Three's Company: An Analysis of Brands and their IMC

Whole Foods Market (WFM) is a leading natural and organic food store, with nearly 300 stores across North America and the United Kingdom. They have an integrated marketing approach as their social media strategy is built around their company website and additional platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest. WFM is often considered a role model for other brands after five years of having successfully executed their social media marketing plan.

They are successful for a number of reasons, but I'll list the four that I find most important:
1. Each social platform has its primary objective. For example, Twitter is primarily for customer service, questions, and requests. Meanwhile, Facebook is where WFM promotes products, engages and educates their customers. None of their platforms are neglected, as they see the value of each being used equally to build their brand image.

Whole Foods Market on Google+ pictured above;
WFM Facebook on lower left and WFM Twitter on lower right

2. WFM keeps messaging and imagery consistent across platforms, using the logo and a prepared food item in their photo covers (see right). Content is updated daily (almost hourly on Twitter) and they drive users mostly to their blog with links. Their hashtags include #WFMdish and #WFMwine, but are used sparingly.

3.  They prioritize the local component of each store. Community managers focus on being where the customers are. These individuals work to engage with customers on WFM's multiple platform accounts.

4. They believe customer engagement and conversation should occur as naturally as possible. They are good at social listening and are ready to apply new ideas from what they learn.

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It takes a lot for a company to admit struggling to determine ROI in their social media strategy. It speaks volumes, however, knowing they found a way to make an impact socially utilizing resources already available to them. That's exactly what The Home Depot did by creating the "social media store associate" position. This hybrid role is now three years old, and allows select staffers to be go-to experts and social media content creators two days a week. Through their use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest, they assist with media appearances on Home Depot's How-To Community, The Apron blog, the Garden Club and HomeDepot.com.

Everything is up to date as the platforms highlight Home Depot's current specials of "Red, White and Blue Savings," for the Fourth of July.  They're using this across all platforms, so the messaging and imagery is consistent. Similar to Whole Foods, The Home Depot pushes users through to their blog via links in Facebook and Twitter posts. Their hashtags, #SpringMadeSimple, #DIHWorkshop, and #StyleChallenge produce results on almost all platforms.

Home Depot Vine Video on Facebook

I was especially drawn to their visual platforms -- Vine, Pinterest and Instagram. On these platforms, users can find fun, vibrant videos, and lots of high resolution photos. But each channel has their distinct purpose. Vine is used as a quick educational/tutorial tool. Pinterest is aspirational with the best looking visual information, whereas their Instagram makes the user want to share in the experience. All in all, it's great to see Home Depot make the distinct move toward more visually focused platforms when consumer interest towards the ongoing trend of visual posts is increasing.




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"Unlike the majority of retailers that believe brand to fan engagement is the primary goal of social media, Amazon has always concentrated on personalizing the shopping experience," says Wade Gerten, CEO of 8thBridge, Inc. Out of the three brands I've researched, Amazon is the only one that is almost exclusively promotional on all of its social media platforms. They take an integrated approach, having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and LinkedIn. All of these channels are consistent in messaging and imagery as they currently advertise "the first smartphone designed by Amazon #firephone."

Facebook is the network with the most up to date content, with Instagram and Twitter in close second. Their newsfeed on Google+ is heavy with promotional information about electronics like headphones, watches, and other gadgets. Amazon's use (or lack thereof) of Pinterest was really surprising and saddening. As the photo below shows, they only maintain 18 boards - many of them old - and a little over 800 pins.

Amazon Pinterest header 

Besides #firephone (or any hashtag promoting a new product of theirs), their use of hashtags is inconsistent across platforms. Amazon doesn't drive users to their other social channels. Rather, any consumer interactions that happen on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest drive significant sales to its online retailer site to make a purchase.

