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.