Over the past few years, consumers have grown accustomed to having access to the Internet everywhere they go through their smartphones. This of course, has led companies to follow the consumer, by going mobile, too. According to a study done by the IMRG, 16% more people are using mobiles for fashion purchases than other online retail transactions – and retailers have only just caught up with this (2015). The percentage of fashion brands that own a mobile site has dramatically increased over the past three years, from less than half in 2012 to a staggering 80% in 2015.
‘We’re finding out how people shop now: They’re standing in a line at Starbucks, let’s say, and they start browsing on eBay. They see something they want and they buy it right there.’ – John Donahoe, CEO of eBay
A crucial thing for retailers to understand is how to reach the consumer in the best way, by implementing their online activity to the mobile device. Research undergone by the Pew Research Centre claimed that 74% of U.S. smartphone users used their phone to obtain location-based information (2012). Many retailers, such as Walgreens, have stepped up to the plate, by teaming up with apps such as FourSquare, a location based social networking website and app, to offer customers coupons as soon as they entre the Walgreens store. Macy’s offers free Wi-Fi in its stores, which means they can obtain consumer data instantly (by inviting consumers to log in to their network with their Facebook or e-mails) – and customers can scan QR codes on products to see online reviews, prices, and exclusive video content on fashion trends, advice, and tips (Brynjolfsso et al, 2013).
Location-based marketing efforts are becoming increasingly important for local retailers to implement, due to the growing competition from companies in other geographical areas. Local retailers can use location-based apps to rev sales activities up by sending out promotional messages to consumers within the vicinity, or even to people in a competitor’s store. Retailers are learning to respond to consumers using price scan apps in local stores, with more focused promotional offers.
Additionally, the design of the mobile pathway to a companies full website should be recognised. The footwear retailer Schuh, claims that 49% of their site visitors come from a mobile, a further 21% from a tablet; which leaves 30% of consumers visiting from a desktop computer (Durkin, 2015).
2 companies that have successfully gone mobile:
Amazon
Of course, Amazon is constantly being recognised for their effective mobile platforms, with its neat and systematic presentation. Additionally, Amazon’s well-curated, consumer-generated content and reviews creates an easy communication between the consumers and Amazon, while going through their purchase decision process (Brynjolfsso et al, 2013).
H&M
By partnering with MyTown, a location based app, H&M has gathered and used consumer information to track their locations. Through ‘gamifying’ – potential customers that are playing the game on a mobile device near an H&M store and check-in, H&M rewards them with virtual clothing and points. If consumers scan promoted products in store, it enters them in a sweepstakes to win prizes. Early results of these digital efforts showed that of the 700,000 customers who checked in online, 300,000 went into the store and scanned an item (Davenport et al, 2011).
Critical Analysis:
Avoid direct price comparisons:
Although consumers benefit from easy search, such advances can be damaging to sellers. Taking steps to make direct comparisons difficult can protect retailers from poaching by competitors and alleviate the effects of price competition (Brynjolfsso et al, 2013).
Keep it simple:
Retailers must keep up with the consumer. It’s all about user experience over driving conversion in an obvious way. A few years ago, with web, the more features on a website the better, however, on mobile, people are comfortable having a few number of apps and services that do one function. However, this one function must be done well, fast, and kept simple. Retailers will only be caught out if they don’t address this shift in consumer mentality (Durkin, 2015).
Lessons Learned:
Focus on location – work with location-based apps to increase online/offline sales
Make it fun for the consumer – why would they want to download your app if it doesn’t give them exclusive and additional benefits?
Keep it simple and to the point – create a clean design so consumers don’t get lost and close the app
In 2015, online retail sales were predicted to reach £52.25bn, a 16.2% increase from the previous year (Moth, 2015). These e-commerce trends are only expected to rise, and thus the attention retailers are giving to their digital retail platforms are crucial. According to a study by the Financial Times, British consumers spend an average of around 4.8 times more online than in-store (2014).