Some would argue that Amazon has missed the boat on social media, but their incorporation of social elements into its own site cannot be overlooked. They make it easy for shoppers to share products with their friends with a Like button, Tweet button, Pinterest Pin-it button, Google+1 button, and an Email A Friend button on its product pages. Additionally, Amazon gives customers with Facebook-connected accounts to see reviews written by their Facebook connections. By use of crowd sourcing, Amazon is making efforts to personalize the consumer's shopping experience.

Sources:
Schoultz, M. (No Date). "How Whole Foods Marketing Uses Social Media to be a Difference Maker." Digital Sparks Marketing. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
http://www.digitalsparkmarketing.com/creative-marketing/social-media/whole-foods-marketing/

Stambor, Zak. 5 Dec 2013. "How Social is Amazon?" Internet Retailer: Portal to E-Commerce Intelligence. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/12/05/how-social-amazon

Zmuda, Natalie. 29 Sept 2011. "Home Depot's Social Media Strategy Pays Off." Advertising Age. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
http://adage.com/article/special-report-social-media-guide/home-depot-s-social-media-strategy-pays/229865/

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One Kings Lane: Are you interested in an Email Marketing Manager?

"Your home is too valuable to look like everyone else's." 

That's why customers come to One Kings Lane. At least, that's why I do. Simply, I love my home. I love the way it's an extension of my personality and my place of solace. You've helped me connect daily design inspiration with a fresh collection of select home goods, designer and vintage items I can't find anywhere else. You help me tell a story through design.  

I appreciate the way you take the time to create a rich experience for your customers and to get the word out about it via gorgeous graphics, inspiring ad campaigns, and media mentions. But I don't see as much personalization as I would like by a company of your caliber.

You've obviously nailed the concept of "luxury living," so it's time to take it to the next level. Having worked in development for the last two years, I learned the importance of building valuable lifetime customer relationships. Not all customers are created equal and investments in customers should be tailored accordingly. At One Kings Lane your email marketing strategy should reflect how you think about each customer differently to profitably grow your business. So why not provide your customer another medium in which they can flaunt their special space to friends and family? 

How Can We Do It? 
Beyond providing information about new products and sales, there is an opportunity to give customers insight on modern living room ideas, how they can create the perfect bedroom, and avoid common design mistakes. There is a group of untapped customers who wish to have designer homes, but aren't hip to the innovative concepts of interior design. You could consider covering the basics as seen in the two videos below.

How to Create the Perfect Bedroom:

5 Ways to Avoid Common Design Mistakes:

The truth of the matter is that not everyone has the ability to recognize and put together a collection of hand-picked objects that reflect one's personal style. With a few clicks, customers can very easily watch a video such as this:

 

But imagine its impact if we not only offered these how-to videos, but got personal on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and created valuable conversation with people who take time to talk about this company. With our guidance, new decorators will find ways to make subtle personal touches enhance their home interior while speaking volumes of their personality. This presents another opportunity for engagement - they'll be happy to show off their hard work to their friends and followers, and give us credit for providing the resources to do so!

So Why Me? 
I'd be perfect to work as the Email Marketing Manager at One Kings Lane because I am an analytical thinker and ready to lead programs and campaigns. My work ethic as a self-starter shows I can "take the ball and run with it," all while maintaining a positive attitude. And most importantly, I believe that your home is a reflection of yourself. I understand that "your home tells your story, what you enjoy doing, how you're feeling, and who you spend your time with." I get joy out of seeing the lightbulb "go off," when someone finally sees how furniture can be turned into a piece of art. 

Click to see my Pinterest board of inspiration and other topic ideas that I would love to implement at One Kings Lane. 

Sincerely,
Tiffani Stephenson

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"A blog well worth reading..."

This week I'll be exploring three different blog styles, providing an example of each and analyzing their content:

1. Per this week's lecture, Pandora is a professional blog that focuses on the company's news and features. It acts as a supplement to their music streaming and automated music recommendation service. It is unique because its posts are sorted in one of five categories: The Pandora Story, Pandora Innovators, Inside the Collection, From the Artists, and Listener Experience. This allows for a plethora of writers and dynamic content. The blog initially reflected its brand as they published news about their latest product enhancements and company milestones in product and technology leadership, but has become much more interactive since March 2014, when Tom Conrad stepped down as Pandora's Chief Technology Officer. 

