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Thanks to Ken Brand for pointing me in the direction of Ann Taylor and its sister store LOFT, which seem to have a very smart strategy for using social media tools like Facebook.
The company realizes that social media is not the end-all and be-all of marketing strategy. (As I said on a panel discussion last week, if that’s the way you think, then you need to have your head examined.) They are using outlets like Facebook to do two things:
1) Research. Surveys and questions posed to fans of the page (yes, I still call them fans) in order to learn more about what kinds of clothing styles are hot now and where trends are going. (click on image to enlarge)
2) Conversation. Ann Taylor is working hard to answer comments left by fans, to let them know that the company cares, and to nip potential bad feelings in the bud.
Customers recently spoke up, saying that there was too much airbrushing of swimsuit models. Check out the company’s reply:
When customers questioned whether LOFT’s clothes might look as great on “real women” as they do on stick-thin models, LOFT began photographing employees of varying size wearing LOFT outfits.
This is how you use social media.
It’s not about the latest viral video, trying to drum up something wild to get attention.
And it’s not about direct selling.
It’s about conversation.
Conversation that will provide consumer research data you never could have otherwise gathered.
Conversation that requires you to be open, honest, and flexible.
Conversation that could make current and former customers fall in love with you all over again.
How are you using your company’s Facebook page? Is there a disconnect between what you want and what the customer wants? Maybe it’s time to review your strategy.
Michele Miller is a writer, speaker, and consultant on ways to capture the heart of the female customer. The co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth, she consults with businesses of all sizes across North America
Thank you, and Ken, for sharing the ways of Ann Taylor and LOFT.
It’s great to see businesses using a conversational tone when talking with fans (I agree, they’re still fans). It’s all-to-common to see small and large businesses use corporate speak when responding to comments on their fan pages. Or, the business simply tries to use their page as a selling tool and not as a way to connect with their angel customers.
Of those businesses who don’t conversationally talk with their customers, I wonder how much money is being left on the table?
Michele, great post! Spurred some thoughts.
I think the biggest problem that people have been dealing with Social Media is that because it’s so fast, they forget important things. Most importantly, they forget that relationships still take TIME. The internet is not a sales tool, it’s a relationship tool.
I was consulting for a radio station, and every Thursday, they’d post their favorite joke on their Facebook page. They’d get about 4% of their 7,000 audience to respond. One Thursday, they posted a dirty joke. 23% later, it became Dirty Joke Thursday. Four weeks later, it was back down to about 5% interaction.
Over that month, they lost over 1,000 fans and didn’t gain anything for it. Anything that works quickly will work less and less the longer you keep doing it.
Businesses so often try to retool their business to fit Social Media. Instead, they should be retooling Social Media to fit their business. Between Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, Rdio and so many others, you can find a Social Media tool to fit your business.
Social is the attitude. Always has been. Media is just the current channel in which our Social attitude is traveling.
“It’s not about direct selling. It’s about conversation.”
I don’t think you can repeat it too much.
I couldn’t agree more Michele! I am a HUGE Ann Taylor Loft fan and also a huge social media fan. A few weeks ago a few girls and I were tweeting about LOFT’s great summer clothes and work clothes. Someone from LOFT immediately joined in our Twitter conversation. Her responses were detailed and fun (unlike most companies’ generic social media messages).
Some companies use social media just because they are supposed to. Ann Taylor seems to grasp WHY and HOW to use social media appropriately to make the customer experience go beyond the store.
Boomer – thanks for commenting! Yes, the conversational tone makes all the difference. And I’d bet most businesses leave big bucks on the table because they don’t take the time to learn how to use social media tools.
Daniel – well said!
Scotty – you’re so right.
Nicole – great story! Yes, I think whoever is managing Ann Taylor’s social media (if it’s a separate person) has hired excellent communicators who really do care about the brand and the customer’s happiness. And when it’s done correctly, it doesn’t seem too “Big Brotherish.”
It is also important to note how Ann Taylor asks questions. It has a huge impact on the amount of learning the company gets out of the conversation. They didn’t say “which one of OUR dresses do you reach for?” That makes it about them, and is limiting. It is an inside the beltway approach. And they will only learn about their own stuff, not about the other stuff (not theirs) in women’s closets that they love.
Social platforms aren’t about you, it’s about them.