Of course, consumers still shop offline, thus understanding the difference in motivators behind offline and online shopping is important for companies who are threatened of e-commerce growth. A study by Brown (1988) suggested that consumers suffer non-monetary costs when shopping offline; time, effort, and psychological costs, in addition to the extra cost spent in store. However, a report published by the State of Retail in 2015 states that consumers prefer to shop offline, in physical retail stores:
‘The bottom line is customers value the personal experience of the physical store,” said Gary Ambrosino, CEO of TimeTrade. “We found that shoppers have done their shopping or discovery online, then go into the store to get help with their final purchase decision.’
Thus, the only stage of the consumer purchase decision process made offline is the purchase decision. Even the post purchase decision can be found online, through customer reviews.
Companies with a positive presence on review sites as well as other forms of social media will benefit from the mere exposure effect, in which consumers favour a product or company to which they have been previously exposed (Smith, 2012). A survey done by BrightLocal, found that an astounding 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation (DeMers, 2015). This viral word of mouth represents one of the fasts growing phenomena on the Internet, as social media and virtual communities provide platforms to tell the world how they feel about a product or company (Mangold & Smith, 2012). Social media has the potential to influence all stages of the consumption process, including awareness, information acquisition, attitudes, decision-making, and post purchase evaluation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Enabling customer reviews on the company’s site can also have a positive effect on the company’s organic search ranking in search engines (Colao, 2014). Both scholars and practitioners claim customer retention to be one of the critical success factors for retail businesses; the cost of acquiring new customers is five to seven times that of retaining existing ones (Doyle, 2003).
Motivations for online shoppers mirror that of offline shoppers, and can be seen as two: experiential (for fun) or goal directed (for efficiency). Additionally, scholars have also discovered that the higher playfulness associated with experiential behaviour results in a more positive mood, greater shopping satisfaction and a higher likelihood of impulse purchasing compared to goal-focused shopping (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001).
So what should companies do on their digital platforms?
Be Playful With Your Consumers!
ASOS
ASOS, an online fashion retailer, regularly ‘gamifies’ the online shopping experience with competitions such as fashion bingo, matching celebrities with clothing and Pinterest competitions to win prizes.This particular ‘Love’ themed competition proved to be rather spot on; running around Valentines Day. With one winner every hour, and in one combined effort, ASOS had pulled off this campaign that would get them Facebook Activity, Tweets (with a hashtag trending), and extra visits to their sites (2011).
Jack Wills
Another retailer using interactive games to retain customers is Jack Wills, in which customers can scan their gift guide Christmas calendar each day for a chance to win prizes. The key is to stay relevant; a calendar competition wouldn’t make much sense in April, right? Additionally, this gives consumers an incentive to keep coming back. Every. Single. Day.
Missguided
Missguided is another great example of retailer utilising the power of social media for consumer engagement. By inviting consumers to share selfies of themselves, with the hashtag #MissguidedActive, the retailer is recognised in the tag, the users are engaged, and it is relevant, by offering a prize of ‘Protein World’ goodies, a brand affiliated with healthy lifestyle.
Conclusion
If companies want consumers to be talking about their products, they need to be active on their social media platforms. Social networking sites were found to be the most popular online venue for product discussions (Smith, 2012). According to a survey by eMarketer (December 2010), millennials are talking about products and services online more than the general population, and their preferred channels to do this are Facebook and company websites.
“Marketers must acknowledge the phenomenon of social media because it is becoming “the de facto modus operandi for consumers who are disseminating information on products and services” (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Thus, in order for companies to enhance the customer online shopping experience, they must bridge the gap between the stages of the purchasing decision. Consumers should be urged to read reviews on the company’s own website, then follow with an easy gateway towards the purchase, rather than purchasing offline. Additionally, in order to retain these consumers and boost online sales, companies must ensure they are playful with their online marketing, inviting consumers to engage through social media through competitions and prizes. Furthermore, during these ‘gamified’ marketing efforts, companies should ensure that through this engagement, consumers are invited to like, share, and post with a trending hashtag associated with the company.
Critical analysis
The emphasis on customers’ ‘willingness to participate’ in online communications is becoming crucial for the success of promotional activities. (Parent, Plangger, & Bal, 2011). This means that marketers need to implement social media as part of their marketing mix. This may be a timely and rather complex task, if the company’s current social media platforms are not used that often. This is also a ‘new’ phenomenon, therefore understanding and implementing it into a traditional company may seem strenuous.