These days it's updated on a regular basis, shares the latest updates to the site and services like "Pandora Radio Comedy." Beyond its services, it keeps users apprised of interesting information about featured and lesser known musical artists. I appreciate how they include a Weekly Curator's Pick that showcases the newest music and genre station highlights on Pandora. Unlike its music-streaming site, there aren't any advertisements on the blog. Their content, though, acts as advertisement for their users to research the featured artists and potentially (legally) purchase the artists' work. 

To be honest, I'm not even sure how I stumbled across Pandora's blog. There isn't a direct link anywhere on the main interface, nor does it show up high on Google search - you will most likely find links to their Facebook or to the similarly named bracelet site. The blog is well integrated, however. They engage their audiences on social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Youtube. They've created hashtags like #WhiteboardWednesday and use it across its platforms to stay consistent and build anticipation with followers. Avid music listeners, fans of underground artists or opinionated users are usually the people to read and comment on their blog posts.

According to this week's lecture, Pandora runs a relatively successful blog - posts are published often; the blog is linked to their Twitter account and conversely, Twitter streams updates to their blog; they create original content and have the longevity that's made them successful. What I would love to see is a subscription option to their content on the main Pandora page, and labels being used on their individual posts. I think both would positively affect their SEO.

2. Event Manager Blog is a group blog - a collaborative hybrid of different authors that provide centralized content. It is the number one blog worldwide for event professionals, covering topics such as event planning, social media and events, event technology, event trends, event inspiration but also destination management marketing, hospitality marketing. What makes them unique is how they offer professional advice, reports, and tools to alleviate one of the most stressing professions in the world. There are ads listed on the site for Wordpress themes and event solution software. They are building brand credibility by having relationships with these similar-industry businesses. I really enjoyed their "Inspire Me Now" section in between advertisements on the right side of their page. It allows for quick sharing options and provides high visibility for (perhaps) less popular posts.

As the number one blog worldwide for event professionals, it's obvious they're going to show up high on any search engine. Any kind of question/topic related to event planning, or a few good keywords will drive traffic to the blog. General interests or specific items pull people in to read their articles. You can "like" them on Facebook right on their homepage and subscribe to their newsletter, as well. Both of those channels draw people back to their blog for further reading. It makes sense as to why they're so successful as a blog - they truly love the idea of staying connected to their readers and don't isolate them on their blog. In my opinion, they've successfully covered all of their bases - there isn't anything that immediately draws my attention as "missing." 

3. Lifehacker's motto is "tips and downloads for getting things done." They make for an interesting type of blog. For the sake of this assignment, I will refer to it as a news blog. I say this because it has several authors contributing, each specializing in specific subjects, allows someone to be followed, and I often find their blog content being shared on channels like Twitter and Facebook. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including: Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux programs, iOS and Android, but I know them best for general life tips and tricks. The staff updates the site more than 15 times every day, with reduced updates on weekends.

The blog lives up to the brand of "getting things done" in a world that thrives on efficiency. It shares tons of information and content that could be useful to any reader. It's not the best designed blog, but you can find tips on how to get rid of garlic breath, how to find father's day deals, or a how-to guide on social media customer service (how fitting!). I think it's safe to say that it's their integrated presence on social media channels and constant posts that drive traffic to the blog and gets people to read their content. There is information to be consumed about any and every interest/subject.

Lifehacker is a successful blog because it's updated very often, shares posts via social channels, and is renowned for its original and useful content. I think it'd be most helpful if the articles' subject categories were listed at the top of the page. This is simply for aesthetics and organization, rather than an endless scroll. There are advertisers on the site. I have State Farm ads pictured here on their homepage. I don't think I have State Farm in my cookies, but I'd be interested to see if it changes based on my browser history. (Update: It doesn't - now it's showing Verizon ads, also not in my browser history, and that leads me to believe that these are placement ads paid for by the actual companies.)

