Month: June 2014
Fortune 500 Brands Make Social Media Count
Did you know that 77% of Fortune Magazine’s Fortune 500 companies are active on Twitter and 70% of them are active on Facebook (Gesenhues, 2013)? With social media becoming such an integral part of a company’s integrated marketing strategy, it’s hard to find a company that fails to have a social media presence. Most companies are dabbling in social media; who is getting it right and who is missing the mark? This week’s post will serve as my evaluation of the social media strategy for the following Fortune 500 companies: Target, General Electric, and Walgreens.
Target, one of America’s largest discount retailers, is known for staying in the forefront of consumer shopping trends. But does target stay abreast of social media trends and how does their involvement in social media impact their integrated marketing communications strategy? Today, Target is active on the following social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tumbler. With six separate social media channels, it may seem hard to keep up with various editorial calendars. From what I have seen on Target’s channels, however, there appears to be a seamless integration both between the social media channels, and within Target’s overall communications strategy. It is very obvious that the company takes an integrated marketing communications approach.
It is also very obvious that all messaging and images come from the same content and design team. Take a look at the following pieces of content that were posted on different social media channels. The same image and tagline was posted onto three of their channels. Approximately 60% of their content is repurposed from channel to channel. However, because posts are frequently made on each channel (approximately every 2-4 days) the posts don’t become stale and seem repetitive. Unless you’re actually looking for repeated posts (like I have been), it’s hard to find them within in mix.
Aside from the social media icons on Target.com, there really are not any mentions to other social media channels on any particular channel. The vast majority of the posts drive users to product landing pages Target.com. Because the company is so well-known, I don’t think it’s necessary to drive users back and forth on social media. Also, because some of the content is repeated, what need would Target have to cross promote channels?
I find it interesting that hashtags are not being used regularly on the channels. In the past month, Target’s Twitter page only had two posts that contained hashtags. The hashtags used were not specific to Target, but were cross promoting a product line that was soon coming to the store.
I think it is very important to note that even though there are several different social media channels being utilized, the messages are very consistent. The tone, manner, and voice of the posts are also very consistent with the overall Target brand. I would expect to see any of this messaging or graphics in a magazine ad, TV commercial, or banner ad.
Known as America’s largest drug retail chain, Walgreens was founded in Chicago in 1901. The company’s current advertising campaign is “At the Corner of Happy and Healthy”, which plays on the convenience of having your local Walgreens right around the corner and maintaining personal wellness. On the social media front, Walgreens is active on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Foursquare and Pinterest. Interestingly enough, their website does not depict the Pinterest or Instagram social media icons. The icons are also pretty small and located at the bottom of the homepage. If Walgreens is trying to have a holistic integrated marketing strategy that encompasses all social media outlets, it is very hard to tell. Although their Facebook page seems to play a part in their overall strategy, their Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter accounts seem a little disconnected. The images, graphics, and messages are not consistent among channels. With Walgreens being such a retail giant, you would think that having an integrated marketing strategy would be important to the company.
Each channel varies in time between posts. On Instagram, the last post was made in May in contrast with Twitter and Facebook, where content is posted several times a day (#bewell is used often on Twitter). The majority of links in the posts drive traffic back to Walgreens.com. Just from looking at one of their channels, you’re unable to see if Walgreens is active in other social outlets; they don’t have any shared links between sites.
One thing that I’ve noticed is that Walgreens appears to be experiencing some rough waters on social media. On the various channels, customers are lashing out against the brand. Walgreens seems to be responding to a majority of the posts, but there is a lot of negativity on their pages. This is definitely not a good sign for the brand’s digital reputation. It doesn’t help the brand that there are a few typos in the posts as well (look at the hashtag).
Founded in 1889, General Electric (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate that focuses business on the following segments: Energy, Technology Infrastructure, Capital Finance, and Consumer/Industrial Products. Like Target, this Fortune 500 Company is heavily involved in social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. In line with their traditional advertising mediums, their social media posts inspire, educate, and entertain. Every GE social media post is very consistent with traditional advertising mediums, whether a TV commercial, subway banner, homepage images, or print advertisement. GE does a fantastic job with integrating social media into their overall marketing communications strategy.
The biggest theme associated with GE’s marketing is the use of imagery. These photos help tell the story of the company and generate interest. The images and content are fascinating (not to mention entertaining)! This is consistent on all social media channels. Many of the messages are repeated on the channels. On average, for each channel, posts are created every day (sometimes multiple times a day).