The digital platforms in which consumers post their reviews/ratings such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs should be carefully monitored for reviews concerning the company or product. This can be accomplished by keeping careful track of communications on and surrounding a Facebook page, by book marking relevant sites, and by subscribing to RSS feeds (Smith, 2012).
Lessons Learned:
Allow reviews on your website, that way it’s easier to monitor
Retain online shoppers by being playful: through interactive games, competitions, and prizes – always get the consumer involved
Start a hashtag competition – ensure you invite consumers to like, share, and subscribe to the online platforms
References:
Bauer, H., Falk, T. and Hammerschmidt, M. (2006). eTransQual: A transaction process-based approach for capturing service quality in online shopping. Journal of Business Research, 59(7), pp.866-875.
Häubl, G. and Trifts, V. (2000). Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids. Marketing Science, 19(1), pp.4-21.
Khalifa, M. and Liu, V. (2007). Online consumer retention: contingent effects of online shopping habit and online shopping experience. European Journal of Information Systems, 16(6), pp.780-792.
Kim, J. and Park, J. (2005). A consumer shopping channel extension model: attitude shift toward the online store. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 9(1), pp.106-121.
Mangold, W. and Smith, K. (2012). Selling to Millennials with online reviews. Business Horizons, 55(2), pp.141-153.
Roy Dholakia, R. and Uusitalo, O. (2002). Switching to electronic stores: consumer characteristics and the perception of shopping benefits. Intl J of Retail & Distrib Mgt, 30(10), pp.459-469.
Wolfinbarger, M. and Gilly, M. (2001). Shopping Online for Freedom, Control, and Fun.California Management Review, 43(2), pp.34-55.
Social media’s prevalence in modern day advertising cannot be ignored. Although digital marketing is hardly a new concept, it is only since very recently that companies have utilised social media enough to become ‘the pillar of the advertising industry’ – with a total of 20 billion dollars spent on social media advertising just last year (The Economist, 2015).
Despite the ever-increasing popularity of social media, there have been concerns over its effect on sustaining a strong brand image. Harvard Business Review claims that very few brands have generated meaningful consumer interest online – even going as far to say that social media have ‘made brands less significant than before’ (2016).
Traditionally, brands would use one-to-many marketing, such as advertising, as a medium to tell their brand stories to reach consumers. Back then, consumers modified these firm generated brand stories to create their own versions, but their individual voices were not strong, and could be safely ignored by the brand managers if they chose to do so. The increasing use of social media among consumers has led to a fundamental shift in authentic brand storytelling. Consumers who are now empowered to share their brand stories easily and widely through social networks have gained a more valued voice that brand managers cannot ignore any longer (Gensler et al, 2013).
‘The emergence of social media has changed the consumers’ role in storytelling from that of a passive listener to a more active participant.’ – (Singh & Sonneburg, 2012)
Although many strategists have their own views on the merits of brands utilising their social media pages, these can be broken down into two forms of brand storytelling:
Firm generated brand stories and consumer/user generated brand stories:
User-generated content follows an interactive, participative, and multi-vocal rather than a tightly controlled/push process of branding (Vescovi & Vernuccio, 2016). The tightly controlled/push process of firm-generated branding works by understanding the brand as a controlled asset that is firm-owned, which can be built in the consumer minds through carefully coordinated marketing activities (Gensler et al, 2013). Consumer-generated brand stories interpret past or anticipated brand experiences that can be both positive and negative; for example, homage to a brand or consumer complaints (Gensler et al, 2013). These stories can be told through offline and online platforms, however, consumer generated stories told through social media are much more impactful because they utilize social networks, are digital, visible, pervasive, available in real-time, and dynamic (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2010).
