Walmart’s Smart Strategy

Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world.  They are also, as no surprise, the most liked retailer on Facebook.  With more than 31 million Facebook friends, Walmart is leading the pack when it comes to social media.  So how does the retailer manage its social media presence so well?  With a great plan and team.

In a Q&A with Ragan.com, Chad Mitchell, senior director of digital communications for Walmart, talked about their developmental process for social media.  He said: “It’s really all about content and audiences. When we formed our digital team, one of our first tasks was to better understand our existing audiences as well as the ones we wanted to reach.”   He then went on to say, “Next we looked at our content and developed a strategy for how we would deliver that content to key audiences and stakeholders.”  The strategy the team came up with?  Creating 7 Twitter accounts instead of just one. This way, the company can gear content towards specific audiences on different Twitter handles.  

Walmart uses its different Twitter handles for different purposes.  For example, @WalmartGreen is focused on sustainability, @WalmartNewsRoom is the handle used for press releases and public service announcements, and @WalmartVeterans is meant to engage in conversations with veterans and to discuss issues of importance to veterans.  While the ability to balance and maintain 7 Twitter handles is impressive in itself, what is even more noteworthy about Walmart on Twitter is the way the marketing team devised the plan.  They did not simply decide to create 7 Twitter accounts for fun, as Chad Mitchell explained in the Q&A, the team developed its objectives and then shaped its social media strategy to match those objectives.   This type of approach to plan development really pays off.

Walmart CMO, Stephen Quinn, spoke at a marketing conference last year about how important social media is to the brand.  He explained that the company was achieving a very high return on investment from Twitter and Facebook.  The company, undoubtedly, attributes this to the high number of fans on these sites, and the time and attention spent engaging in conversations.  Along with an internal team of employees, Walmart works with outside agencies to help maintain conversations with customers.  Stephen Quinn emphasizes the importance of outside help for Walmart saying, “When you are [publishing] six, seven, eight posts a day, you need people who are able to turn on a dime and react to those things.”

Seeking the help of outside agencies has proven to be beneficial to Walmart as they continue to uphold their grand social media presence in 2014.  The most important thing other brands should learn from Walmart is that success takes planning.  As Chad Mitchell explained, planning and objectives must come before the action.  Any brand can create a profile on social networks, but the key to seeing results and gaining success, is to have a well developed plan and a strong team to carry it out.

 

 

Kmart Goes Viral

Kmart has managed to do what all brands dream of: make an ad go viral.  Last year, the retailer produced a video advertising the ability to have items shipped to a customer’s home or to another Kmart location for free.  The play on words in the video was risky, to say the least, with the catch phrase “Ship My Pants,” but it caught the attention of millions of people.  The ad created a great deal of controversy among public viewers.  However anyone in marketing knows that it doesn’t necessarily matter what people think of the video; it matters that they saw the video.  Over the years Kmart has slowly lost its edge with competitors, and has been put in a group of so called “dying brands”.   The goal of Kmart’s Ship My Pants campaign was not only to inform customers of the millions of products Kmart offers online, but also to get the brand name back out there.

 

So why was Kmart able to produce a viral ad so easily when other companies spend large amounts of time and money trying to do just that and never succeed?

Adam Mills suggests that the key to creating viral content is what he calls the SPIN framework.  His SPIN framework is based on the notion that for content to go viral it must have great spreadability, propagativity, integration, and nexus.  He explains in his article Virality in social media: the SPIN Framework, that the most challenging aspect of the SPIN framework for companies to achieve is nexus, or succeeding content.   Kmart achieved this.  Months after the Ship My Pants ad, Kmart produced the Show Your Joe video for the holidays.   Again the content was rather risky, and spurred controversy, but was watched by millions of people.

In the span of only a few months, Kmart released two ads that went viral.  This is something many companies never accomplish.  Whether the ads directly helped revenue or not, they reminded people that Kmart was still around.  So how can other companies work to follow in Kmart’s footsteps?  The answer is they cannot.  Adam Mills’ SPIN framework, along with studies and theories by many other professionals may help to explain what makes content appealing to viewers, but cannot teach a company how to make a viral video.  The fact of the matter is that the ability to make content go viral lies in the hands of the viewers alone.  The only thing any brand can do to try to make content go viral is to produce something that viewers will like and will want to share.  Until someone is able to confidently know that some content will be shared by everyone who sees it, it is in the best interest of companies to not attempt to make something go viral, but perhaps simply admire those who were able to do it accidentally.