Popular hashtags, such as #tbt, are often used by GE on Twitter. One of the features that sets GE apart in social media is an integrated social media feed on their website. Regardless of channel, this feed displays the most recent posts all in one place. This is the first time that I have seen this level of social media integration. This allows users to share any of GE’s social content onto any channel. This is a fantastic idea; I believe that others will soon follow. Whether you are a GE customer or not, you want to follow their social media channels!
While Target and GE are doing a great job at implementing an integrated marketing strategy, Walgreens seems to need some help.
Here are some of the biggest points that we can learn from these Fourtune 500 brands:
- Consistent content is KING
- Consistent images/graphics are QUEEN
- Great integrated marketing plans integrate social media into their website as much as possible
- Share 2-4 times a week for optimum results
- Be careful to not make spelling errors in your posts
And ALWAYS, have fun and let your brand’s voice and personality shine!
“Open Happiness”: Hi, I’m Whitney
During this week’s MMC 5600 assignment for the University of Florida’s M.A program, I have been tasked with creating an e-blast to promote myself as a communications professional. While I have a good bit of experience creating e-blasts, I’ve found it very difficult to create an e-blast that focuses on me. The audience for the e-blast is future potential employers. For the purpose of this e-blast, I have chosen Coca-Cola as a future potential employer. Here we go. Let me know what you think. If I was your potential employee and you saw this e-blast, would you call me in for an interview?
“Open Happiness”: Whitney Amerson, Digital & Social Media Marketer and Communications Professional
If you’re reading this, hopefully you are looking for a fun, caring, dedicated individual to fulfill a digital marketing or communications role at Coca-Cola. I have been a fan of the Coca Cola brand since I was a child. In fact, one of my fondest childhood memories is going on class field trips to the World of Coke in Atlanta, GA. When in college at Georgia State, I volunteered at the Georgia Aquarium and had the opportunity to visit the new World of Coke once it was completed. I was in awe of the brand just as I was when I was a child. Since high school, I have dreamed about being a part of the Coca Cola marketing communications team. I want to be part of a company that really makes a difference in people’s lives and has created a brand that people believe in. I know I can make a difference if chosen to become part of the Coca Cola team.
“Around the Corner from Everywhere”
I grew up in a small, Georgia town (Villa Rica) that was also the birthplace of Coca Cola legend, Asa Griggs Candler. After high school, I attended and graduated from Georgia State University. Upon graduation, I became Digital Marketing Coordinator for another Georgia-based giant, Southwire Company. Concentrating on social media strategy, content strategy, and reputation management, I was part of a team that received several industry marketing awards, including best overall integrated marketing campaign. Below, you will find a picture of Southwire’s marketing team on the Coca-Cola chairs at an Atlanta Braves game.
“You Can’t Beat the Feeling”
Both in my personal life and professional career, I continuously strive to set new goals that encourage me to push harder and reach higher then I previously could. For example, I am currently working on completing a Master’s Degree in Mass Communications (with an emphasis in social media) from the University of Florida. I always strive to be ahead of the game, as this program is the first of its kind in the country.
“Life Tastes Good”
Painting, scrapbooking, pottery, gardening. I love to be creative and find new ways overcome challenges. Whether a mug handle just won’t stay on the mug in the kiln or a crazy insect infestation is occurring in my garden, I’ll find a way to solve the problem, though most times, not in any conventional way. I love solving problems and overcoming challenges. Social media is constantly evolving, which requires creative solutions and problem solving techniques. This is perhaps why I am so passionate about social media and communications.
To learn more about my passions and hobbies, click here.
“Make It Real”
As a digital native, I am very passionate about my work. I love the opportunity that social media gives marketers and communications professional; we are able to have direct, one on one relationships with consumers and more thoroughly integrate our brand into their everyday life. I want the brand that I represent to be so ingrained in consumers’ minds that they would never consider switching over to a competitor’s product. Coca-Cola has this effect on me. If a restaurant doesn’t sell coke, I’ll have a water.
“Sign of Good Taste”
As a way to market myself, I have created The Social Potter. As a marketing communications professional, my job is very similar to a potter. Often time, you start with a lump of clay. This lump of clay can be anything from issues dealing with reaching your target market, to the need to create a social media promotion to increase brand awareness and user engagement. It’s my job as a potter to use my skills and resources to transform that lump of clay into a beautiful piece of art.
“Open Happiness”
As you can see, I am a hardworking and creative team player who is passionate about working with one of the most powerful brands in the world, Coca-Cola. I look forward to getting to know you as well and further discussing how I can be an asset to your Marketing Communications team.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me.
