Harnessing Social Media Feedback To Fuel Your Marketing Campaigns
By Alicia Fiorletta

Because shoppers are leveraging a variety of channels to browse and buy, they have an array of opinions to share. While call centers, email and other traditional feedback portals are still leveraged, more consumers are turning to social networks to discuss their retail experiences.

A recent study from Sociable Labs points out the power of social feedback and sharing: 75% of shoppers have clicked through to visit an e-Commerce site after reading a Facebook friend’s comment regarding a specific product or retailer. These consumer opinions, without a doubt, have an impact on total retail sales and general brand perceptions. In fact, 53% of shoppers who accessed a retailer’s site from Facebook purchased the product that was shared, according to Sociable Labs.

As a result of this new reality, best-in-class merchants are tracking and harnessing user-generated content to optimize cross-channel brand experiences and overall marketing strategies.

At Retail TouchPoints, we’ve covered a variety of forward-thinking retailers that are successfully tapping customer feedback to fuel their marketing campaigns. Of those success stories, my personal favorites include:

ALDO: To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ALDO brand, the men’s and women’s shoe and handbag retailer initiated ALDO 40, a 40-day digital campaign. Designed to enlighten consumers about the extensive history of ALDO, the campaign also sought to encourage social sharing and capture user-generated content on a more frequent basis.

The ALDO 40 initiative provided a “digital museum of content,” such as photographs; behind-the-scenes information; and videos and articles spotlighting brand growth and innovation during the last 40 years, Vyara Ndejuru, Director of Marketing at ALDO, said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. New content was released every day, as well as compelling calls-to-action that encouraged customers to start conversations on social networks. In addition, a variety of social contests were promoted via the campaign, prompting consumers to take photographs on Instagram and share them across Facebook and Twitter using the #ALDO40 hash tag.

 “In the fashion segment, especially footwear, consumers have a lot of passion for their favorite brands and designers, which translates easily into the social space,” Ndejuru said. The ALDO 40 campaign “has revealed a deep appetite for conversation around fashion and footwear,” she said, “allowing us to really tackle these passion points with more relevant social content.”

Bonobos: Another leader in innovative marketing strategies, Bonobos keeps customer feedback at the center of the brand — specifically regarding product decision-making and cross-channel marketing campaigns.

Craig Elbert, VP of Marketing at Bonobos, said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints that the company is “highly data driven and very customer-centric. Since our inception in 2007, we’ve relied heavily on customer feedback and have consistently leveraged it to make core marketing decisions.” He added that these responses make customers “‘come alive’ for our marketing team, which helps us in terms of hyper-targeting for actionable ad spends.”

A recent example is the Bonobos #Pantsformation social media contest. The sweepstakes encouraged consumers to photograph themselves then upload those images onto Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, along with the hash tag #Pantsformation. Contestants also provided a brief explanation of “why they should be ‘pantsformed’ by Bonobos,” David Fudge, Director of Consumer Engagement and Innovation for Bonobos, told Retail TouchPoints. He added that encouraging user-generated content through contests, giveaways and challenges is key to connecting shoppers with the Bonobos brand, increasing brand awareness and making the brand more relatable to target consumers.

Bonobos executives also use email- and social media-based surveys to capture a greater depth and variety of customer insights. This makes the retailer better equipped to improve product quality and design, and further refine marketing campaigns released across e-Commerce, email and social networks. In addition to surveying customers about how they feel about recently purchase products, “we’ll also send surveys to customers who looked at products but didn’t complete a purchase,” Elbert said, “to better determine how we can improve the products and/or shopping experience.”

Duane Reade: This pharmacy chain, with more than 250 stores throughout the metropolitan New York region, leveraged social media to spread the word on a new hosiery line. The “Show Us Some Leg” campaign was driven by social sharing, user-generated content and an in-house blogging team created solely to focus on the brand’s social content strategy. Other components included video blog posts, Twitter “parties” and other activities across Facebook, Foursquare and Pinterest.

Together these elements helped “drive awareness of the Duane Reade brand of hosiery products by allowing New Yorkers to engage in an entertaining way with Duane Reade on digital, social and in-store platforms,” said Calvin Peters, Online/Public Relations Manager of Duane Reade, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints.

“Show Us Some Leg” is part of the retailer’s continued focus on developing cross-channel marketing strategies driven by user-generated content. In fact, within the last year, digital and social media campaigns for Duane Reade have relied heavily on “strategically highlighting, procuring and disseminating user-generated content,” Peters said. “This content is the core for expanding our online social presence and overall share-of-voice.”

ALDO, Bonobos and Duane Reade all are great examples of retailers that constantly keep a pulse on what consumers are saying across the social media stratosphere. Not only are they listening to feedback, they also are using it to fuel their marketing campaigns.

Using this strategy makes messaging more relevant, relatable and believable. Putting customer feedback at the center of your marketing helps you be seen as trustworthy by potential consumers, resulting in heightened purchases and increased loyalty.

So retailers, are you listening to — and using — what your shoppers have to say?

Follow Alicia on Twitter: @AliciaFiorletta