Ecommerce company redefining engagement on social media platform

Photo courtesy of Yo Amo Los Zapatos (Shoe Lovers).

In today´s social media networking world businesses are coming up with new ways to attract audiences and make a buck or two in the process. The heart of the matter is engaging social media audiences your business brand must be authentic and original when showcasing your services.

So what happens when social media comes together with ecommerce? The possibilities are endless and can be a powerful combination when put to work in a right way. In a recent blog post by Global Social Media Analytics, Socialbakers, announced a partnership with fast-growing Facebook brand Yo Amo Los Zapatos (translation Shoe Lovers).

Shoe Lovers specializes in three key areas: e-commerce, fashion and branding. In addition, the Facebook page for the Mexican-based in a short time has been able to become one of the fastest growing brands particularly on Facebook attracting 31 million fans.

What is a difficult for startups at times is knowing where to plant their efforts strategically and at the same time draft out to realistic financial goals. Shoe Lovers has been unique in their approach and they have built a true community platform with that users relate to and resonate with.

“It began 3 years ago with a goal – connect passionate fashion shoppers with technology to integrate consumer demand into the manufacturing process. CEO and Co-Founder Felipe Servin recognized Facebook as a platform to make that possible, and has leveraged smart, data-driven insights and word of mouth marketing to create one of the social network’s largest and most engaging brand pages,” according to Socialbakers.

This particular company´s focus and direction have tailored to the social media masses for Facebook. Not all newcomers come out swinging a home run outside the ball park at the first bat, but in this case it’s an amazing feat.

Insights on Shoe Lover´s platform and growth

The growth on Facebook in a short about of time is not what you come to expect from traditional success stories on social media. The growth in of itself has been exponential.

Fashion companies tend to conduct trend studies to find a suitable business model and then begin selling their products. In this instance, Shoe Lovers took on a very different approach. What they did using Facebook’s powerful commerce platform is they post pictures of potential new shoes and they would monitor the engagement immediately after. Now, how they move to producing a specific shoe it has to garner a certain number of orders to move into production.

Has the company used paid promotions or campaigns on Facebook? According to the Socialbakers analysis they used or ran one test paid post back in May, 2015. The rest of the time they have been running an organic strategy and this means that paid posts do not work for everyone. In other words, authenticity does actually work, yet the foundations have to be built just right for it to be this effective in business.

Photo courtesy of Socialbakers

There are several examples of platforms running this community-driven concept. They provide their audience, in this case the designers, with the ideal professional work environment for website creation and it’s grown the company´s team.

A report by Socialyte Intel confirmed that Shoe Lovers was one of the Top 5 fastest growing brand pages on Facebook. On a weekly basis the brand capitalizes on making 400,000 new fans.

Conclusions and takeaways

Shoe Lover´s rise to stardom on social media has been more than just a Cinderella story. It has served as a testimony that money cannot buy you success and influence if you do not have something to really give to your audience besides a product.

If you are a retailer, manufacturer, distributor or any other within this industry you can harness the power of social media for your brand. It may not be clear at first what is going to be the message you send to the message and sometimes it is useful to look at competing brands to generate ideas.

Footwear does have a space and a place on social media. It is just formulating things in a manner consistent with your brand and how it relates to audiences. A Footwearnews.com analysis looked at three brands doing things right on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

Three takeaways:

1. Pick the right message.
2. Identify the audience and how your story connects with them.
3. Share beautiful and compelling images.

How to Champion the Visual Discovery Tool Pinterest

By Mkhmarketing via Flickr

The data visualization and infographics website-Visual.ly-published a very handy and comprehensive guide on how to master this social networking service.

This visually appealing online destination platform continues to grow and great features have been designed for its mobile applications (iOS and Android).

Pinterest by the numbers accounts for the following metrics:

• 70 million active users
• 80 percent of users are women and 20 percent are male
• Currently Pinterest has 500,000 active business accounts
• People share on Pinterest three times more on mobile than on desktop

Since social media is one of the driving forces for all of this online activity, social commerce is especially crucial for business and retailers. Over time as consumers get exposed to these new purchasing process mechanisms on social networks the more a streamline the systems will be.

As more and more research and analysis is focused on Pinterest, it will help enhance and improve the sites features. Billions in dollars are generated from purchases conducted on social media and the number will continue to skyrocket.

Facebook may have the largest crowd, but its conversion rate is not as effective as Pinterest. The infographic also showed the content has a longer lifespan on Pinterest and on average a user spends 14.2 minutes per visit.

Pinterest was built on the basic premise, which is a picture in a nutshell. However, on its rise to stardom it did come under scrutiny and controversy over copyright infringement violations. Since that time the company has addressed and adjusted the issue by identifying through Pins the original source of the content.