Whitney
Corporate DIY Blogs: A Dissection of Home Depot, Lowes, and True Value
Blogs have become an integral part of marketing. Can you name an advertising giant that doesn’t have some form of a blog? If you can, let me know! In this week’s post, I will be dissecting three blogs that interest me: The Apron (Home Depot), Creative Ideas (Lowes), and True Value Projects (True Value). Although these blogs share a relatively similar target audience, they each have specific components that make them interesting and different from their competitors.
The first blog that I chose to look at is The Apron by Home Depot. The Apron is a professional blog, maintained by Home Depot’s marketing team. The purpose of the blog is to inspire their DIY customer base to create projects, all with materials that are available at Home Depot. While many of these blog posts discuss creating projects around the home with new materials, some of them talk about reusing material, such as old skate boards or an old wheel barrel, to create new one of a kind decorative pieces for your backyard. Although I wouldn’t really consider myself a prime example of a person that Home Depot is trying to target, this blog inspires me to get in touch with my creative side.
One thing that is unique about The Apron in the hardware/DIY market is the large variety of project types that you find on the blog. One week you can read about making a leather tag for a bag and the next week, you could be learning how to build a fire pit out of old skateboards. Because the store has such a large variety of products, it makes sense for them to reflect a large variety of projects on their blog. Although the Home Depot has social media accounts that drive a lot of traffic to their blog, they do a poor job of advertising their social media pages on their blog. The social media icons that they have are very small and are seemingly lost at the bottom of the page. This is not only a wasted opportunity to drive social media engagement, but makes it more difficult for their audience to share these posts, which in turn makes the blog less successful. Even though advertisers are not directly on the site, the blog posts feature specific products that are “needed” in order to complete the project. Perhaps these specific name brand products are being sponsored by the brand. It was also very difficult to find The Apron from the Home Depot webpage.
Similar to The Apron, Lowes Creative Ideas blog is filled with DIY project information. This blog is also a professional blog, but due to the lack of dates on the posts, it is very hard to tell how frequently that last post occurred. The purpose of the blog is to inspire their audience to redecorate, redesign their yards, and improve their homes. One thing that differs on this blog from others in the DIY/hardware category is the amount of “soft” materials discussed on the blog. Soft materials are the more decorative items, such as bedspread, curtains, and lamps. Lowes carries more of this type of product in their stores and has a larger focus on interior design than most other DIY/hardware retailers. This is reflected on their blog. Lowes also does a good job at including DIY videos on their blog. This is another aspect that sets the Lowes blog apart from their competitors.
One major thing that I feel is missing from the Lowes blog is a corporate voice. There is very little personality to the posts in relation to their posts on social media. The human element seems to be missing. The social sharing buttons are also small and at the bottom of the page. The posts do, however, include the options to either Pin it on Pinterest or Like it on Facebook. I feel like more attention should be given to the social media elements in the pages. The site layout is not very “creative”. If the blog is called Creative Ideas and looks very plain, consumers may have a harder time feeling inspired. I know I wasn’t feeling like I wanted to go to Lowes and buy the materials to complete one of their DIY projects. Even though advertisers were not mentioned on the pages, in every post the item number of the materials used was given. Similar to Home Depot, the main traffic drivers to the Lowes blog was also through social media, specifically Pinterest and Facebook.
The third blog that I looked at in the DIY/hardware industry is True Value’s Project blog. Like the other two blogs that I’ve discussed in the industry, True Value’s blog is also a professional blog managed by their corporate marketing team. The thing that really sets the True Value blog apart from their competitor’s’ blogs is the visual nature of the blog. On the homepage, there is a large building with different areas being pointed out. When you click on the paintbrush, for example, you are redirected to a Father’s Day painting coaster project. With today being Father’s Day, I love how relevant this blog is to its audience. The layout of the blog is very easy to maneuver through and the social media icons are displayed much larger than on the competitor’s blogs. Social share buttons, including Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, are also present on each blog post.
True Value’s customers are typically more DIY focused than hardware focused. This is shown on their blog as the majority of their projects are DIY friendly. There are also not any advertisers present on the blog. There are not any featured products in the posts (like as seen on Home Depot’s blog) and product ordering numbers (like on Lowes blog) are also absent. In my opinion, True Value is doing an excellent job on educating their customers without the “buy this product” feature of the other two blogs. True Value also incorporates a strong SEO program into their blog. The blog shows up as #2 on Google when you search “hardware store blog”, although I didn’t see any evidence of PPC campaigns. Home Depot and Lowes don’t even show up on the first page. The only suggestion that I would make for the True Value blog is to increase their use of social media to continue to propel their content.
