Week 5 - Social Media Analytics

After five weeks of evaluating the social media marketing strategy of J Crew it’s safe to say that they have strong consistency in their brand, messaging and appeal. The content that they produce across all platforms provides a number of benefit to their customers. According to Schaefer, it meets the various aspects of psychological appeal to customers. First, the content is timely in that it is geared towards summer style. Second, the content has built in shareability, for example, their recent post around how to tie a bandana can be shared across the web with friends and leading to the third point, many women would love to be the first of their friends to post a helpful how-to content. The customer gets to feel like they are spreading knowledge and the brand gets increased exposure. Fourth, the customer feels connected to the author behind the brand – the social media posts are extremely personable and it makes customers feel like they’re having a conversation among friends (Schaefer, 2015 pg. 45-46).

Next, in analyzing the content calendar from Week 3 it proves that pushing engaging content is more challenging than expected, however there was a spike of followers on Facebook which is a great indication of interest in the brand and content as well. First, in looking at Hootsuite analytics, overall there are 33 fans that peaked on July 29^th and then tapered off for the following three days. Also, it looks like on Twitter I was able to gain three followers over a similar time period which could be attributed to the followers being in the same social circle.

Furthermore, Google Analytics reports that this blog site has experienced 41 users, 67 page views and a bounce rate of 89%. There is definitely work to be done to further engage these users and engage them on the blog or via the social media outlets. It’s also reaffirming to see that the blog is attracting the right demographics of 18-35 year olds which is about the same demographic of the J Crew customer profile. In looking at the different analytics tools, I actually prefer the Google Analytics tool the most for insights as it gives information on demographics and interests of page visitors which I think could be helpful in planning content to curate on the blog. I believe Hootsuite is more helpful for seeing all posts and engagements at-large and maintain the scheduling and consistency of them.  Moving forward, I created a specific board under my Pinterest account that features J Crew related pins, over time I will track the engagement of this board. https://www.pinterest.com/wwashin/j-crew/

References

Schaefer, Mark. The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business (2015). 

J. Crew - LinkedIn Profiles

In this digital age it is critical to leverage all social media platforms to ensure that the brand is all-around represented. For J. Crew this includes how top-level executives represent themselves on LinkedIn. One of the profiles that I’d like to examine is that of Jeremy Brooks – who is the Chief Accounting Officer for J. Crew. I’m analyzing this against Ms. Dodaro’s guide regarding LinkedIn profiles.

First, as far as areas of strength - his name only contains his first and last name, his headline has main key words such as “Chief Accounting Officer” and “J.Crew” – although there is room for improvement to make the headline more catchy. He has successfully connected with over 500 people. In terms of areas of improvement, his photo is not professionally taken and he didn’t provide the necessary contact information which makes it challenging for people to connect with him beyond LinkedIn.

Moving on to discuss the overall brand of J. Crew on LinkedIn – it appears that their strength lies in the consistency in how they represent their brand across all social media platforms. Their posts on LinkedIn are very similar to posts found on Facebook and Instagram – the best part is that the stock photos are the same but the content is geared towards more professional development. An area for improvement is that they do not post consistently every day, from looking at their post activity it looks like they post every 2-3 days which is pretty infrequent for such a major brand such as J. Crew. Moving forward, I’d definitely recommend that they increase their posts on Linked in to at least once or twice a day to increase their following on LinkedIn and consistency across platforms.

References

http://topdogsocialmedia.com/linkedin-training-creating-the-perfect-profile/ 

J Crew - All About The Denim

Now that Summer is in full swing, it's a great time to break out the distressed denims which have been a favorite staple for the last few seasons.

What are the different ways that you rock a distressed denim? Do you think that distressed denims are appropriate for the office?

Depending on the type of job you have this could be a great option for casual Fridays. The distressed denim is a great style option that could easily go from day to night. Below are a few great ideas of how to rock a distressed denim both in the office and at Happy Hour.

Now that you've seen all the great ways to rock a distressed denim, be sure to check out J Crew's website for our latest edition of distressed denim!

Week 3 - Social Media Content Plan

Keywords from Search Engine Sources

Over the next two weeks, I want to focus the J Crew Women’s Retail Blog and Facebook Page on staples of fashion and the brand which is denim and accessories. According to Crestodina in Content Chemistry a great way to generate ideas for content that resonates with a target audience is by performing strategic keyword search, based on this I will find popular trends within these two areas using both Google Search Suggest and Ubersuggest (Crestodina, 2014 pg. 892). Specifically, I utilized Google Suggest to see which topics would auto populate and for Ubersuggest I typed in a topic (i.e. “denim” or “accessories”) which returned over 90+ keywords, I could then click into a keyword or phrase and see the past twelve months of google analytics for each keyword. Each post per the weekly theme will be posted on the blog and synced to social media at the end of each week on Saturday/Sunday to optimize the audience’s leisure time. At this point, the blog posts are also synced to Facebook. Also, Hoot suite is tracking Twitter, Facebook and Blogger for any traffic or trends of interest among the audience.

Week 1 – Denim Feature

During the first week, I want the content to be all about denim. Since J Crew is a preppy and classic brand, I believe that a classic denim represents all of these things. Also, in keeping with the theme of Facebook and Instagram, J Crew has positioned themselves as a lifestyle brand so the content will be more conversational as opposed to aggressive advertising tactics. In my search for the term “jeans” and “denim jeans with” it seems that there was a common trend and interest of jeans with holes or patches, also known as distressed or ripped jeans. The post could explore different ways to wear distressed denim (work, brunch, happy hour). Hopefully, this content will spark interest based on the trends that Google surfaced.