Macy’s Uses Its Resources

Macy’s has gained respect for the success of their social media campaign since its takeoff in 2010.   They key to the brand’s success is how well they utilize their resources.   At its disposal, Macy’s has a strong base of celebrities that it collaborates with, and a lot of money.   By using these resources to their advantage, Macy’s has created a very successful social media strategy.

One way Macy’s utilizes their relationships with celebrities is with a feature called
Backstage Pass.  With the Backstage Pass program shoppers can scan a QR code with their phones and find videos from celebrities with style tips and advice on specific products.

Macy’s has also conducted several contests involving celebrities such as their Million Dollar Makeover contest.  The competition allowed Facebook users to enter to win a makeover from What Not to Wear’s Clinton Kelly.   With the Million Dollar Makeover contest, Macy’s saw its number of Facebook fans double in 2011.

Clinton Kelly has had a part in other social media stunts as well.  Macy’s shoppers are able to receive fashion advice from Clinton Kelly and his team on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube with the hashtag #HelpMeClinton.   What makes this particular campaign great is that even though the hashtag can be used on any of these social networks, each one is used slightly differently.  For example, on Instagram users are able to upload pictures of themselves with a question and have it answered.  On Pinterest, Clinton Kelly has created inspiration boards to give Macy’s shoppers tips and suggestions for products.

Another resource Macy’s takes full advantage of is a large budget.  Many companies see social media as a way to cut advertising costs.  In his article “ Putting the Social Back in Social Media Marketing “, Steve Goldner suggests that by attempting to reduce costs in brand to customer interaction, companies hinder long term sales results.  Unlike many of its competitors, Macy’s knows the importance of social media as a marketing tool.  Of their $1 billion advertising budget, approximately $120 million is spent on digital advertising.  Clearly, success comes at a high cost.

While many companies may not have the large variety of celebrity partners, or the large budget that Macy’s has, there are things that any company can learn from Macy’s.  Firstly, that brands should use the resources available to them.  Companies who may not have partnerships with celebrities may have them with other organizations that could contribute to their social media campaign.  Secondly, no matter the size of the budget, it is important to dedicate funds to digital media.  Social media is quickly becoming the preferred outlet for interactions between companies and constituents.  In order to see success online, a brand must be willing to commit the effort and the money.

Whole Food’s Unique Strategy for Social Media

Whole Foods, an organic food retailer, has been widely regarded as a leading brand on social media.  The company has had success with various social networks.  The key to their success, however, does not have to do with the social platforms they are using, but instead how they are using them.

One great aspect of Whole Food’s social media strategy is that they have different objectives for different social networks.  Twitter is used as their primary source of customer service and interactions.  This is where they respond to customer complaints and comments, and also where they host Twitter Chats.  Every Thursday Whole Foods engages with their customers by asking them to respond to questions on Twitter.  Facebook and Pinterest are mostly used for media content (pictures, videos, etc.).  For original content, the retailer has their own blog where employees from different aspects of the companies post information.

An example of a Thursday TwitterChat.

Another promising quality of the Whole Food’s marketing strategy is that they don’t focus all of their efforts on selling products.  A main component of the brand’s social media content is dealing with issues that are of concern to the company.  Whole Foods tries to educate and engage customers on topics they find important like GMO’s, and the importance of healthy eating.  Healthy recipes and cooking tips are popular topics of conversation for the brand.

What makes Whole Foods particularly unique in their social media strategy is that not much of it is controlled in the corporate setting.  The company puts most of its emphasis on what is going on locally.  Whole Foods has over 150 Twitter accounts, many of which are for specific stores.  Keeping things local works for Whole Foods because managers at local stores are given freedom. Unlike many large corporations who control social media in a top down approach, corporate officials have learned to let store managers handle things on their own. This helps the company keep content relevant.  They can talk with customers about current events in the area and issues that may apply directly to them.  This also helps the content to seem more authentic.  Each manager’s personality and voice comes through in their posts making all the accounts different and more personal.

The most important thing that companies can learn from Whole Foods is that mass produced content is not authentic.  In order to appeal to customers, and to have genuine conversations with them they need to be somewhat personal.  Whole Foods knows the best way to reach their customers and has worked out an effective strategy for doing so.

 

Target Maintains Brand Image in Tough Times

Target, one of the world’s largest retailers, has proved that they can maintain a good social media campaign through thick and thin.   Target has been doing great things on social media for years.  The retailer has earned a reputation as a charitable company with Facebook campaigns like Bullseye Gives and Give With Target.  Both campaigns allow Facebook users to vote for organizations that they would like to see Target donate money to. Target distributes the donations amongst the different organizations based on the percentage of votes they receive.  Not only do these campaigns help portray Target in a positive light, but they also help to get customers involved and interacting with Target online.