Referral traffic has been sort of the sweet spot for Pinterest. The social media company generates more referral traffic than YouTube, Google Plus and LinkedIn all combined, according to the visual graphic.

Getting setup and started on Pinterest

For those of us who have used Pinterest for a few years now have to remember the site operated as in invitation-only open beta. Now, the focus is very much evolved and gravitated to a more business focus.

The usual and formal process to join Pinterest includes: choosing your business type, linking and verifying your website, including location and uploading a profile picture. Transparency is vital so add as much information and company history to build a solid online reputation.

Any way you look at it investing on a Pinterest-friendly website is a wise move. In addition, if you are a retailer with an existing e-commerce website migrating just the core elements of your products and services will be essentially all you need. Afterwards, remember to pitch successful leads generated, which will serve as proof that your brand is a social commerce-friendly business.

Pinterest may keep track of the number of followers but you are forced to strive for quality and authentic engagement. Success does not happen overnight. With a profound respect for the golden rules of social network marketing users will come to join the conversation where you are.

Even if you are not into sharing inspirational quotes, discuss fitness goals or care about food-related conversations well you have no choice. That sort of dialogue drives up traffic, so find a middle ground to play between these categories and unleash some creativity.

By Roxanne Ready via Flickr

Continue reading on social media today

How to Champion the Visual Discovery Tool Pinterest

Nike brand goes local on Twitter with social customer care

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Social media networking is reaching maturity with brands nowadays trying new strategies to generate leads. Having a presence on social channels for companies or brands is a vital avenue to engage customers. According to social media Analytics Company, Socialbakers, blog post published Wednesday how brands on Twitter are takin a local approach to increase sales and improve the customer buying experience.

One practice that has become sort of the norm is the notion of being “socially devoted”. This expression refers as the tendency or the ability by brands to answer customer questions on a social network within a reasonable and short time frame. What this allows companies to do is put forth brand loyalty and expand their base on this important communications channel.

“From these “First Timers,” one of the most interesting things we found was what local brands were doing. Social media is another channel to communicate with customers to ultimately increase sales – everyone loves ROPO. But finding the direct relationship that attributes sales growth with social media marketing efforts and showing how they are meeting KPIs has yet to mature,” asserts Socialbakers.

What is different in this instance is the brand is not trying to put a formula of some sort for social commerce. Rather drive the interest of potential customers at the local level to visit the retail locations. For example, the Nike Los Angeles Twitter account promoted a new pair of Air Jordan shoes showcasing the style and design. Furthermore, there was a call to action by the account to invite clients to come in to local stores.

Keep your cool on and off the court. The Nike KD7 ‘Calm Before the Storm’ drops 8.16 at NIKETOWN LA. 10AM.

Considering the Return on Investment (ROI) and the advantage of reaching new customers on this platform possibilities are vital for local stores. Most of the users today are now present on these platforms and are slowly becoming familiarized with the social shopping experience. What stores have to start putting into place is designating a team of their employees to manage social accounts.

The takeaways from all of this is three things: you help your brand connect with new customers, it increases brand loyalty and awareness and you develop long-term relationships. It is crucial for brands to listen to customer requests and learn to take a different approach from a sales pitch.

An English beagle dog from la Ville Rose taking the web by storm

House pets or animals in general get a lot on the screen especially on social media channels. It turns out animals get a lot of love from their human counterparts. One particular breed, the small to medium-sized scent hound-from the city of Toulouse in France has become the latest web sensation because of cuteness and pics taken in front of iconic places.

MJ the Beagle Cover Facebook page

In a span of six months this beagle dog attracted a good solid 18,000 followers instantly falling in love, according to a FranceTV blog post. What social media channels is MJ present? As of today you can follow updates on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter.

What kind of metrics has MJ produced to date? Below is a summary of the totals by channel along with a URL address:

• MJ The Beagle Facebook 2061 Fans
• Mj_the_beagle Instagram 20,100 Folllowers
• MJthe Beagle YouTube Channel 42 Subscribers
• MJ The Beagle Twitter @MJtheBeagle 16 Followers
• MJ The Beagle Pinterest 13 Followers

After reviewing the numbers Instagram and Facebook seem to be the channels that generate the most engagement and following. Aside from the number the masters of MJ are very active on two channels and hopefully will see more content on the other platforms.

But the fact that the owners of MJ have activated several accounts signals an interest in getting the dog exposed to the masses and what traits set him apart in the pictures posted.

Pets have enjoyed a lot of publicity, marketing and love on social media. Animals are an easy hook to attract users and to start conversations about them. What is also cool about this story is from which city it all got started. If you happen to travel for tourism or business purposes Toulouse offers many things to do and to see.