Lesson #7 - Serious Social Savviness

Welcome back! We’ve been talking a lot about the different social media platforms that exist and how important it is for companies to incorporate those outlets into their integrated marketing campaigns. But, it’s not just about incorporating every social outlet available; it’s about incorporating the RIGHT platforms for your brand and including a consistent look and message on each of those platforms. Let’s take a look at three brands that are doing an outstanding job of incorporating consistent branding and messaging on their social platforms.

First up is Target. Target can be found on all the major social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and even LinkedIn. Target does a great job at incorporating a consistent look on each of their pages; most notably, the profile thumbnail photo on each platform is the same. Target’s red target logo is easily identifiable and respected, by using this as their profile photo alone drives traffic to their sites. Their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages are all similar in the items they are promoting at the tops of the pages. Currently, Halloween costumes, décor, and other offerings are being highlighted in these areas. The Target Google+ page is a little different in that only a recent article with the Halloween hashtag is promoting the holiday, rather than their cover photo or background photo. In a similar fashion, Target’s LinkedIn page is very professional and clearly a business space. There are no advertisements or product pushing here. Instead, there are articles about resume writing, charity work, and flu shots. Clearly focusing more on Target’s business side rather than their in-store marketing side.

The content on Target’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages is updated every day at the least, but usually multiple times a day. Their LinkedIn profile usually has one post every day or every other day. Target’s Google+ page, on the other hand, only has four posts total beginning on September 30^th. I’m not sure if this is just a glitch on my computer or maybe Target is just new to the Google+ world. If that’s the case, hopefully they will begin to use this platform more frequently and effectively.

Target does a great job of using various hashtags on all of their sites (with the exception of LinkedIn) to help users search through content and to join in conversations. Also, each platforms clearly lists the Target website in the “About  Me” section and generally includes the website link in each posts. They do not, however, do a very good job of promoting their other social outlets. You cannot find a link to their Facebook on their Twitter page or their Instgram handle on their Facebook page. They do, however, tend to post the same images/stories on each of their social outlets.

Next up we have T.J.Maxx. Much like Target, T.J.Maxx is present on all of the major social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest. Also, similar to Target, their profile photo is the same on each and every social outlet; creating a consistent and familiar place for fans and followers to connect and explore. Each of their pages have a similar look and feel (even the photos to the right are hard to tell apart), showcasing the latest fashion trends, current product offerings, and style tips and tricks.

Their content is updated extremely frequently, unlike Target who has a few platforms that are lacking in the department. T.J.Maxx generally posts multiple times a day on each of their social media outlets; their Google+ page tends to only be updated once a day or several times every other day, but still keeps content fresh and current. Also, each of their social media outlets lists their website at the top of each page, but only occasionally includes the URL in their actual posts.

T.J.Maxx uses hashtags incredibly well, especially when promoting their Maxxinista campaign. All of their social outlets encourage fans to share a photo of themselves in their latest T.J.Maxx finds and post it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the #Maxxinista for a chance to win a $1000 gift card. The one downside of their social media outlets is that they do not do a very good job of promoting each other; there are no “find us on Facebook” links on their Twitter page or a “follow us on Instagram” on their Facebook page.

Last but not least, we have Ebay, the king of online auctions! Ebay can also be found on all of the major social media outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube. Also, just like Target and T.J.Maxx, Ebay uses the exact same logo as their profile photos on every social media platform, allowing fans and followers to quickly find their pages when searching. Unlike the other two brands I’ve mentioned, Ebay does an incredible job of including their various social media accounts on each of their pages. You can find Ebay’s Facebook and YouTube handles on the background of their Twitter page, there are buttons at the top of their Facebook pages that link you to their Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube pages, and they have included the same buttons on their YouTube page. The exception to this would be their Instagram and Google+ page, neither one of these outlets includes anything but the Ebay URL (which the other three platforms include as well).

For the most part, each of other social media platforms showcases the incredible items that you can find on their website. The use of hashtags is not as prominent on the Ebay pages as the other two brands we’ve talked about; they usually keep it to a general #ebay that is used predominately on their Instagram page and nowhere else. As mentioned before, their website URL is listed at the top of each of their pages, but Ebay also does a great job of including a specific link on each of their posts. For example, if the post is a photo of a Halloween costume, the link attached will take you directly to the page where you can purchase said costume. Ebay’s YouTube channel is unique in that it showcases not just their products, but ways to use and get creative with their products. This helps to create a sense of industry knowledge with their fans and followers, furthering their followers trust and loyalty with the brand. In addition, their social platforms are updated on an extremely frequent basis, generally posting multiple pieces of content each day.

Overall, each of these three brands does a great job at balancing the use of multiple social media platforms. While there are a few things that could be improved with each of these brands, they have an incredible foundation created and the sky is really the limit. These are all great examples of brands embracing social into their integrated marketing campaigns and not being afraid to set the bar extremely high for their competitors. 

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