A Closer Look Into Burberry:
When analysing strong online branding through consumer generated brand storytelling in the fashion industry, it is almost impossible to leave one particular company unmentioned. Their iconic and everlasting product is its trench coat, one that parallels the brands basic values of democratic luxury, function, and modern classic style. The versatility of the trench was what made it so iconic; with people from all different backgrounds wearing the same style coat in a million different ways. This is how their innovative digital journey began. Burberry decided to leverage consumers who personify the brand by generating content that appeals to them by them. The Art of the Trench campaign is a website in which consumers could upload a picture of themselves wearing their Burberry trench coats, share with their peers, and visitors of the site could buy the coat directly off of the Burberry website (Tobias, 2013).
What makes consumer generated branding work so well for companies is that it also acts as a direct review platform. HBR claims ‘that the single most powerful impetus to buy is someone else’s advocacy’ (2016). When potential buyers of Burberry find that there are hundreds of consumers who love their products – enough to share images of them wearing the products online – it creates a preconceived notion that these products work for anyone, and thus, pushes that potential buyer closer to the final purchase decision making process.
“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is — it is what consumers tell each other it is.” – Scott Cook, co-founder, Intuit
This approach follows both Consumers-to-Company and Consumers-to-Consumers online marketing approach (Kiani, 1998). With the consumers-to-company approach, consumers are now active participants and partners in the production; therefore, the motivation of consumers to respond and interact is a key point of virtual marketing. The Consumers-to-Consumers approach suggests that marketers approach interactive media as an opportunity to establish a dialogue and benefit from many possibilities this media can provide. Armstrong and Hagel (1996) suggest that commercial success in the online market will belong to those firms that organise electronic communities to meet social and commercial needs (Kiani, 1998).
The Art of the Trench draws Burberry’s brand values closer to its consumers through the modern art of street photography, blogging, and sharing through the web. The site also offers information about the history of the Burberry trench coat, providing images of vintage models from 1910 moving through the decades with different forms of media, featuring today’s generation of supermodels, such as Kate Moss and Stella Tennant. Although these brand values stem from Burberry itself, they are perpetuated from consumer-to-company and consumer-to-consumer, as Burberry relies on the audience to publish the photos and the consumers to create a dialogue amongst them selves, creating an online global Burberry community, which could not have been done with firm-generated branding alone.
Lessons Learned:
Firm Generated Branding is not dead…
But is more powerful through Consumer-to-Consumer marketing
Consumer Generated Branding allows a more authentic voice to be heard
Company’s must evoke brand values in Consumer Generated Branding – otherwise brand can get lost
Sources:
Edelman, D. (2016). Branding in the Digital Age. Harvard Business Review.
Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Liu-Thompkins, Y. and Wiertz, C. (2013). Managing Brands in the Social Media Environment. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.242-256.
Hennig-Thurau, T., Malthouse, E., Friege, C., Gensler, S., Lobschat, L., Rangaswamy, A. and Skiera, B. (2010). The Impact of New Media on Customer Relationships. Journal of Service Research, 13(3), pp.311-330.
Reza Kiani, G. (1998). Marketing opportunities in the digital world. Internet Research, 8(2), pp.185-194.
Chris Messina, a former Google designer, was the first to propose to Twitter, the adoption of the hashtag (#). The picture below, dating back to August 2007, is the first ever tweet using the hashtag symbol in its present day use (Page, 2012).
Today, hashtags are used in almost all other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Hashtags are widely used to define a shared context for specific events, topics, or meme (Ma et al, 2012). On most social media websites, a hashtag is translated into a clickable link that enables an easy search of tweets using the same hashtag (Suh et al, 2010). On Twitter, a frequently used hashtag amongst a large portion of its’ users could appear on the ‘trending topics’ sidebar on their website, which promotes a topic or term to an audience which extends far beyond the follower list of the person who used the hashtag. Landing on the ‘trending topics’ list is perceived as having influence or holding a status (Page, 2012).
Beyond being a bookmark for content, the hashtag serves as the symbol of a community (Yang et al, 2012). This virtual community is defined through the hashtag of users with the same background, the same interest, or involved in the same conversation or task.
A user can join such a community by sampling including the hashtag in their own tweets (Yang et al, 2012).