Target also initiated their Cartwheel campaign last year.  Cartwheel allows Facebook users to find discounts and special offers online.  However, these online offers can only be redeemed in stores.  Shoppers must bring the barcode for the deal they wish to use with them to a Target store.  Cartwheel encourages shoppers to keep up with Target’s Facebook page, and also directly encourages purchases.

Recently, we have seen Target use social media to recover from a major crisis.  Target’s reputation took a huge hit with the large data breach they suffered from in December.  The retailer lost the trust of many customers following the data breach.  Many became nervous about using credit cards at Target, and others decided not to shop at Target at all.  Target has regained the trust of many with their transparent approach to the situation.

Lan Xia, author of Effects of Companies’ Responses to Consumer Criticism in Social Media, says that there are two ways companies can handle a crisis: defensively, or vulnerably.  A vulnerable reaction to a crisis is one where the company admits their mistakes and apologizes for them.  Xia says that this is the best way to handle a crisis.  Being vulnerable rather than defensive conveys sincerity and responsibility on the company’s part, helping to build brand loyalty.  The day after reports of the data breach surfaced, Target’s CEO Gregg Steinhafel posted YouTube videos explaining to customers what had happened, and what the company was going to do about it.  Target also turned to Facebook and Twitter to keep customers up to date and to answer questions.  The retailer posted daily about the investigation and the progress being made to fix the problem.  Each post came with the option to share the message on several social media sites, encouraging customers to help spread the word about the current situation.

With the instant flow of information available online today, the internet and social media sites could break a company’s reputation.  Instead of trying to avoid blame and be hurt by social media, Target used it as a resource to help recover from the crisis.  Only months after the data breach, Target has already proved that they made the appropriate decision in handling the situation, as they have regained the trust and loyalty of many customers.

At this point, it is safe to say that Target’s social media team has things under control.  They are able to effectively run social media campaigns to improve brand reputation and to increase customer loyalty.  Perhaps more importantly, they have proved that they can maintain Target’s brand image and uphold social media campaigns even during a major crisis.  Other retailers can learn a lot about handling crises from Target’s data breach.

Ikea Uses Facebook to Gain Customer Loyalty

Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has been effectively utilizing social media as a marketing tool for years.  The brand has produced some famous, and rather unique, social media campaigns over the years, primarily on Facebook.

One of the showrooms Ikea posted allowing users to tag items.

In 2009 Ikea turned to Facebook to promote the opening of a new store in Malmo.  The marketing team created a Facebook profile for the store manager and uploaded pictures of Ikea showrooms to his profile.  The first Facebook user to tag himself or herself  to a product in the picture would win that product.  The brilliance of this campaign was that it spread to Facebook users who didn’t visit Ikea’s page.  According to a study done by comScore Social Essentials, Facebook “users are 40 to 150 times more likely to consume branded content in the Newsfeed than to visit the Fan Page itself.”  Every time a user is tagged in a photo that photo shows up on the newsfeed of all of the user’s Facebook friends.  So naturally, the message spread quickly.  The campaign effectively created a lot of buzz about Ikea and its opening store.  It also granted Ikea a low-cost way to promote their products.  Rather than printing and mailing catalogs, the entire catalog was uploaded online and shared by thousands of Facebook users.

This was just one of several Facebook giveaways by Ikea.  The retailer also allowed 100 people to stay the night in a U.K. store in response to the popular Facebook page: “I wanna have a sleepover in Ikea.”  There were many activities and giveaways at the sleepover.  The store also had a sleep expert on hand to provide the 100 guests with advice on how to choose the right mattress (hopefully from Ikea!).

Ikea has had other Facebook promotions as well.  A couple won a wedding at an Ikea store through Facebook, and others won a bedroom makeover from Ikea by posting photos of their rooms on Ikea’s Facebook page.

Ikea has created a reputation for itself on Facebook over the years.  A key factor to this may be that the retailer has separate accounts for its different markets.  The Facebook page for U.S. Ikea is separate from the page for U.K. Ikea.  A benefit to this is that they are able to address different issues only when and where they are of concern.  This also helps give the pages a more local, personal feel.