Week 2 – Accessories

During the second week, I want the content to focus on accessories. Currently, many fashion trends from the 1990’s are reemerging – one of them being the choker necklace. I wanted to confirm this trend via Google Suggest, Ubersuggest and it looks like over this past week there’s been a current spike in interest. This would be a perfect way to connect the 1990’s choker trend to the bandanna tie that J Crew sales among other accessories. I was going to feature the new monogram bags in place of the bandanna ties and other necklaces, but it looks like, according to Google Trends, the interest for monogram bags happens during December – January. I think this content can be pushed out a month or two to wait until fall and holiday shopping has commenced. 

J Crew Social Media Content Assessment

In terms of assessing J Crew's current content marketing strategy it appears that their strength lies in incorporating what Schaefer refers to as hygiene content. Throughout Facebook, Twitter and Instagram there are numerous posts that focus on relateable topics that ranges from style tips to recipes for the summer. See: In The Kitchen: The Summer Salad We're Obsessed With. Furthermore, their strength in hygiene content is solidified by their own J Crew Blog accessible via the J Crew website and promoted on their social media accounts. 

In terms of J Crew's weakness or area of improvement, they could improve in the degree of shareability of their content. From looking at the topics of their content, most of them being in the hygiene category, are very familiar topics that can be found anywhere on the website or on other fashion competitor blogs. J Crew could insert more hero content, or extraordinary content - perhaps by incorporating more videos which are extremely popular on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. 

References

Crestodina, A. (2014). Content chemistry: An illustrated handbook for content marketing. Chicago: Orbit Media Studios Inc. 

Week 2 - Facebook Traffic Strategy

It is critical to form a social media strategy for Facebook. According to the Social Technographics Ladder there are several profiles of people on social media. I'm lucky that at one point in time, I've been one of the people along each rung of the ladder, which helps give insight on how to target each persona. The first step was to create an actual Facebook Page for J Crew - Women's retail. Facebook was really helpful in asking questions up-front about my target audience such as location, age and gender.

J Crew - Women's Retail Facebook Page

For creators, we could attract this profile by posting our own content in blog form or even by inviting individuals to post their content in response to a call for submissions -- (i.e. post a picture rocking your favorite weekend denim style). In terms of the critics profile, given the nature of social media, they seem to easily insert themselves in the online conversation, however it would be helpful to give them prompts. The prompts for critics could be as follows: rate this style, who wore it better etc. In terms of making it easy for collectors to participate we could incorporate hashtags in all of our posts, that way when they repost a J Crew pic or their own style, they can join in on the conversation (i.e. #JCrew #summerstyle #fashion #floralprints #summersixteen).

The snapshot below is an example of how I applied the creator and critic profiles to my Facebook page:

In terms of appealing to joiners, in every medium we always want to give the ease of integration and reposts among different social media platforms. That includes, first ensuring that the post is mobile friendly and can also be easily shared between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.

In terms of engaging spectators, I understand that this segment of people like to keep and maintain a low profile on social media. They could be engaged by something as simple as "Like Our Page - and be entered into a contest to win a $25 gift card to JCrew". To engage with inactives, people who aren't on social media would need to be influenced by one of the peers or close friends. A great strategy for inactives is to encourage their friends who are either connectors or joiners to get them to engage (i.e. refer a friend, get them to post a picture with our hashtag and win a prize).

References
Barker, M. S. (2013). Social media marketing: A strategic approach. Australia: South Western Cengage Learning.

Week 1 - J Crew Social Media Strategy

J Crew - Social Media Strategy

Facebook
Overall, J Crew's brand is minimalist, classic and prep. This brand translates into it's social media strategy. For instance, their Facebook post contains links to advice for weekend gatherings that includes style points. This emphasizes the point brought up by Schaefer regarding content. It states that content is the driver and catalyst for social media, J Crew features both conversational and blog like content that Schaefer emphasizes as significant (Schaefer, 2014, [pg. 533]).This makes their social media content offer both style and utility. In order to make their content even stronger on Facebook, they could incorporate different types of media, such as assembling playlists for customers to use over a holiday weekend. As customers share this playlist, this would increase and drive more traffic to their site, especially, since for example Spotify is integrated within Facebook.

Twitter
Also, J Crew has successfully managed the integrity of their brand via their Twitter account. They have a main Twitter handle for their brand and a separate Twitter handle for customer service. In this way they are feeding into the "information ecosystem" that Schaefer emphasizes (Schaefer, 2014, [pg. 435]). They are readily responsive to their customer's reviews and critiques. As proven in the screenshot below, most of their customers are pleased with this approach to sharing information and getting their needs resolved. They could improve their presence on Twitter by live tweeting during a large event such as an awards or fashion show and help to capture their audience in an informal way with incorporating pop culture into their strategy.

Instagram
Lastly, J Crew's Instagram account gives a strong impression of the need and desire to create a relationship with their customers. Their posts are more lifestyle than consumer driven, which makes it feel like J Crew's account is similar to that of a customer's best friend for example. Schaefer highlights the importance of creating a friendly relationship with consumers, in emphasizing to not just be a "brand but a buddy" (Schaefer, 2014, [pg. 190]). Customers want to feel like their loyal to their friend as opposed to a non-related fashion company. Their Instagram account achieves this connection. Below, illustrates this point as their picture is about post-July 4th weekend blues as opposed to selling an item; this is something that most if not all of their customers emotionally connect to and can build a kinship with. They could improve their presence on Instagram by highlighting every day people wearing their brand, as street style fashion is a huge trend on Instagram.

References

Schaefer, M. W. (2014). Social media explained: Untangling the world's most misunderstood business trend. Schaefer Marketing Solutions.