava Fridge: a trend taking Instagram by storm
Popular among runners, the “Strava Fridge” trend involves sharing a performance summary from the platform by sticking it on the fridge — often after a simple outing, like picking up a bottle of water or running a small errand.
The idea is to turn an ordinary activity into an official Strava entry, usually with a humorous twist. Cyclists have also embraced the trend, sharing their own routes with hashtags like #cyclinglife or #stravachallenge, further boosting the concept’s virality on social media.
Brands riding Strava’s social media success: Gymshark, Adidas, Hoka…..
Strava’s social media success has also been leveraged by a wide range of brands and institutions.
Some, like Gymshark or Adidas, naturally fit into this sporting ecosystem, while others, such as the restaurant chain Chipotle, have found creative ways to tap into the trend. Public institutions, including the city of Vancouver and the French Gendarmerie, have also used this momentum to engage with the Strava community and boost their visibility.
To ride Strava’s wave of success, brands use a variety of content strategies. Gymshark plays with creative route designs, even recreating its logo; the French Gendarmerie taps into the “Strava Fridge” trend; while Hoka highlights its athletes’ performances and launches specific challenges on the platform.
When Strava routes shape brands: the new social media trend
Several brands in this space, such as Gymshark, and WeWard, are tapping into the visual and GPS aspects of Strava routes to create engaging content. Sportswear brand Gymshark, for example, mapped out a route in the shape of its logo, earning over 85,800 likes. Meanwhile, the WeWard app shared a user’s creative walking route, which racked up 10,836 likes.
Dating app Tinder launches its Strava challenge to find running partners
The UK version of the popular dating app Tinder launched the “Tinder SoleMate” challenge on Strava, encouraging users to meet new people, and potentially their future partner. Participants had the chance to win prizes such as vouchers for a dinner date, shopping vouchers, or premium Tinder subscriptions. The post announcing the challenge received over 2,800 likes, twice the brand’s average engagement.
Original article by Marie Guyomarc’h, adapted and translated by Sophie von Mensenkampff
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