According to Forbes, tweets with hashtags get two times more clicks, retweets, favourites, and replies than tweets without hashtags (Patel, 2015). However, there is a limit to the usage of hashtags on a single post on different social media channels. Forbes recommends that for Twitter, the maximum amount of hashtags to use in one single tweet is two. Any more than that, and a company can diminish their engagement. In contrary, the limit on Instagram is endless. A post harnessing eleven or more hashtags retains the highest engagement.
Sure, having hashtags on posts help. But how do companies utilise the hashtag to its fullest potential?
Invent your own unique hashtag that describes the company or product. For example: ‘ToBeSharedAgain’
Start a hashtag movement – Popular hashtags have the ability to launch revolutions. For example: #blacklivesmatter
Participate in trending hashtags and customise your own Twitter trends by viewing the ‘trending topics’ tab on Twitter’s website (Patel, 2015)
Success story of the hashtag: #MakeItHappy campaign
Coca Cola evoked emotion through their Superbowl ad during last year’s TV event. The ad showed coca cola spilling into the wiring of the Internet, causing every negative message online to turn into a positive one, followed by the hashtag #MakeItHappy appearing on the screen. The message of the ad correlated directly with the company’s values of Happiness – and was only perpetuated by evoking emotion and further engaging consumers on social media. This engagement was powered by the clever algorithm that the company created, converting every tweet with the #MakeItHappy tag into pictures of cute dogs or the like. People quickly jumped to share their messages of positivity and fun, all through the Coca Cola name. (Yohn, 2015)
Now, to contrast: #WhyIStayed Campaign:
DiGiorno Pizza’s #WhyIStayed campaign is a clear example of how using a hashtag on social media can quickly turn ugly. Trying to participate in trending tweets to gain brand recognition, DiGiorno tweeted the below:
Unfortunately, the company posted this without looking into the context of the hashtag. Women from all over the world were tweeting stories about their domestic abuse stories, using the exact same tag: #WhyIStayed. Although DiGiorno quickly responded by deleting the tweet and replying to upset Twitter users, it goes to show that one innocent hashtag mistake could lead to an uproar of negative press for a company (Griner, 2014).
How can companies measure the hashtag’s success?
Use analytics websites such as; Hootsuite, Sproutsocial, Hashtracking (Geho et al, 2012)
If the company is using their own hashtag such as: #ToBeSharedAgain, they can search this tag on instagram and it will show how many times the tag has been used: for example:
Lessons learned:
Hashtag can be meaningless if it doesn’t affect company positively
Hashtags should be used less as a message and more as a call to action for consumers that leads to greater brand engagement
However, these hashtags can only directly lead to greater brand engagement if they are used as the starting point for participants
Think before you Tweet!
Sources:
Coca Cola, (2013). Coca-Cola Make It Happy Coca Cola Big Game Commercial 2015 #MakeItHappy Vote: 6.50 USA Today. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwRwuQmS45U [Accessed 3 Apr. 2016].
Geho, P. and Dangelo, J. (2012). THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS A MARKETING TOOL FOR ENTREPRENEURS. 17, pp.69-74.
Suh, B., Hong, L., Pirolli, P. and Chi, E. (2010). Want to be Retweeted? Large Scale Analytics on Factors Impacting Retweet in Twitter Network. Palo Alto Research Center, Inc.
Yang, L., Sun, T., Zhang, M. and Mei, Q. (2012). We Know What @You #Tag: Does the Dual Role Affect Hashtag Adoption?. School of Information, the University of Michigan.
According to a 2009 study by Technorati, blogs have exceeded all other Internet applications in the number of users. By 2011, the total number of blogs reached 152 million. The popularity of blogs has shifted the nature in which fashion brands communicate with their audience, as blogs today are considered the new electronic form of word-of-mouth or e-Wom (Sedeke, 2013).