What makes Ikea so unique in their social media approach is that they gear their efforts toward customer loyalty.  Most retailers focus on product promotion, or customer interaction.  Ikea incorporates both of these goals into their strategy, but in a way that benefits the consumer.  By responding to customer feedback, and having contests and promotions, customers want to be more involved with the brand.  It would be hard to believe that a couple who got married in Ikea would want to buy furniture anywhere else.  Similarly, customers who have had good experiences with Ikea online, and who have reaped the benefits of the several contests and promotions are likely going to be loyal customers for life.  Ikea has uncovered the secret to not only attracting customers, but keeping them as well.

Lowe’s, Improving Home Improvement and Social Media

Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, has been gaining a lot of attention for its effective use of social media.  With impressive pages on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and now Vine, their competitors are having a hard time keeping up.

Lowes’ key factor to success is that they have moved away from a product-promotion strategy on social media.  The retailer uses social media as a medium to help and inspire customers in a way that will also encourage them to buy Lowe’s products.   For example, Lowe’s uses its Pinterest boards to help inspire DIYers.  Instead of simply pinning its products, many of the brand’s pins are of ideas.  They pin design or project ideas that may have a Lowe’s product in the picture, or that can be made with the help of a Lowe’s product.  This picture of a kitchen was pinned to the retailer’s A Kitchen To Dine For board.  This kitchen is obviously not for sale by Lowe’s.  It was actually published in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, however, Lowe’s uses this image to attract customers to their products by tagging the photo: “Love blue? Browse these examples of beautiful blue kitchens to get some creative ideas for incorporating this usually calming, but sometimes invigorating, color into your kitchen.”

The benefit to posts like this one is that products are not being blatantly advertised to customers.  When users go on Pinterest they are often seeking inspiration and ideas, not advertisements.  The inspiring framework of the brand’s pins appeal to customers in a way that lets the customer choose the products advertised to him or her.  It gives the entire process a more natural feel, and helps personalize the message behind the pin.

Lowe’s is also doing a great job of integrating its customers in the action.  In addition to posting their own content, Lowe’s often re-pins the content of some of its followers.  This helps show followers that the brand is just as interested in what they have to say as they are in selling their products.

In addition to Pinterest, Lowe’s has been doing great things on Twitter and Vine as well.  Last Spring, Lowe’s launched its Fix In Six video campaign.  The campaign was built around Vine, the online site that allows users to create and share 6 second long videos.  The Fix In Six campaign featured vines with clever tips and tricks for at home projects.  The brand extended the campaign to twitter as well.  Lowe’s allowed customers to tweet their questions to the brand using the hashtag #lowesfixinsix, to get a video response answering their question.  Lowe’s also initiated customer interaction with event specific hashtags like, #timetospring, which was created as a source for followers to ask the company questions about getting their yard ready for spring.

Lowe’s is also keeping customers inspired and involved with their mobile app, Creative Ideas, and with MyLowes, an online feature that allows customers to keep track of their projects and purchases, as well as receive tips and reminders for upcoming projects and seasons.

They key to Lowes’ success with social media is that their focus isn’t just on selling products, but on engaging its customers.  Lowe’s provides manny channels for customers to seek help and inspiration for their projects so that they want to buy the necessary tools and equipment from Lowe’s.  The brand has found the right balance between self-promotion, and customer initiated promotion and it has definitely paid off.

Sephora Works it on Pinterest

When it comes to using social media as a marketing tool, Sephora knows what they’re doing.  The beauty retailer knows what it takes to reach their customers.  Not only has the brand created a large online presence for themselves, and drastically increased sales, they have even launched their own online community, BeautyTalk.

The key to Sephora’s success is knowing which social media platforms to use, and how to use them.  Of course, the brand has a Facebook page, but unlike many other retailers who attempt to promote their brand and products on Facebook, Sephora has designated Facebook as a customer service tool. Julie Bornstein, Sephora’s CMO said, “Facebook continues to be just a great customer interaction tool that gives us the real time ability to dialog with our customers; it’s a big customer-service venue for us.”

The retailer further realizes that the social media outlet that best suits their customers is Pinterest.  A 2013 study by Modea found that the majority of Pinterest users are women, many of which are between the ages of 25 and 44, the same demographic group that shops at Sephora.

Found in a 2013 Study by Modea

Pinterest is interactive in nature.  Unlike sites like Facebook or Twitter that are centered around posting thoughts and ideas and allowing others to comment on or like those posts, Pinterest is centered around sharing content.  A member is able to view the pins of everyone they follow (and people they do not follow) and either like them, or pin them to their own boards for their followers to see.  In this sense, Sephora is able to share their products with customers simply by posting them.  The customers take it from there.  As an added bonus to Pinterest’s interactive nature, it also encourages shopping more than most social networking sites.   A shopping survey by Bizarre Insights found that:

” Pinterest is more often used as a destination for shopping inspiration, tracking, and product discovery. Forty-three percent of the respondents use Pinterest, and 24% use Facebook, to associate with retailers or brands.”