After dissecting the three blogs, I’m sure that you can tell which one, in my opinion, is the most effective at reaching out to customers (True Value!). I would love to see the actual analytics behind each blog and determine the types of posts that are really hitting home with their customers. Because these three blogs were very similar, small variations such as True Value’s idea house and Home Depot’s innovative up-cycling projects really made these blog stand out.
Integrated Marketing Campaigns and Push/Pull Strategies: Tory Burch, Part 2
In last week’s post, I discussed how Tory Burch utilizes multiple marketing channels as part of their integrated communications strategy. This week, I am going to further analyze the mediums and details that make Tory Burch’s integrated marketing campaign successful.
The first topic that I’m going to dive into is how Tory Burch utilizes push and pull techniques. Push marketing occurs when the brand initiates a conversation with the customer. One of Tory Burch’s main elements to their integrated marketing strategy is e-blasts. These targeted emails are sent out several times each week to people who have signed up for an account on ToryBurch.com. Available in several different languages and in several different countries, these emails direct customers back to their website and blog. The Tory Blog is also a way in which the company utilizes RSS feed to distribute product information to customers. With new posts every week, the Tory Blog is a content hub that is used to drive customers to make purchases on the company’s website.
In contrast with push marketing, pull marketing occurs when the customer initiates a conversation with the brand. One of Tory Burch’s major pull techniques involves social media. In an interview, Miki Racine, marketing executive for social media at Tory Burch, describes the relationships that occur on social media: “[Social Media] is a live focus group because we can listen to our customers in the moment” (Socha, 2013). Social media is important to Tory Burch’s Integrated Marketing Strategy because it gives customers a voice and a direct line to Tory Burch. Customers create the conversation. Remember when I talked about FitBit partnering with Tory Burch? Several customers are reaching out to Tory Burch on social media for more information (as it was supposed to launch this spring). Interestingly enough, Tory Burch has not responded to any of the comments regarding the FitBit. Wonder why? I’m curious as well. It’s also not a good sign if Tory Burch is choosing not to respond to these customer posts.
In last week’s post, I also spent a good amount of time discussing the Tory Blog as it relates to the company’s overall Integrated Marketing Strategy. The blog is actually integrated into the company’s website. In my opinion, the blog is a great example of how a corporate blog should be. There is catchy content, social media widgets that link back to the specific social media channels, fresh images, and is mobile friendly. The blog, as well as the website, was developed using a platform that allows it to be responsive based on the device that customers are using. The layout is clean and the messaging is consistent with all of Tory Burch’s imagery and messaging strategies. Fresh, unique content is also available on all of Tory Burch’s social media channels. Messaging is specific to the platform, but is part of the overall Integrated Marketing Strategy.
Tory Burch also includes SEO as an important part in their marketing strategy. They sponsor Google Ads as well as pay for ads on social media. Another important feature on all of Tory Burch’s sites is the social media links. Regardless if you are on the blog or on the website, you have all of the available social media links right at your fingertips.
One suggestion that I would make to Tory Burch in order to increase the visibility and branding of their website and blog is to be more strategic when naming images using the alt tag function. Tory Burch has a lot of great images on their website and blog, but these images are not being crawled by GoogleBots to the extent that they should be. For example, instead of naming the image “Shop Swim”, they could name the image “New Tory Burch Swim Wear & Bathing Suit Collection”. Although many marketers don’t often think about alt tags (and often just leave it up to IT to name the image), it is increasingly important to consider as part of your SEO and overall Integrated Marketing Strategy.
Overall, Tory Burch is doing a really good job at implementing their Integrated Marketing Strategy. By utilizing a combination of both push and pull marketing techniques, they are effectively reaching their audience and growing their business. I learned a few lessons from studying Tory Burch’s strategies and hope to be able to use this knowledge to further develop the Integrated Marketing Strategy for my company.
Sources:
Ramos, L. (2012, March 12). Kate Spade Vs Tory Burch. Retrieved June 08, 2014, from Web Lift: http://www.weblift.com/blog.php?id=kate-spade-vs-tory-burch
Socha, M. (2013, July 17). Tory Burch’s Miki Racine Berardelli Talks Social Media. Retrieved June 08, 2014, from Women’s Wear Daily: http://www.wwd.com/media-news/digital/tory-burchs-miki-racine-berardelli-talks-social-media-7056028?navSection=package&navId=7056764
The Social Potter 