One website that recently caught my attention is MySears.com.  Launched in mid-2008, the site has garnered much attention for its excellent use of social media tools and creation of a powerful online community.  Today, the site receives just shy of 2 million visitors a month.

I had an opportunity to interview Rob Harles, VP Social Media and Community at Sears Holdings, and ask him about this social media phenomenon that is not only winning awards but building tremendous customer loyalty.

MM:  Thanks for joining us, Rob.  When did you launch MySears?

RH: The MySears community had a soft launch in June 2008 under the Web site sk-YOU.com, which quickly attracted a large and growing membership of more than 200,000.

In May 2009, Sears Holdings officially announced the launch of the MySears community, allowing customers to share their insights, experiences and product reviews by creating a two-way dialogue between the retailers and their customers through discussion forums, blog entries, ratings, reviews, polls and surveys, and an exciting new idea suggestion area and platform to leave comments.

MM: What was your original mission for the website? Has it changed?

RH: Whether it’s improving how customers shop online, in-store, through mobile applications, or finding ways to enhance Sears’ offerings and learn more from customers, our mission has always been to empower customers to shop how they want, when they want and where they want, and helping them better manage their lives.

The MySears community launch supports Sears’ belief in the power of community and in creating new and better ways to engage its customers, associates and vendors who are invited to register, create a profile, upload photos, share their personal experiences and ideas, and connect with each other.

This ability to engage and interact with our customers via the MySears community is an important part of our goal to improve the shopping experience for everyone.

MM: What are a couple of the most important things you’ve learned about your customers through MySears?

RH: Since the launch of the MySears community, we’ve learned more about our customers and what they like from us. One of the key learnings is that our customers really want us to succeed. Our most engaged customers want to share their ideas and thoughts about how we can accomplish that, and we’re open to input and ways to make our customers’ lives better.

One of the other big lessons learned is that we need to do more than just listen, so Sears absorbed the information and worked to make customers’ suggestions come to fruition.

MM: Do you know what percentage of MySears members are women?

RH: A little more than half of the membership is women, and that has shifted over time as we have broadened our outreach and appeal.

MM: Do you find that women use the site differently from men?

RH: From interacting and engaging with customers frequently, Sears learned that women in the MySears community do tend to be very vocal and offer more suggestions compared to male members.

In addition, we asked our members how they use the site and if they were heavily engaged in social networking during the initial launch. The response was interesting as many were not comfortable with Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, but they were comfortable on MySears rating and reviewing products, sharing experiences and meeting people who were more like themselves.

We capitalized on that initially by not pushing the social elements of the experience until people got comfortable. That too, has begun to shift as the mix of members has changed balancing the sexes and pulling in younger age groups.

MM: Any future plans for MySears?

RH: The MySears community will continue to evolve with the help of our customers. We have said that the community essentially belongs to its members, so we will continuously engage with them to make it a place that aligns with their needs. The future of social media is constantly changing, and Sears will do its best to learn and incorporate features and tools to benefit the lives of our customers over the next few years. As long as our customers keep talking to us, we will have a community.

Thanks again, Rob.  It will be exciting to see where MySears goes from here.

If you are interested in building a community like MySears for your business, I suggest you sign up for a free membership on MySears.com.  There are dozens of lessons to be learned from what the site is doing, and by pulling just one or two ideas from their strategy, you can build a powerful online community no matter what the size of your company.