In addition, in 2013 it was reported that Sephora’s Pinterest followers spent 15 times more on Sephora products than their Facebook followers.  The fact of the matter is that people don’t go on Facebook to shop or for shopping ideas, but this is one of the main reasons people go on Pinterest.  Julie Borstein commented:

“The reality is that when you’re in the Pinterest mindset, you’re actually interested in acquiring items, which is not what people go to Facebook for.”  

In order to further increase their success on Pinterest, Sephora has implemented several strategies encouraging customers to re-pin Sephora products.  For example, Sephora created It Lists, which are created by actual Sephora employees.  They include favorite products, tips, and beauty tricks laid out by staff members for Pinterest followers.  These suggestions by professionals help followers know what the newest products are, and also how to use them, making people more inclined to make purchases.

One of Sephora’s It Lists

Another way Sephora is encouraging customers to use Pinterest as a shopping tool is through email.  In 2012 Sephora started sending “Pinnable” e-mails promoting new products that allow users to pin products to their boards directly from the e-mail.

The beauty of pinning is that it allows Sephora’s staff to see which products get the most attention.  The products that are liked and re-pinned by a lot of people are the products that they can expect to do well in stores.

In addition to Pinterest, Sephora also developed an app in 2012 that now accounts for a third of all traffic to Sephora.com.  They also created the online community BeautyTalk which allows customers to talk which each other and with experts about products and services or any questions they may have.  BeautyTalk is also full of great tips and how-to videos for using products.  Most importantly, BeautyTalk is linked to Sephora’s website, so any product a customer may find appealing is available to them, at only a click away.

With their large online presence and success it is clear that Sephora really knows what they’re doing when it comes to social media.  The lesson that other retailers can learn from Sephora is to plan well; to know not only what social media sites to use, but also how to use them.  Different sites are geared toward different audiences, and have different environments.  The sites that should be used to interact with customers are not always the same sites that should be used to promote products.  Sephora has definitely figured this out.

JC Penney Uses Social Media to Win Customers Back

Under former CEO Ron Johnson, JC Penney experienced some major brand damage and plummeting sales in 2012 after the company’s big redesign.  As part of the redesign, the retailer ended the use of sales and coupons, and cut some of JC Penney’s most popular brands, which did not sit well with customers.  In 2013, JC Penney turned to social media to get customers back and to improve their brand image.

JC Penney launched its social media campaign, JCP Listens, to ensure that they would not mess up again like they did in 2012.

The JCP Listens campaign started with a commercial aired on both television and the internet recognizing their mistakes and asking customers to come back to JC Penney.  The commercial ends, “Come back to JC Penney.  We heard you, now we’d love to see you.”

Following the commercial, JC Penney took to other forms of social media to encourage customers to become a part of JCP Listens.  In hopes of a fresh start, the company abandoned its Facebook page for a brand new one, leaving behind many friends and fans of the page, but also all the negative comments that flooded the profile.

In his article, The Definitive of Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing, Mike Thompson says, “Do: Listen to-and engage with your audience”.  That’s exactly what JC Penney’s new campaign is all about.

With their new Facebook page, JC Penney initiated a campaign encouraging consumers to leave comments on the page sharing their own opinions and ideas about the company.  They did the same on Twitter, encouraging followers to tweet their opinions using the hashtag #JCPListens. JC Penney also used Facebook to ask their customers what they could be doing better.  Surveys and polls went out on Facebook asking customers what their favorite JCP brands were.  Many of the favorites were brands that were cut by CEO Johnson in 2012 under the redesign, including the customer favorite St. John’s Bay.

User comments, and poll results showed that the changes made in 2012 were not supported by customers.  The retailer responded by announcing that they would be bringing the St. John’s Bay brand back to stores, which helped the trust and approval of their customers.

In addition to bringing back popular brands, JCP has introduced new brands like Joe Fresh, and brought back coupons and sales promotions in hopes to attract lost customers back to the retailer.

JC Penney’s apologetic, and interactive social media strategy gained the company a lot of attention.  Over the last year they have maintained their marketing strategy, encouraging customers to share their thoughts and ideas with JC Penney on both Facebook and Twitter.  As far as statistics show, JC Penney really has been listening.