A few features and functions of online communications through blogging platforms include (Okonkwo, 2010):
Transparency – people must know ‘face’ of blog, blogger must be open to all dicussions, even negative ones
Informality – the more informal: the better – if writing is ‘too smooth’ readers may not trust voice and see blog as ‘corporate ghost’
Objectivity – bloggers must be unbiased and fair, readers are quick to point out when blogger is being influenced by certain brand/company
Trust – consumers trust eachother more than press and companies, without trust, community is gone
Most fashion brands have only just caught up with bloggers. Much scepticism has been placed around the credibility of bloggers, with established brands and designers resisting to incorporate them into their corporate communication (Okonkwo, 2010). However in 2009, Burberry, known as being one of the most innovative luxury designers to use digital marketing, launched their first campaign through fashion blogs, gaining enormous success and reaching about two million page visits a day (Sedeke, 2013). This sparked interest in the blogging world and their power over the influence of the mass audience. Web 2.0 is the term that describes the second generation of Internet technologies, with lively discussions taking places on blogs, online communities, and other social media (Khamis & Munt, 2010). Alexander McQueen’s CEO claims ‘We treat respected bloggers in the same way we treat respected journalists, servicing them with information, news and images, and valuing their opinion in return.’
Benefits of working with fashion bloggers:
Blogs can quickly react and respond to current happenings which fit well to fashion news
Create interactive environment that serves as good marketing
‘Bloggers and their followers appreciate personally acquired or witnessed information more than the information coming from an official source’ (Lichtenstein, 2009)
a ‘street of fashion,’ as a source of authenticity and a display of the actual use of fashion by the general public (Sedeke, 2013)
Below you will find 3 vintage retailers that have successfully collaborated with bloggers to communicate to their audiences:
Cow Vintage
(Target unique/quirky bloggers that fit mold of ‘We Are Cow’)
is a popular vintage retailer based in Birmingham. They pride themselves on how frequently they work with bloggers, even providing a tab on their website called ‘blog’ which consists of images and information about their collaborations with bloggers. Their most recent collaboration is with the ‘confetti crowd’ blog, which consists of 5 bloggers with diverse styles. Cow vintage decided to create a running theme in a photo shoot with the confetti girls, and invite readers to check out the ‘trends’ seen in the photo shoot on their own website. On the confetti girl’s websites, they provide images and links to Cow’s website, and their collection.
Asos Vintage Marketplace
(Own Blog)
ASOS may be ahead of their game in terms of blogging. Their approach is having their own blog ‘Marketplace Asos’, in which ‘normal’ girls wear their clothes and readers get discounts on items if they ‘like’ the ASOS blog. They feature a ‘feedback section’ and a link to the entire collection for readers to find instantly online, which allows consumers to engage with one another, creating a sense of ‘community’ around the ASOS vintage marketplace. By dividing the reviews from ‘positive’, to ‘neutral’, to ‘negative’ – the readers can choose which reviews to pay most attention to. This allows the consumer to perceive the brand as honest and transparent, therefore trusting ASOS’ online promotions.
Wolf&Gypsy Vintage
(Instagram)
This retailer based in Brighton, does minimal yet precise collaborations with bloggers, by targeting bloggers that fit the ‘personality’ of the audience they want to reach. Seen on the wolf&gypsy instagram page, their ‘regram’ of a blogger wearing an item of theirs has merely 63 likes, whereas the blogger’s own post has 647 likes. This enables wolf&gypsy to reach her audience which in fact may be much larger than their own.
Wolf & Gypsy’s Instagram VS Blogger’s Instagram – can see difference of interaction between consumers very clearly. On blogger’s post, there is much more interaction and likes.
Critical Analysis:
Know Your Audience
According to research done by DBB London, writing as well as reading blogs are mostly done by the younger generation, with 90% of bloggers in their 20s and 79% of blog readers under the age of 40. In fact, only 70% of people in a middle class of the UK were not sure what a blog even meant. Therefore, when evaluating a blogger’s influence, it is important to remember that their reach may not be as large as a brand would like, or reach the ‘right’ audience at all. Using Wolf&Gypsy’s collaboration through Instagram, it is valuable for the brand to asses the blogger’s following, and asses whether her followers would even be aware that a brand is tagged in her post. Or perhaps the contrary, that the consumers are too ‘smart’, and would see the brand tagged in her post and choose not to click on it because they are aware that is it a promotion.
