Tag: social engagement

Empathy on social media is one of the most talked-about strategies among marketers and should be an integral part of any social content marketing strategy. Using these tips and examples can help your content break through the noise and inspire your audience to connect with your brand.

We looked at social media profiles of some top banks to see what brand followers find most engaging. Hopefully, seeing what they’re doing will help you identify your own brand’s sweet spot.

Wells Fargo used Facebook and Twitter to share "Tip Jar" posts, which asked fans and followers for their suggestions on select financial topics. The effort illustrates something critical about social media marketing: it doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. Sometimes, the best approach to engagement can be the easiest… a simple invitation to a relevant conversation.

Talk to a bank about social media, and you may see it shift or squirm in its chair a bit. But talk to a bank about customer data? Likely, it will lean in and listen carefully. So what happens when banks realize they can access customer feedback and observe consumer behavior via social media?

When Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index was still in its infancy, we used it to predict big 2011 holiday sales for 10 brands. The question retailers always ask of marketers is, Can social media engagement track to sales? We’re happy to answer, Yes. High social engagement, as we measure it with the RSJI, does seem to correlate with increased sales. And here’s more good news: There’s still time to plan your Q4 social content. The brands we identified back in December 2011 – Yankee Candle, American Girl, Ann Taylor, LUSH Cosmetics, Lakeside Collection, Pandora, ShutterFly, ThinkGeek, LeapFrog and Bath & Body Works – remained at or near the top of the RSJI leading up to and through the 2011 holiday season. Each, in fact, averaged an engagement score of 150 or more (a rare honor) in the three weeks leading up to our prediction. This remarkably high – and consistent – engagement represents the kind of sustained customer enthusiasm we believed would result in revenue. Public financial data is available for eight out of the 10 brands (LUSH Cosmetics and Lakeside Collection are private companies and do not publish financials). Of these eight, all but two – Pandora and Ann Taylor -- showed an increase in comparable store sales (or in total sales, when comp numbers are not applicable) for the final quarter of 2011, which, of course, includes the holiday selling period. And despite a decrease in comparable store sales, Pandora still reported a 12.4% increase in North American revenue for 2011. In addition to the brands on our list performing well in their year-over-year figures, we also saw this group realize growth in company stock prices ...

Promotions and pictures are tried and true methods of inspiring participation from fans, and all the Big Movers This Week on Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI) turned to those faithful friends to boost engagement. Stella & Dot’s #socialjuice score peaked at 969 last week, the result of a single-day gain of 877 points. How’d the brand do it? A photo of a box of Stella & Dot merchandise with a link to a sweepstakes entry form and a status that built excitement for the prize: “’Like’ this post if you’d like to receive a giant Stella & Dot delivery at your doorstep.” Nearly 50,000 fans did! With a fan base of around 228K, however, that kind of interest didn’t just happen. Contest aggregators helped spread the word, as did fans who were given incentive to do so. They qualified to win $500 in jewelry – a bigger prize than the main offer! – if they got three friends to enter.

You may have heard us say this once or twice before, but your brand should be in pictures! A couple weeks ago, every one of the most engaging posts from brands on Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI) was a photo. Well, as they say, “It’s déjà vu all over again!” Every brand on our list of Big Movers This Week heated up summer social engagement by connecting with their fans through photos. However, even though the premise of the approach for these top brands was similar (post a photo!), each retailer pitched its photo from the angle that made it most interesting to its particular fan base. Clothing retailer Wet Seal earned a 301-point spike when it posted a someecard message that struck a chord with fans. Who hasn’t emptied an entire closet of clothes trying to get dressed for the evening? The someecard caption read, “Choosing the perfect outfit for one night can destroy an entire room.” Wet Seal’s call to action –  “’Like’ if you have the same problem … ” – encouraged fans to ‘fess up … and fess’ up they did: 472 comments, more than 2,800 shares and over 111,000 (yes, that’s a six-digit number) likes.

Holidays tend to be a surefire way to increase engagement across the board on Media Logic's Retail Social Juice Index (RSJI), and last week’s Fourth of July was no exception! While T-Mobile was the only brand to earn a spot in the Big Movers This Week with a Fourth of July Facebook post, it certainly wasn’t the only brand to connect with likers on America’s birthday. T-Mobile shared a shot of luminescent fireworks taken on a T-Mobile device to major fan response. Tacori just barely missed the Big Movers This Week but garnered significant engagement by highlighting a photo of “red, white and Tacori blue” and sharing the story of a U.S. soldier’s patriotic proposal to his fiancé. HSN similarly relied on the holiday with a simple birthday wish to the nation—which earned 13 times more engagement than the brand’s previous 10 Facebook updates... combined!