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Swamp Head Brewery - Website Analysis

To follow up on my post from last week, I'm analyzing Swamp Head's website and how they incorporate brand consistency within this particular platform.

I find their website has leveraged a nice blend of push and pull marketing techniques. While on their homepage (and with minimal clicks), you are able to access their list of beers, get information about the brewery and find the latest posts to their company blog, "Swamplog."

There is obviously a lot of push happening on the website. The amount of information you can derive is almost overwhelming. An example of how the website allows push and pull to happen simultaneously can be found on their list of brews in the tasting room. The consumer gets multiple things at once - displayed information about the products and pricing (push). Meanwhile, the map in the corner, operating hours and address provides the information the consumer needs in deciding whether to make the trip to the brewery (pull). Combining push and pull in this way "reinforces key branding and retailer objectives" (S2 Customer Insight Blog).

It's interesting how they also use the site as a touchpoint for e-commerce. On the same page as their brew list, you can find out about purchasing Swamp Head merchandise like t-shirts and hats.

The content on the website is fresh. It lists their latest blog posts and upcoming Swamp Head events they'll be attending, sponsoring, and serving their craft beer. Within their blog content, they include share buttons, but an RSS feed option is not available. This leads me to believe that their blog updates are not as consistent as they are on other social media channels. They include outbound links, but there is a lack of categories and labels being used to assist in finding similar posts in their archive. With a quick Google search, I did find a Wordpress blog by the same name, but the content on the Wordpress blog was inconsistent to the Swamplog that's made available on their website (the last post was in March). Although there is a follow button available, no categories or labels are used. This explains why the Wordpress blog was found on page two of the Google search. A little help with keywords in either blogging platform could fine-tune SEO and help them show up for the right search terms. Since blogs are a great tool for pull marketing, I would especially like to see them improve in this area.

I was initially concerned about how mobile-friendly the website would be because of all the information that is packed on the full site. Luckily, the mobile site is very user-friendly. It allows for easy navigation, integrating scrolling features and swiping options throughout (see photos below). There were more photos than text which is always helpful with shorter attention spans, and they provided easily-digested answers to consumers' questions. You can access all of the same information and social buttons as you could on the full-site, too. 

One feature I touched on in my previous post, is Swamp Head's brand consistency throughout their design and social media content. According to the Brand Consistency for Website Navigation, Social Media and SEO slideshare, incorporating brand consistency means they're working toward an honest identity and being consistent with that identity. The desire for consistency in customer service, product quality and marketing practices is apparent from the owner, Luke Kemper, in this interview where he attributes success to "running a business that is ethical." He says, "...[when you] treat people fairly and try to do the right thing, people notice." His mindset and passion for brewing a high quality beer set the tone and personality that comes across in the brand on their website and other platforms. 

If there's anything that I learned from this analysis it's that no matter how great their social media engagement is, Swamp Head still has areas that can be improved upon. Its push and pull marketing techniques help visitors find valuable content on their website and contribute to their branding. Their website's navigation, consistency in information across its blog(s) and website, and SEO keywords could all be fine-tuned to make them more visible in the right places. 

Sources:
S2 Customer Insight Blog: Push and Pull Maketing (graphic). (n.d.). S2 Customer Insight Blog. http://s2customerinsight.com/blog/push-and-pull-marketing/

Brand Consistency for Website Navigation, Social Media and SEO. (2011, July 26). Brand Consistency for Website Navigation, Social Media and SEO.  http://www.slideshare.net/lizhenderlong/brand-consistency-for-website-navigation-social-media-and-seo

Richardson, W. (2013, March 19). Luke Kemper - All About Beer. All About Beer. http://allaboutbeer.com/luke-kemper/

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