Bloggers can lose authentic voice
With increasing collaborations between brands and bloggers gaining popularity, a bloggers’ original ‘authentic’ voice may not transmit as truthfully as before. Consumers and readers are getting smarter, and will notice when a brand has paid a blogger to promote their clothing. Thoughtful and real promotion works best, and the blogger must fit the ‘customer’ that the brand wants to attract. A blogger attracts a following of similar types of readers, as these readers have similar tastes and styles or strive to be similar to the blogger. However, if the blogger posts about a brand that doesn’t suit the blogger’s style and worse, the reader’s style, readers may view blogger as a ‘corporate ghost’ and lose interest (Okonkwo, 2010). With Cow Vintage, it is great that they targeted a group of bloggers that fit the mold of different consumers, therefore attracting a larger audience, however, if Cow Vintage doesn’t fit with these bloggers’ unique styles, the promotion efforts may backfire, and readers will feel that these bloggers are only posting about Cow Vintage for profit, not through their unique voice and style. Therefore the choice of collaborations between brand and blogger have to be well thought out, and ‘authentic’ enough for the consumer to trust that the blogger’s posts are truthful.
References:
Ahmed, I. (2008). FT Report – Business of Fashion. Financial Times.
Arnardottir, B. (2016). The Business of Blogging: A Multiple Case Study. Copenhagen Business School.
Bollier, D. and Racine, L. (2005). Ready to Share: Creativity in Fashion & Digital Culture. Ready to Share.
‘Storytelling in the fashion industry can open up a world of creativity, when done right. It all begins with knowing your brand and understanding your audience. Once that is established, it’s all about making an emotional connection with your consumers,’ (Mines, 2015). This emotional connection, if done correctly, can ensure engagement in consumers and thus enhance their corporate reputation (Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P., & Beukeboom, C. J.,2015). Consumers are more likely to select companies with positive corporate reputations, and are willing to pay more for their products (Aula, 2010).
Before a company attempts to communicate their story digitally, it must remember that ‘people don’t buy into brands — they buy into the story behind brands’ (Mallon, 2016). Digital storytelling, combined with the power of social media, allows the brand to tap into the consumers’ emotional aspects of engagement, and create a direct link, which ideally leads to brand awareness (Juozaponyte, 2015).
Below there are three examples of fashion companies successfully executing digital storytelling:
Nastygal
In just less than 10 years, a young woman went from selling her own vintage clothing on ebay to founding what is now known as the fastest growing e-commerce site in the US. Sophia Amoruso, whether intentionally or not, has become the face of her own company. Amoruso’s story has sparked increasing interest as her company has grown over the years, with BBC calling it ‘a Cinderella story’, which has been the centre of the company’s image ever since it was founded in 2006 (Gittleson, 2014). Amoruso used this fame to her advantage, by writing a New York Times Best Seller on success called ‘#Girlboss’, inviting fans to use this hashtag to spread awareness on social media. Nastygal’s website features links directly to the #Girlboss website, ensuring that every user that clicks on Nastygal reads its’ story to success.
The Kooples
Instead of using their own story to share with their consumers, the Kooples uses the love story of real life couples or ‘Kooples’ to relate with audiences on all media channels. Each season, six new couples are chosen, with a caption of their names and how long they’ve been together for. This strategy creates an instantly relatable brand by using real, human connections that consumers can identify with, yet at the same time evoking the brands edgy personality and values. Although the couples are model look-a-likes, their relationships are just as important to the campaigns as their appearance. Using social media effectively, these stories are consistent but vary in detail from channel to channel. For example, a print ad will feature a picture of the couple and how long they’ve been together, and the audience is invited to check out The Koople’s Youtube channel, which features digital shorts that follow these couples around cities as they talk about their relationship directly to the camera (Walsh,2012).
Louis Vuitton
This luxury fashion brand may be one of the very few of the upmarket designers to master digital storytelling and manage to communicate their values effectively. Invoking the brand’s heritage of ‘the art of travel’, with ‘Louis Vuitton Soundwalk’ –downloadable journeys through Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Reaching out to international high profile bloggers, Louis Vuitton invited them to experience the ‘Soundwalk’ in Hong Kong, which facilitated progressive conversations around the brand. The bloggers then shared their experience with their followers through articles, comments, photos, and video footage. Luxury consumers see blogs as a more honest, reliable, and authentic source of information than the brand website (Okonkwo 2010). Therefore using bloggers to share their journey was an extremely interactive way to engage its consumers. The brand has continued to build digital journeys with its own website, http://www.louisvuittonjourneys.com. This invites consumers to go on their own journeys, and thus, share their digital story through the Louis Vuitton medium.
Critical Analysis:
You are NOT the Hero
It’s important for companies to remember that they are not the ‘hero’ of their story. According Ed Woodcock, all good brands understand that their customer should be the hero, with the brand’s purpose being to facilitate THEIR desires and dreams, not their own (2015). This is where Nastygal could improve. Their hero is Sophia Amoruso, and although she is incredibly inspirational, they must remember to always link it back with the consumer by relating her to their audience. Why is this story valuable to them (Klettke, 2014)? Perhaps Nastygal can improve by picking their most loyal customers each month and allowing them to share their own unique story, and make links to that of Amoruso’s. This is what the Kooples gets right in their storytelling for example, by picking ‘real’ people that their consumers may be able to relate to and connect with their consumers on a real emotional level, creating a ‘relatable’ brand.
Social Media Can Get Ugly
While social media is a great tool for reaching large audiences, it must not be forgotten that consumers have access to that exact audience as well. One bad experience can put the entire company’s reputation at risk, for example, the famous story of ‘United breaks guitars’, where one angry customer wrote a song about their experience and it reached worldwide recognition, harming United Airline’s reputation (2009). ‘Social media platforms are no orderly one-way channels for communication, but rather uncontrolled arenas for participation, which may pose a risk of reputation damage for firms (Aula, 2008)’. It is therefore important for Louis Vuitton to remember to understand their audience, and predict the contexts in which people may perceive the stories they are sharing. Thus when these bloggers share their own ‘journeys’, the content must be controlled by the brand, in order for the blogger not to experience any bad experiences along her journey. The web is known as ‘…a risky environment and corporations need to be creative as well as transparent and honest in order to captivate and communicate effectively with their various publics’ (Jones et al, 2010).
Lessons Learned:
Consumers are much more engaged in a campaign if you evoke emotions
But, you can only evoke emotions if the story you are telling is authentic
Authentic story must also communicate brand’s core values
Don’t just engage, interact with consumers – give them something to talk about
Be Transparent to consumer – allow them to voice their opinions
Positive/progressive conversation amongst consumers is valuable to a company’s corporate reputation
Appendix:
The Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling
1. Point of View – what is the perspective of the author?
2. A Dramatic Question – a question that will be answered by the end of the story.
3. Emotional Content – serious issues that speak to us in a personal and powerful way.
4. The Gift of your Voice – a way to personalize the story to help the audience understand the context.
5. The Power of the Soundtrack – music or other sounds that support the storyline.
6. Economy – simply put, using just enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer with too much information.
7. Pacing – related to Economy, but specifically deals with how slowly or quickly the story progresses.
(Robin, 2006)
References:
Aula, P. (2010). Social media, reputation risk and ambient publicity management. Strategy & Leadership, 38(6), pp.43-49.
Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P. and Beukeboom, C. (2015). A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, pp.58-67.
GIRLBOSS – #Girlboss is a platform inspiring women to lead deliberate lives. With intention, destiny becomes reality., (2015). home. [online] Available at: http://www.girlboss.com/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2016].
Gittleson, K. (2016). Nasty Gal’s Sophia Amoruso: ‘Shoplifting saved my life’ – BBC News. [online] BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27414760 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2016].
Jones, B., Temperley, J. and Lima, A. (2009). Corporate reputation in the era of Web 2.0: the case of Primark. Journal of Marketing Management, 25(9-10), pp.927-939.
Nastygal.com, (2016). Nasty Gals Do It Better. Shop Clothing, Shoes & Vintage | Nasty Gal. [online] Available at: http://nastygal.com [Accessed 5 Jan. 2016].
Okonkwo, U. (2010). Luxury online. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Reinartz, W., Krafft, M. and Hoyer, W. (2004). The Customer Relationship Management Process: Its Measurement and Impact on Performance. Journal of Marketing Research, 41(3), pp.293-305.
